Miami Valley Military History Museum
The Miami Valley Military History Museum has a collection of artifacts spanning from the Revolutionary War to current uniforms worn in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of it donated by veterans and their families.
The museum also has a piece of the U.S.S. Arizona battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and burnt steel from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
Location: 120 Ohio Avenue, Building 120 (Putnam Library) on the Dayton VA campus.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the first and third Saturday's of each month. Open on all patriotic holidays, or by appointment if a volunteer is available.
Admission: Donations accepted.
Dayton International Peace Museum
The Dayton International Peace Museum was founded in 2004 to honor the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the Bosnian war. The museum’s mission is to raise awareness of nonviolent strategies for achieving peace.
Located in the Isaac Pollack House, a downtown Dayton historic home, the museum is a member of the International Network of Museums for Peace.
The museum has exhibits and also plays host to community talks and training opportunities, book clubs and a week long summer peace camp.
Location: 208 W. Monument Dayton
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission: The suggested donation is $8 a person.
Springfield Museum of Art
The Springfield Museum of Art hosts a changing exhibition and works from its permanent collection.
Currently “Industrial Nature: Works by Michelle Stitzlein,” large-scale sculpture from recycled materials, The Western Ohio Watercolor Society’s 43rd annual members show and “Jennifer Rosengarten: Gardens & Ponds,” large-scale images of the natural world are among the exhibits.
The museum was accepted into the Smithsonian Affiliates program in 2012 and is the only art museum in Ohio with that distinction.
Location: 107 Cliff Park Road, Springfield
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sundays 12:30-4:30 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday.
Admission: Adults $5; Members and children under 17 Free except for Special Exhibitions
» RELATED: Gardens with a twist! Nature inspires exhibits at UD and Springfield
The National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
The National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center has more than 9,000 works of art and artifacts as well as thousands of photographs and hundreds of manuscripts, making it home to one of the nation’s largest collections of Afro-American materials.
The exhibitions change throughout the year. One of the current exhibits, “The Voices of the Revolution,” explores the Civil Rights Movement.
Two new exhibitions will soon open. “Freed Will: The Randolph Freedpeople: From Slavery to Settlement” will open May 20, and the fourth-annual Black Heritage Through Visual Rhythms Juried Art Show will open June 17.
Location: 1350 Brush Row Rd, Wilberforce
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
Admission: $6 adults, $5 seniors and $3 for ages 6-17. Children 5 and under are free. Admission is free for Central State University and Wilberforce University students.
A special admission on International Museum Day will be $3.
America’s Packard Museum
Credit: Chris Stewart
Credit: Chris Stewart
The automobile museum is the only restored Packard dealership operating as a full-time museum. The museum took the name of the original dealership, the Citizens Motorcar Company, but is known as “America’s Packard Museum.”
It houses a collection of more than 50 Packard automobiles, dating from 1903 to 1958 along with memorabilia and artifacts, all displayed in a restored Art Deco showroom and service department.
Location: 420 South Ludlow Street, Dayton
Hours: Open daily noon to 5 p.m., except Christmas and New Years Day
Admission: Adults $6, seniors $5, students free
The Garst Museum
The historical museum houses more than 300,000 artifacts within the Garst House, an early inn that now has six building wing additions creating 35,000 square feet of exhibit space.
Highlights of the Garst Museum include the National Annie Oakley Center, which celebrates the life and history of the sharpshooter and an exhibit dedicated to Lowell Thomas, best known as a radio news commentator for CBS Radio Network.
Location: 205 North Broadway, Greenville
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Sunday 1-4 p.m. Closed Monday
Admission: Adults $10, seniors over 60, $9, youth 6-17, $7. Ages 5 and under are free.
» RELATED: Annie Oakley: From Darke County farm to worldwide fame
Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site
If you enter Paul Laurence Dunbar’s house today, you might think the poet has just stepped out.
Dunbar, one of the first nationally known African-American writers, purchased the two-story brick house at 219 N. Summit St. in Dayton in 1904 for his mother, Matilda. Chronically ill, he spent his final years at the house while his mother cared for him.
Matilda did not allow anyone into his private rooms, ensuring they would be untouched. The upstairs study and the bedroom where he worked are filled with Dunbar’s personal possessions.
Location: 219 N. Paul Laurence Dunbar St., Dayton.
Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission: Free.
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