Morris Museum, Arts and culture museum in Morristown, New Jersey, US
The Morris Museum is a nonprofit museum located in a Georgian-style mansion in Morristown, New Jersey. Its galleries cover art, science, and history, with collections that range from paintings and natural history specimens to mechanical musical instruments and automata.
The collection was founded in 1913 as a private assembly and moved to the current mansion in 1963, when it opened to the public on a regular basis. The building itself dates from the early 20th century and was adapted over time to accommodate the growing collections.
The museum is known locally as a place where visitors can hear as well as see the objects on display, since many of the mechanical instruments are demonstrated live. This makes a visit feel more like an experience than a tour through silent rooms.
The museum sits in a residential part of Morristown and is most easily reached by car, as parking is available on the grounds. Checking opening hours before you go is a good idea, as they can vary depending on the season or special events.
A large part of the mechanical instruments in the collection once belonged to private homes, where they served as entertainment before recorded sound existed. Some of these devices can still play full tunes on their own, without any musician involved.
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