This humble-looking Standard Vacuum Sweeper is the reason this Museum exists. In the early 1970s, accountant Frank Livermore spotted this sweeper in the corner of a local junk shop and, intrigued by its mechanical workings, Frank bought it on the spot. From that day on, he became a collector, and soon his Menlo Park home was bulging at the seams with his eclectic collection of antique mechanical and electrical devices.

Frank’s friends joked that he should start a Museum of his own and, when one gave him a sign saying, Smithsonian West, Frank began to take the idea seriously. Frank and attorney Perry Moerdyke began the process of forming a registered non-profit Museum. In 1985 the Museum of American Heritage was incorporated. Frank’s collection formed the nucleus of the Museum. In 1990 the Museum of American Heritage opened at its first location on Alma Street in Palo Alto and in 1997 MOAH was awarded tenancy of the City of Palo Alto’s historic Williams House.

The Frank Livermore Trust was established to provide ongoing financial support for the care and maintenance of the collection. Frank passed away in 2000, yet his curiosity and reverence for the spirit of innovation lives on in this Museum.

Today the collection boasts over 8,000 mechanical and electrical artifacts, largely dating from the 1850s to the 1950s, which are housed in an off-site 13,000 sq. ft. warehouse. Our artifacts are displayed in rotating exhibits at the Museum and are often loaned to other Museums and institutions for exhibit purposes.

Click the button below to see photos of our current collection warehouse and past warehouses.

SEARCH OUR COLLECTION

The Museum of American Heritage preserves and presents the evolution of American invention. We collect, preserve, and display the wonderfully ingenious electrical and mechanical devices that have been developed over the last two centuries.

We’re very excited to have an online collection that began in 2018 with FileMaker. Over the past year, we’ve transitioned from FileMaker to a new platform, Catalogit. We’re still fine-tuning the online experience, especially with photos that were taken over 35 years ago.

This process is part of our mission to collect, preserve and display historic innovations and technologies. If you would like to further support this effort, please consider donating to MOAH.

The Museum of American Heritage loans items from its collection to accredited museums. If you are interested in borrowing an object, please contact zoe@moah.org.

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Helpful Notes for Navigating the Collection:

Click on the Search our Collection button below and start viewing MOAH’s collection!

You can browse through current exhibits and collectors, or you can scroll to the bottom and click “EXPLORE THE ENTIRE COLLECTION.”

Looking for something in particular? Enter a few keywords into the search bar.

Contact zoe@moah.org for questions about the Collection.

It’s the Museum of American Heritage’s mission to preserve technologies and inventions of the past. One way of doing this is through restoration. MOAH has dedicated and talented volunteers who work diligently to restore these historic treasures. Check out the restoration process here!

Interested in learning more about the Museum of American Heritage’s collection or how these historic innovations shape our daily lives today?

Check out the assortment of videos from Artifact Snapshots, Collection Lectures and Staff & Volunteer Picks!