The opening page of the American Package Museum is pretty alluring. You're greeted with short explanation about the museum, written by curator Ian House, alongside a group of three retro Wrigley's wrappers placed on a 60s-era tablecloth. Click anywhere on this screen and you'll be taken to the museum's exhibits.
You have two options for viewing the exhibits: You can either watch them in a slideshow (which is the default view after clicking through the opening screen) or you can choose what to view from an alphabetical index of products. I would definitely check out the index instead of the slideshow because the index tells you which objects can be viewed in 3D. You've got to have a pretty good connection to see the 3D objects, and they take a little while to load, but the wait is worth it. How many other places can show you a full rotation of the original Oh Henry! packaging?
Despite these cool features, the American Package Museum isn't perfect. The links for the Guestbook and Giftshop don't work, and the Contact section is similarly missing. Also, none of the exhibits have any interpretation besides a caption with each product's name, which is disappointing if you want to know just how old each package is.
Nevertheless, the American Package Museum is pretty interesting in a visual sense. If you just want to marvel at 20th century marketing, this is the place to go. But if you want to learn the stories behind each product and packaging, you're going to have to do some research on your own.
The American Package Museum
Mission: The primary objective of this website is to preserve and display specimens of American package design from the early decades of the 20th century. The secondary objective is to establish a community for those interested in such an endeavor.
Website: www.packagemuseum.com
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