History Main / MuseumOfBoredom

* In The Lost Continent, ''Creator/BillBryson'' reminisces about his father's ability to find such places while driving on holiday.

In The Lost Continent, ''Creator/BillBryson'' reminisces about his father's ability to find such places while driving on holiday.

* The ''Series/CoogansRun'' episode The Curator is set in a dull local museum. The museum might actually be mildly interesting if the curator himself wasn't so desperately dull. The curator blames his museum's failure on the bigger museum down the road that keeps getting all the best exhibits.

[[caption-width-right:350:"We're going to spend the next eight hours learning about the genius of this little bent of wire."]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Averted by [[https://museumofeverydaylife.org/ The Museum of Everyday Life]], a real museum run out of a small barn in Vermont. It's a personal project of the owner and his friends, and in the past it has had real exhibitions on topics such as: Toothbrushes, Pencils, Paperclips, and even Dust.
[[/folder]]

There are museums that contain some pretty interesting things. There are [[MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual museums that contain things that are downright weird]]. This, however, is a museum where [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the subject is extremely boring]]. It could be the location of a disappointing ClassTrip, although if PlayedForLaughs at least [[OnlyOneFindsItFun one member of the visiting party will be fascinated]]. It might be made even more boring by an especially dull tour guide.

[[https://museumofeverydaylife.org/ The Museum of Everyday Life]] is a real museum run out of a small barn in Vermont. It's a personal project of the owner and his friends, and in the past it has had real exhibitions on topics such as: Toothbrushes, Pencils, Paperclips, and even Dust.

* The children's book ''Ratman'' has the Museum of Feathers, which the main character notes gets five visitors per year.
* The children's' book ''Thanks for the Sardine'' features the heroine Aggie persuading her boring aunts to come to a day course about how to be a good auntie by telling them it's an iron filings museum, which they find fascinating.

** Although not technically a museum, the Springfield Elementary trip to the box factory has this feel, causing Bart to wander off from the group. Principal Skinner and Martin, however, are fascinated.
** Subverted with the cracker factory, which Bart thinks will be boring and feels sorry for Milhouse who's there for "Take Your Kid to Work Day" but it's actually amazing (the salt storage area is so vast the workers use sleds and huskies to get around in it).

* One Episode of ''Series/Brooklyn99'' has TheComicallySerious Captain Holt seducing a potential corporate spy by bringing him to the Barrel Museum. Jake, who is listening in on a transmitter, has to fight to stay awake as they discuss a single barrel for 3 hours.

* The protagonist of ''Literature/TickTockYoureDead'' somehow considers the American Museum of Natural History -- one of the largest museums in the ''world'', housing over 30 million exhibits in 26 interconnected buildings -- to be one of these, complaining that his parents should bring him to somewhere else "cooler" for their trip in New York like the Rockfeller Center or the Statue of Liberty. Partially justified, since the protagonist is 12.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's song "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" name-checks a few likely candidates, all of which really existed when he wrote the song. Elvis-A-Rama (since closed) was in Paradise, Nevada. The Tupperware Museum is in Orlando. The Boll Weevil Monument is in Enterprise, Alabama. Ocean Spray Cranberry World (since closed) was in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Shuffleboard Hall of Fame is in St. Petersburg, Florida. There are several rock formations called Poodle Rock or Poodle Dog Rock; at least one is in Nevada. The Mecca of Albino Squirrels is in Olney, Illinois. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is in Darwin, Minnesota. The town celebrates "Twine Ball Day" on the second Saturday in August every year.

-->"Any asshole can open up a museum

* the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''-themed fic ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheep'' visits [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands Sto Kerrig]]. The main city of Sto Kerrig, [=DamHamster=], boasts informative and educative museums seeking to inform the visitor of those things the Sto Kerrigian people are rightly proud of concerning their nation's culture and ethos. Museums in the city are therefore dedicated to [[LandOfTulipsAndWindmills cheese-making, tulips, windmills and interactive clog-making]].

* ''Film/AnimalKingdom'': The Melbourne museum of art is implied to be boring because one of the characters needs somewhere no-one ever goes in order to have a secret conversation.

* The children's book ''Ratman'' has the Museum of Feathers, which the main character notes gets five visitors per year.
* The protagonist of ''Literature/TickTockYoureDead'' somehow considers the American Museum of Natural History - one of the largest museums in the ''world'', housing over 30 million exhibits in 26 interconnected buildings - to be one of these, complaining that his parents should bring him to somewhere else "cooler" for their trip in New York like the Rockfeller Center or the Statue of Liberty. Partially justified, since the protagonist is 12.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': The town of Pawnee has a snow-globe museum. Leslie really likes it, but it's suggested that no one else finds it that interesting, including the museum's staff.
* ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'': Gomer enthusiastically drags Sgt. Carter and his girlfriend to a rock museum, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', the chief exhibits in the museum are the jewel that Captain Cold is targeting and a stand dedicated to a guy who saved hundreds of cows from a flood. In fact a major tip-off to the museum's staff that Cold is planning a robbery is that he took the tour twice, which apparently no-one has done before.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's song "The Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota" name-checks a few likely candidates, all of which really existed when he wrote the song. Elvis-A-Rama (since closed) was in Paradise, Nevada. The Tupperware Museum is in Orlando. The Boll Weevil Monument is in Enterprise, Alabama. Ocean Spray Cranberry World (since closed) was in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Shuffleboard Hall of Fame is in St. Petersburg, Florida. There are several rock formations called Poodle Rock or Poodle Dog Rock; at least one is in Nevada. The Mecca of Albino Squirrels is in Olney, Illinois. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota is in Darwin, Minnesota. The town celebrates "Twine Ball Day" on the second Saturday in August every year.

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* ''Creator/VictoriaWood'' mentions in one of her shows a visit to the "Tungsten and Ball Bearing Experience".
[[/folder]]

** Subverted with the cracker factory, which Bart thinks will be boring and feels sorry for Milhouse who's there for "Take Your Kid To Work Day" but it's actually amazing (the salt storage area is so vast the workers use sleds and huskies to get around in it).

** Homer apparently feels this way about all museums: "Good things don't end in '-eum,' they end in '-mania'...or '-teria'!"

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'':
** A school trip to the natural history museum in "Carpe Museum" is a boring ordeal for Louise, who ducks out of a tour with her trip buddy Rudy to explore a part of the museum that's closed off to make way for an upcoming exhibit, forcing chaperone Bob to track them down. Other students make the best of it, like Zeke, who has a checklist of all the boobs you can see there.
** Another school trip in "If You Love it So Much, Why Don't You Marionette?" was to a puppet theater, which could have been fun, if only it didn't have an insipid play about stamps. The kids were asked to make their own puppets and stage their own play, but even that was made dull by only giving them eye stickers to put on the marionettes and a generic fill-in-the-blanks script.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': "Interdimensional Field Trip" opens with Star's class going to the Echo Creek Paperclip Museum. Star is initially excited, but everyone else is quickly bored out of their minds.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': in "The World of Tomorrow", the class goes on an annual overnight field trip to the science museum. All of the kids enjoy it…except Binky, who was HeldBackInSchool and is doing it all again. He’s bored and miserable until he finds out about the titular exhibit.

There are museums that contain some pretty interesting things. There are [[MuseumOfTheStrangeAndUnusual museums that contain things that are downright weird]]. This, however, is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a museum where the subject is extremely boring]]. It could be the location of a disappointing ClassTrip, although if PlayedForLaughs at least [[OnlyOneFindsItFun one member of the visiting party will be fascinated]]. It might actually be made even more boring by an especially tedious tour guide. It might also overlap with NatureIsBoring if the museum is nature-related.

* Frank Stockton's short story ''The Queen's Museum'' (1887). The title museum is full of buttonholes, which the country's queen finds fascinating but everyone else finds completely uninteresting.
* The childrens' book ''Thanks for the Sardine'' features the heroine Aggie persuading her boring aunts to come to a day course about how to be a good auntie by telling them it's an iron filings museum, which they find fascinating.

* The town of Pawnee from ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' has a snowglobe museum. Leslie really likes it, but it's suggested that no one else finds it that interesting, including the museum's staff.
* One episode of ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'' has Gomer enthusiastically dragging Sgt. Carter and his girlfriend to a rock museum, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* The Thimble Museum in ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom''. Bridget thinks it's exciting for [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} entirely unknown reasons]], and drags Willa there.

* The ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' episode "Interdimensional Field Trip" opens with Star's class going to the Echo Creek Paperclip Museum. Star is initially excited, but everyone else is quickly bored out of their minds.

* ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'' focuses on roadside attractions, which include the museum at the foot of the Biggest Ball of Twine in the World. It's ''dreadful''.

* The ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' GameMod, ''VideoGame/BeyondSkyrim'', has the so-called "Hall of the Champion" in Bruma, a small museum in Bruma dedicated to the Champion of Cyrodiil, the PlayerCharacter of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]''. Said museum is nowhere as exciting as its owner tries to make it out to be. Amongst the things he has on display are the shackles from the Champion's cell in the Imperial Dungeon, the armor of a Bruma guard the Champion bumped into while entering the city, and a handkerchief that he claims the Champion once blew their nose in.

* The ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' GameMod, ''VideoGame/BeyondSkyrim'', has the so-called "Hall of the Champion", a small museum in Bruma dedicated to the Champion of Cyrodiil, the PlayerCharacter of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. It is however, nowhere as exciting as it sounds as its rather clueless custodian has no idea about what constitutes an important historical relic, and instead display stuff like the shackles from the Champion's cell in the Imperial Dungeon and a handkerchief that the Champion once blew his nose in.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'': A world food museum.

[[caption-width-right:350:"We're going to spend the next day hours learning about the genius of this little bent of wire."]]