Letter from the Toaster Museum Foundation President:
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to toasters - yes, that's correct, the kitchen appliance.
Since our origin in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s, our organization has dedicated itself to educating, entertaining, and enlightening people about the history and cultural importance of the bread toaster.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive reception to the museum in Seattle, one of the primary goals of our foundation has been to find a new, permanent home for The Toaster Museum. We came close to opening our doors in Charlottesville, Virginia, but are now focusing our efforts on the Rust Belt and southern Ontario which may turn out to be a much more appropriate venue as this area of the United States and up into Canada had such an active manufacturing base in the 20th century.
We have developed three approaches in order to advance our plans to get our collection of 525+ toasters on exhibit:
- Merge with an existing museum
- Buy and maintain our own space
- Develop a symbiotic relationship with an existing space/building.
Regarding merging with another institution, there has been some interest thus far from a couple of well-known museums - but neither are able to acquire and display our entire collection, and we are still determined to keep and present the whole range of toasters collected over the years.
Buying a property specifically for the museum and Foundation has its appeal due to the independence it would afford - but also has its drawbacks, the major being it would require much more initial capital and higher ongoing financial support.
The third strategy listed above was inspired by noticing that many large, historic office buildings have expansive lobbies or common areas that might be able to incorporate our museum - and benefit from our presence.
If you know of a space we should consider for the museum, feel free to email me at eric@toaster.org
If you wish to make a monetary donation, send a check or money order made out to The Toaster Museum Foundation, Inc. and send it to:
Toaster Museum Foundation, Inc
60 West Oakwood Place
Buffalo NY 14214
Click here for a promotional booklet is available in PDF format (5.5 MB)
Click here for an online gallery of the booklet that can be viewed with no download required.
To get an idea of the range of toasters that will be on display in the museum, an inventory may be viewed here:
Toaster Inventory
Thank you,
Eric Norcross, president
Toaster Museum Foundation
