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.

Nov. 2008 UPDATE:

After leaving Charlottesville we still held on to the hope that the collection of 500+ toasters, ranging from pre-electric 19th century toasting forks to modern toasters designed by Michael Graves, could remain together and eventually find a place of display. The good news is that the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn has acquired the entire collection and they will stay largely together although we are uncertain when they will have the toasters ready for public viewing. Additionally the Henry Ford has committed to preserving the Internet resource toaster.org, which has so well served researchers and students over the years.

The Toaster Museum has attracted a great deal of press coverage over the years - from mentions on Garrison Keillor's, "A Prairie Home Companion" and the Oprah Winfrey Show to radio interviews around the globe to being featured in magazines as diverse as "Saveur" and Russian "Elle" - and we are gratified that the public will now have the opportunity to see this unique collection in person.

As we will be ceasing our activity as a non-porfit orgainzation soon - if you wish to make a monetary donation, please consider giving to The Henry Ford Museum.

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