museums

The Vacuum Cleaner Museum in St. James, Mo., houses more than 750 vacuums, including some that date back to just after the Civil War. Curator Tom Gasko is a former door-to-door vacuum salesman.

Caitlin Freeman made a name for herself selling modern art-inspired pastries at the SFMOMA. The museum's cafe just reopened with a new caterer — whose desserts look suspiciously familiar.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has reopened after a three-year closure. Like a growing number of museums, it hopes new tech doesn't get in the way of looking at the art.

They have the technology. Now they need the money. The Science Museum has launched a Kickstarter campaign to rebuild Eric, who wowed audiences after he was created in 1928 — and then vanished.

Bringing kids to a museum or zoo can be great — until lunchtime. Often those cafeterias offer few healthful food options, but there's a movement to change that.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to update the Nehru Memorial Museum, honoring India's first prime minister, to include his own achievements. Critics say it's an effort to undermine Nehru's legacy.

Don't be fooled by museums' strong attendance numbers, says professor Michael Lewis. He argues today's art world is a Potemkin village, whose gleaming facades mask an indifference for the art itself.

Athens says taking the matter to the International Criminal Court would take too long and the outcome would be uncertain. Instead he says Greece will use diplomatic channels for their return.

A New Orleans attorney has turned an antebellum plantation into a new museum. You won't find hoop skirts and mint juleps but stark relics at a site devoted entirely to a realistic look at slavery.

They call it "The last McDonald's hamburger in Iceland." Purchased more than five years ago, it has been displayed in the Na­tional Museum of Iceland. Now it has its own webcam.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts and Cuba's National Museum of Fine Arts are exchanging works from their collections. It's the largest art exchange between the two countries in more than 50 years.

It's now possible to create an impressive copy of Michelangelo's David or Rodin's The Thinker with a 3-D printer. Rather than object, some museum curators see this high-tech replication as a way to bring near-real versions of classic works to the masses.