Welcome to the Historical Museum
Regular Hours of Operation
The museum is open to the public Sunday and Wednesday 1pm–4pm. Admission is free. Group tours and research times are by appointment only.
Museum Curator—Melodie Nichols
Phone 248.588.9169
E-Mail historicalmuseum@cityofclawson.com
Holiday Hours
Closed Sunday, December 25th through the end of the year
The museum will be closed for the month of January for our annual maintenance. We will re-open Wednesday, February 1st, 2012. Historical inquiries will be answered via email at historicalmuseum@cityofclawson.com
Regular hours are Wednesday and Sunday, 1–4pm and admission is free.
Group Tours by Appointment only
Weather Advisory: The Museum will be closed holidays and when Clawson Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather,
Curator Hours
October 1 thru April 30: 10am–2 pm, Monday, Tuesday, 8–4 Wednesday
May 1 thru September 30: 8am–Noon Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and by appointment.
Please call for a research appointment. Group tours are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. Please call for an appointment.
About the Museum
The City of Clawson purchased the three story home in 1972 along with other property on Roth Avenue to provide additional parking and a driveway for the library. In November of 1973, the city council allocated two rooms on the second floor to the Historical Commission to be used as a museum.
The rooms were first opened with fewer than 100 items on December 11, 1973. By 1976, the collection had grown and artifacts were on all three floors and in the basement. On March 14, 1976, the entire building was officially dedicated as the Clawson Historical Museum. The first curator, Deloris Kumler, was appointed in August, 1977. She retired in December, 2007.
The house was built about 1919 by Oswald and Deborah Fisher and reflects the furnishings of the 1920’s or earlier. A community room has a display of over 200 photographs about the history of Clawson. It also has Clawson High School yearbooks, city yearbooks, and genealogical materials.
In the office, an extensive collection of newspaper clippings and over 4,000 photographs are stored and available for research, including early local newspapers on computer. Magazines, periodicals, catalogs, clothing patterns and fashion books are also part of the archives and may be viewed on request. We can provide copies of newspaper clippings, photographs and historical information to citizens requesting them. We can also scan photographs and other information that are brought in so that the copies can be filed in the museum archives.
The museum is owned by the City of Clawson and the operation of the museum is under the direction of the curator and the Clawson Historical Commission. Volunteers serve as guides.
The kitchen offers an authentic look at homemaking in the 1920s.
Programs and Presentations
The Clawson Historical Museum offers a variety of entertaining and educational presentations and tours, either at the museum or your site. All programs are offered free of charge, and advanced reservations are required. Click here for more information on programs and tours.
There's always something fun to see in the museum's two toy exhibits.
Wanted
The archives is missing the 2003 Clawson High School yearbook. A donation of that year's book would make the CHS yearbook collection complete. The museum is also looking for old movies of Clawson sites or events that can be converted to a video or DVD. Photographs from Kenwood School classes 1958-1959, Parkland School 1966–1972 and Log Cabin School 1964-1968 are needed to add to the archives.
Fund Raisers
The following items are for sale to aid the museum:
- Two Square Miles, the Heroes of a Small Town, volumes I and II, by Bill Hayes, $20 each.
- Pummychug, the foundation of the Village of Clawson, by Maurice Blair, $10 at the museum, City Hall or Leon & Lulu. Children's story version also available for $6.00.
- Clawson—The Way It Was, by Deloris Kumler is $20 at the museum, Leon & Lulu, City Hall and the Clawson Community Credit Union
- The book “Images of America: Clawson” is $20 at the museum and Leon & Lulu. (96 W. 14 Mile)
- Clawson Michigan baseball caps, dark blue with gold lettering, $10.00.
