City: Branson, MO

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (417) 334-6411, ext. 3407

Description: Known as the Smithsonian of the Ozarks, this museum contains the lifetime collections of radio pioneer and philanthropist Ralph D. Foster, who donated much of the museum’s contents to the college. Housed in a former boys dormitory on the campus of College of the Ozarks, the museum takes up three floors and includes objects representing archaeology, history, antiques, numismatics, natural history, fine arts, geology, and mineralogy. A collection of Foster’s 1,500 guns fills the second floor and includes a Thompson submachine gun, Pancho Villa’s pistols, and a handgun once owned by Hollywood cowpoke Slim Pickens. Natural-history exhibits, mostly taxidermy animals from Africa and North America, line the walls. On the third floor you can see rocks, minerals, and preserved birds and butterflies.Other exhibits in the museum trace the history of the Ozarks and the more-recent Branson boom. The famous jalopy owned by the Clampett family in the 1960s TV series The Beverly Hillbillies can be found on the first floor. The collection of fine art at the museum ranges from Kewpie dolls created by Rose O’Neill to paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, M. E. Oliver, and others. There’s also a collection of Native American art (see also the Arts and Culture chapter). Admission to the museum, including tax, is $4.50 for adults and $3.50 for adults 62 and older. Children younger than 18 get in free. The museum is open year-round Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a few exceptions.