While the United States may be known as a titan in importing and exporting for industries like computers, automobiles, and oil, perhaps our biggest export is our culture. Our unique cultural heritage has melded influences from countries throughout the entire world to form our own American culture, which has become popular across the globe through music, movies, television, literature, and more. Here in Montgomery County, the American Treasure Tour celebrates a wide range of Americana memorabilia, from muscle cars to music players.

This tour has been in operation since 2010, and takes participants on a journey through a massive private collection made up of several other smaller private collections.  It’s located in a repurposed warehouse just outside of Valley Forge. You can get up close and personal with cultural artifacts from all of American history here, such as:

  • One of the world’s largest collections of automatic music machines (e.g. nickelodeons, band organs, calliopes, photoplayers, music boxes, etc.)
  • Classic cars
  • Dolls & Dollhouses
  • Circus art
  • Various other pop culture objects

Our Montgomery County personal injury lawyers recently took this tour. The tour is divided into two parts – here are some of our favorite parts of each:

The Music Room

In the music room, you can step back in time to the early days of popular American music. When you walk into this eclectic room, you’ll find that the walls are covered with records, movie posters, and photographs of celebrities. This is also where you’ll find one of the largest private collections of nickelodeons, photoplayers, and MBSI music boxes. In total, there are over 150 automatic music machines on display in the Music Room, including:

  • Two Wurlitzer Harps
  • Two Wurlitzer IX Electric Pianos
  • The Wurlitzer LX with a “wonder light” attached to its top
  • The Mills Violano-Virtuoso DeLuxe, which consists of two violins and an internal piano
  • Wurlitzer Mandolin PianOrchestra Style 12, featuring a wonder light shaped like a peacock and consisting of 37 violin and violoncello pipes, a piano, and a percussion section
  • Sextrola Style B
  • Seeburg Style C from the early 1910’s
  • Seeburg Style R Pipe-Organ Orchestra Photo Player, which once accompanied silent films
  • D.C. Ramey Piano Company Banjo Orchestra

The doll and dollhouse collection is also in the Music Room. These make for an added ambiance to enjoy while you’re listening to and learning about the progression of sound technology through American history.

The Toy Box

The Toy Box takes up the most space on the tour and features a train ride on an electric tram down lanes that are filled with various memorabilia on both sides (and hanging from the ceilings). Your guide will teach your group about the history of the items, how they were used, and how they’ve influenced our culture. Some highlights from the Toy Box include:

  • Model airplanes
  • Classic cars
  • Automatic music instruments
  • Original artwork
  • Movie memorabilia
  • Stuffed animals
  • Animated store displays
  • Motorcycles
  • Neon signs
  • 3 of the 11 surviving Wurlitzer 165 band organs
  • A giant shoe that was used for a promotion in Madison Square Park for a short-lived cable network
  • A popsicle castle listed in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records

The owner of this collection is anonymous, but he or she consistently adds new items to the collection. Even if you’ve done the tour before, you can always discover something new here.