Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -
Mummers Museum

Mummers Museum

A neighborhood museum dedicated to the human party favors -- The Mummers -- who parade through Philadelphia each New Year's Day. Roadsideamerica.com Report...

Mummer's Museum

I can't believe you have the Mutter Museum without its bastard twin, the Mummer's Museum! The Mummer's Museum, apparently a dressed up old theater on S. 2nd St. is dedicated to all things Mummer.

No, I still haven't figured out what a Mummer is, but it appears to involve Teamsters dressing as Liberace and playing the banjo while marching on New Year's Day. God bless America, and its cradle of liberty, Philly.

Gift shop has tapes for sale, and a shirt design that's sort of Mummers Go Yellow Submarine. [Diana, 01/27/2002]

[RA: Hmmm... well we visited 15 years ago (!), so if things haven't changed much then perhaps our short report and photos are still valid:

Try to imagine a 2 1/2 mile long horde of glorified party favors strumming banjos, playing glockenspeils and surrounded by 750,000 people with hangovers and cold feet. This is where the romance of Mummery starts.

The Mummers Museum stands imposingly among a tumble-down South Philly neighborhood -- a colorful temple that tells the Mummer story. Built in 1976. Women were banned from the parade until 1983, but have a long history of sneaking in. Women disguised as men dressed as women?

The Hall of Fame includes a projection TV where you can see the top ten winners in last year's String Band competition. The "Winner's Circle" mannequins display previous award-winning outfits.]