Collections Resource Center makes for a unique day trip

During the excruciatingly cold Detroit winter days, museum visits are of interest as they provide a warm, indoor activity where you can experience new things and make room for your creative imagination.

Aside from the well-known and heavily-visited Detroit Institute of Arts, the Henry Ford Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and a few more, the Detroit Collections Resource Center is often overlooked.

The center, located about 20 minutes from the McNichols campus at the city’s Historic Fort Wayne, is not your typical museum. It houses over 250,000 artifacts from all of Detroit’s past and present, with some items dating back 300 years.

Run by the Detroit Historical Society, the Collections Resource Center is home to most of the artifacts on display in the Detroit Historical Museum and Dossin Great Lakes Museum. A large team goes through the artifacts to determine which items will be put on display.

According to the center, only a tiny fraction of its overall collection is on display at any given time. 

The Collections Resource Center includes an extremely wide variety of papers, cars and more. It ranges from a library with books all about Detroit’s past, to other small items such as newspapers, Detroit Tigers ticket stubs, interior design, maps and more.

It also includes larger objects such as rare cars, furniture and clothing.

The Collections Resource Center is not typically open to the public, although the Detroit Historical Society often offers tours for $30 per person.  

This would be an ideal location to visit if you are looking for a more laid-back type of museum visit, perfect for an activity with a significant other, friends or even just individual time.