From the ancient masterpieces of art crowding the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to the painstaking recreation of Britney Spears’ childhood bedroom in Louisiana’s aptly-named Britney Spears Museum, one might be left wondering how we got from point A to B.

Exhibiting the accomplishments (and sometimes plunder) of society began with the so-called “wonder room,” where wealthy collectors would offer their private holdings up to curious viewers. The first publicly owned museum in Europe was the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It housed the paintings and sculpture of the Medicis, but attendance must have been spotty since one had to personally request a peek at the treasures from a Medici. Quite an effective method of crowd control!

However, France - with her ideal of égalité - would soon send the masses rushing the Mona Lisa. Opening the Louvre to those who had managed to keep their heads, French officials declared the king’s treasure to be the property of the people in 1793.

One of the world’s most impressive public offerings is the British Museum. Considered a “universal museum,” its collections include not only art, but also displays of science, archaeology, history and many other “souvenirs” of the empire. Art-only museums are fairly modern inventions, the first being the 1764 opening of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

From these early beginnings, many a house of curiosity sprung forth. The sky’s the limit, and there’s a museum for every interest, no matter how particular. There is MOBA, or The Museum of Bad Art. Its treasure is a pointillist masterpiece called “Sunday in the Pot with George.” Other cultural institutions include the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, The Bulette Red Light Museum (which hasn’t a single stop light), and The Donner Museum, which houses eating utensils and Tamsen Donner’s salt and pepper shakers. At the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas, you can even see a Civil War embalming reenacted. Ever pragmatic, its motto is “Any Day Above Ground Is A Good One.” Indeed.

At FootageBank HD, we play host to our own impressive collection. With over 65,000 clips available to preview online, you’re only a click away from our formaldehyde-free wonder room.  If you’d like to check out a few of our museum clips, click here.