10 Best Museums in Portland

The Portland Art Museum contains a tremendous amount of art, with large collections of Native American and Northwest art as well as impressive selections of European and American works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Its Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Centre for Native American Art consists of some 3,500 pieces, while its Centre for Native American Art showcases the work of modern-day artists. The museum’s Centre for an Untold Tomorrow is the reimagining of what was the Northwest Film Centre.

A subterranean gallery connects 2 buildings on its 2.5-block campus in city centre Portland’s cultural district. While the museum is noted for its special exhibitions, it devotes 90 percent of its space to its permanent collection.

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry mixes learning with entertainment on a waterfront setting along the Willamette River. The museum has interactive exhibits in multiple halls and laboratories focusing on physics, chemistry, technology, and palaeontology, among other topics. The Science Playground is intended for children aged 6 and younger. Adults can attend “After Dark” events that combine science talks with beer and wine.

Walk outside to the riverfront and tour the USS Blueback, the submarine used in the film, “The Hunt for Red October.” Learn about the universe or see a laser light show with a curated soundtrack in the Kendall Planetarium. See a documentary during the day or a Hollywood film at night in the Empirical Theatre.

The World Forestry Center’s Discovery Museum combines education and fascination to teach about forests and conservation around the globe. The museum, located in the expansive, wooded Washington Park, occupies an impressive 20,000-square-foot, 2-story wooden building in the Cascadian architectural style. Exhibits, some of them interactive, incorporate art, artefacts, video, forestry technology, and taxidermy.

See various examples of forest wildlife up close. Try operating something called a timberjack harvester in a simulator. Learn about wildfire. Take a video tour to learn about forest sustainability around the world. See an ancient stump of a Giant Sequoia – and learn why it turned to rock. Climb on a steam engine that hauled 1 billion feet of logs.

Harvey Golden builds boats. These aren’t yachts or speedboats, though. Rather, they’re small, sleek replicas of historical watercraft, most of them developed by indigenous people in the Arctic or South Pacific. The boats were used for hunting, fishing, trading, migrating, and combat. Golden’s Lincoln Street Kayak & Canoe Museum occupies a small shopfront that previously housed a beauty salon and grocer. Golden also creates accessories such as harpoons and camouflage. He does all this in his garage.

Golden can tell you about each boat’s history, design, materials, and aesthetics. He’s tried most of them on the Columbia River himself. The museum is open by appointment only, so contact Golden to set up a visit.

The Portland Puppet Museum holds some 2,000 puppets in a small shopfront in Southeast Portland. Some are new, some antique. They originate from dozens of countries around the world. Some were made by proprietor and puppeteer Steven Overton. Overton is thrilled to share his collection with anyone who visits his museum, as well as the origin behind any puppet he has, whether it’s a marionette, rod-and-arm, dummy, or shadow puppet.

The museum doesn’t have the space to display the whole collection (which includes an original Miss Piggy from “The Muppet Show”), so he rotates exhibits every few months. Overton offers workshops for adults and children in an upstairs space, and he puts on shows in the building’s backyard.

If you want to “Keep Portland Weird,” as locals are reminded by stickers and signs that proliferate the region, then the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium might be considered a de rigueur training camp. It claims to be dedicated to the blurry vision of an adventurer named Conrad Talmadge Elwood, who had a dream, forgot it, then endlessly searched the world for the inexplicable and freaky.

Peculiarium visitors are greeted by a massive Bigfoot statue, and can progress to a red-eyed Krampus, a space-alien autopsy scene and a trip inside a zombie brain. Novelties, books, shirts, stickers, and original artwork is offered. “Decent costumes and pets get in free,” says the website. One positive reviewer describes the admission price as “money unusually spent.”

The Oregon Jewish Museum and Centre for Holocaust Education takes on the regional as well as global history of Jewish people. Its mission is to explore the legacy of the Jewish experience in Oregon, teach the lasting relevance of the Holocaust, and provide space for conversation between cultures. Located near city centre Portland, it has 2 floors for exhibitions, a café, and a gift shop containing works by Jewish artists from the region.

It has rotating exhibitions in addition to core exhibitions, including “Discrimination and Resistance, an Oregon Primer,” “Oregon Jewish Stories,” “The Holocaust, an Oregon Perspective,” and “Human Rights After the Holocaust.” It hosts events including workshops, film screenings, artist talks, and panel conversations.

The Oregon Maritime Museum exists aboard a restored steam-powered steamboat called The Portland. This restored tugboat is on the National Register of Historic Places. Take a tour of the engine room and pilot house guided by docents. See maritime artefacts (one reviewer mentions a Spanish sword found on the beach) as well as memorabilia. Learn about steam power, lighthouses, and the battleship USS Oregon. Kids can blow a ship’s whistle and move parts of a ship model.

The Portland is docked on the Willamette River near Waterfront Park, while the museum’s library and main office are located in town.

The Japanese American Museum of Oregon aims to educate visitors about Japanese American history and culture in Portland and Oregon in general. It’s located in the city’s Old Town area, which once was Japantown. The museum focuses on the World War II era.

One permanent exhibit covers Japanese internment camps that opened after the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. Another depicts highly decorated Japanese American soldiers who fought for the country that imprisoned their relatives. Also see the jail cell of Minoru Yasui, Oregon’s first Japanese American lawyer. He spent 9 months in jail awaiting a Supreme Court decision on his arrest, an intentional violation of a law aimed at Japanese immigrants.

The Portland Chinatown Museum strives to preserve the history of Portland Chinatown, once among the largest in the nation, while making space for the culture and expression of contemporary Chinese Americans. One gallery features a permanent exhibition called “Beyond the Gate: A Tale of Portland’s Historic Chinatowns.” The multimedia exhibition includes stories, artefacts, and animated film as well as video and audio components. Seasonal traditions, business, and clothing are highlighted, as are discrimination and xenophobia.

Two other galleries are venues for current Asian American artists in various media in addition to lectures, performances, and other public programmes.