Travel: April 2019 Archives

Your membership in your local art or historical museum is worth more than free local admission thanks to the North American Reciprocal Museum Association. It acts as a season pass, providing member access to museums in all 50 states, Washington, DC, as well as several sites in Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, and Bermuda. While some member institutions restrict benefits for members of nearby institutions, that's not the case for any of the Oklahoma members of NARMA in the Spring 2019 list.

• Bartlesville, Price Tower Arts Center
• Bartlesville, Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve
• Broken Arrow, The Museum Broken Arrow
• Claremore, Will Rogers Memorial Museums
• Duncan, Chisholm Trail Heritage Center
• Grove, Har-Ber Village Museum
• Idabel, The Museum of the Red River
• Muskogee, Muskogee War Memorial Park: Home of the USS Batfish
• Norman, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
• Oklahoma City, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Museum of Art
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center
• Ponca City, Ponca City Art Center
• Shawnee, Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art
• Stillwater, Oklahoma State University Museum of Art
• Tulsa, Gilcrease Museum
• Tulsa, Philbrook Museum of Art
• Tulsa, Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium

Looking through the list, I see dozens of places I've visited (and paid separate admissions for) in my travels, places like the Institute of Texan Cultures and the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, the Bailey-Mathews National Shell Museum on Sanibel Island, HistoryMiami, the Wolfsonian in Miami Beach, the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, the Hawaiian Mission Houses in Honolulu, and the Princeton University Art Museum. There are plenty of other sites that I've passed by where I might have happily spent an hour getting just a taste of the exhibits if I knew I could go in without paying full admission.

During my time in the UK last year, I bought memberships in the National Trust (mainly stately homes), English Heritage (castles, ruins, battlefields), and Historic Royal Palaces (includes Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, and Kensington Palace), knowing that I'd be there long enough and visiting enough sites to make the cost worthwhile. Because of the membership, I could pay a short visit that fit into my daily schedule and feel I'd got my money's worth. Here in the US, the National Parks and Federal Lands annual pass is good value. If you're a Tulsa Zoo member, you qualify for 50% off admission at participating zoos in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

As always, consult the NARM Association website and the websites of the specific museums for details and full terms and conditions.