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Welcome to the Beer Can Museum, South of Boston! Check out this month's (May) Reader's Digest to see a mention of our fine
museum on page 160. How fun is that?
| Beer Can Lighters and more |
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| Crowntainer from the estate of Israel Marks |
Welcome to the East Taunton Beer Can Museum, as seen in the Boston Phoenix, The Brockton Enterprise,
The Taunton Daily Gazette,The Los Angeles Times, The Patriot Ledger, The Silver City Bulletin, and the Cambodia Daily! Thanks
go out to Roy Logan (no relation to the curator) who brought us a generous donation and came by for a VIP tour last week.
We also received a nice donation from Seattle recently; sincere thanks go out to George Zinn, who sent us a wonderful donation
of dozens of classic cans for the hallowed halls. Thank you, as well, to Harvey Berliner for a 1954 Schlitz Half-Pint flat
top, found in a wall of his home and now residing in the Beer Can Museum. Much appreciated, Harv! Dave Bourque of Taunton,
Mass. came by for a VIP tour recently and he donated some great breweriana to our collection - including a classic BCCA patch
(circa the early 90's), a nice Miller flat top, and a great Key West commemorative can! Recently we were happy to answer
a question for a History Channel producer who is working on a show about the history of canning. We also received a second
e-mail from another gentleman who inquired about the value of a Badger Beer can. (that's two inquiries about the same can
in a month...strange. Anyway, his can is also worth close to a thousand dollars.
| Cans and more cans |
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| The Beer Can Museum! |
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| Joel Veak Photo |
"No one is quite sure how many of these oddball exhibits exist, because many are set up in private homes, open
by appointment only. Officially, the Institute of Museums and Library Services in Washington classifies them as "collections
of curiosities," not educational enough to gain true museum status. But some academics are not so quick to dismiss them as
random junk."
"There's something about
bringing [ordinary objects] together as a collection that lets you see a phenomenon in a way you wouldn't otherwise.... And
there's something about the relentless focus of really hard-core collectors that's impressive and intriguing in its own right,"
said Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, a professor at New York University who has written extensively about the interplay between
food and culture.
"What the Museum of Modern
Art does in classifying paintings by genre and period--that's the same thing that the Mustard Museum or The Beer Can Museum
or the nut museum is doing," Steiner said. "Only, unlike modern minimalist art, these museums are dealing with something that
everyone can relate to."
(The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles,
Calif.; Oct 11, 2002; Page 1. Stephanie Simon)
"Arrayed in kaleidoscopic precision, a sea of painted, weathered metal, these little steel and aluminum vessels are a wonder
to behold".
The Boston Phoenix, June 2, 2005, on 'The East Taunton Beer Can Museum'
| Some unique Japanese 'cans' |
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| Photo by Jim Cannizzaro, ETBCM photographer |
| from the Silver City Bulletin,Taunton, MA |
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| photos: Rick Foster |
Week of May 5th, 2008...
Well, Spring has arrived, and the hyacinths, daffodils, and crocus continue to make their presence known behind the museum.
We wish you all a Happy Spring - happy collecting to beer can collectors everywhere!
Thanks go out to Rux Martin for a recent contribution to the museum.
Thanks to the Brockton/Taunton Enterprise for running a terrific story on the Beer Can Museum recently. We've received many
great e-mails from folks in the area with questions about cans and kind words for the curator. Thanks go out to Ed Barnicle,
Sheila Trout, Doug Munro, and Roy Logan (who came by for a VIP tour!) for some great donations which are now livening up the
museum shelves! Museumfest '07 is now in the history books, and we had another successful bash! The thunderstorms held off
and we were able to get the canoe out on the lake, play some competitive bolo golf, and enjoy the 'mist machine' next to
the pool. Thanks to everyone who made the trek to East Taunton this year. It's time to get Hilda out raking leaves behind
the museum. Thanks to Daryl Kanary and family for some great Russian currents which arrived recently! Thanks go out to 'Uncle'
Jimmy Boyd of Raynham, Mass., for a Dawson's ceramic bottle cap circa 1893! May your holidays be happy and healthy! Enjoy
your virtual tour of the Beer Can Museum.
Thank you to the Anheuser-Busch Archives for sending along some great pieces of breweriana for the museum.
Thanks also to the Miller Brewing Company's Archivist for a fantastic 1967 air sealed white flat top can for the museum. Great
stuff indeed!Recently the'Cambodia Daily' newspaper included some quotes from the curator on the hobby of collecting breweriana.
'The Cambodia Daily' is one of the truly free presses in that country (the government has threatened to shut them down
in the past)and we were honored to be interviewed for what turned out to be a front page article on beer can collecting. The
museum was also mentioned in a recent Boston Phoenix, so check it out online when you get a chance. (Google 'The Ale
Trail' to find it. Thanks go out to Joel Veak Photography for sharing some museum pics with us for use on the site. Check
out our ETBCM Blog when you have a minute to spare(see out 'links' page). A special thank you to Montana's own Reuben
Cochran for a great donation of some of Alcoa's new alumabottles. The Moose Drool container looks great (see pic of an
alumabottle below) in the museum's entrance.
"Massachusetts Curiosities" is in bookstores now and the Beer Can Museum is featured in a full page write-up. Watch for
a revised edition soon. Thanks to Globe-Pequot Press for publishing this fine work - and thanks to Erik Sherman for thinking
of us as he searched the Commonwealth for 'curiosities!' You can now E-mail the museum curator at beercanmuseum@gmail.com
. (If you are a BCCA member or a museum contributor and would like a tour of the museum click on the 'contact the
curator link and we'll talk) Now, on with the show.
We recently added some new selections to the Beer Cans in Literature Page. Don't miss them!
E-mail any of your own contributions for possible inclusion on the page.
Life is good, at least in the insulated microcosm known as ETBCM!! Some days I'm so overwhelmed by the richness of life,
ya know what I mean!?
Thanks to Los Angeles Times' writer Stephanie Simon for giving our fine museum a mention in an article on the Mount Horeb
Mustard Museum in Wisconsin. The article was picked up by the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, too, and as a result the
curator has heard from many people across the country including collectors, wayward travellers, and people just wanting to
check the value of cans found in their basements! If you found us as the result of a newspaper article PLEASE drop me an
e-mail and let me know the paper and the date it ran. I'll even send you a museum souvenir!
FYI - The Beer Can Museum is located in a private residence and tours are by appointment only for museum contributors, members
of the BCCA, and friends/family of the curator. Until I retire and have a separate space to call home for the museum, please
enjoy the VIRTUAL tour.
| Dave Kay enjoying his VIP tour (2006) |
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| Brats and Sox event! '01 |
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| A Beer Can in different production stages |
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| Suzanne Cope and Steve Mayone |
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| Museumfest '04 - before Steve dove in the lake! |
2006 was a fantastic year for the museum! 2007 has the potential to be
even better!!
Museumfest 2002 took place on July 13th, '02. Brats, Beers, and fishing at Massasoit State Park made
this day memorable to say the least. Museumfest 2003 took place on July 12th of 2003 and featured canoe adventures on Lake
Rico and grilled s'mores! 2004's bash featured wiffleball, canoeing, and the horseshoe pit. This year's event is now history
and Museumfest '05 featured horseshoes, an outdoor movie for the kids in the pool, and a record turnout. The '06 bash featured
'Bolo Golf'as well as another classic cake provided by Bob Lemieux! Door prizes were also a big hit and guests left with
commemorative cans, scratch tickets, and more!
| Museumfest '07 attendees plan to set sail |
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Get comfortable and enjoy a relaxing tour of the greatest beer can site
on the internet. You have finally found the East Taunton Beer Can Museum! Life is good!
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| Our only Tunisian can! (Joel Veak Photography) |
Fun Beer Can Museum Facts and Figures: Number of full steel cans from Papua New Guinea: 1. Number
of cans featuring baseball great Roberto Clemente: 2. Number of coasters: Too many to count. Number of times a
parrot has gone to the bathroom on the floor of the museum: 1. Number of beer glasses on the bar = approx 15. Number of times
neighborhood kids have knocked over some portion of the collection = 8! Number of pub towels hanging from the rafters:
3. Hilda's salary-18K per year plus free admission (except on Thursday's when she pays half price!) She also gets 2 weeks
vacation (not paid) when she goes searching for cans in remote countries across the sea. Hilda is the official ticket seller
at the museum but doesn't show up for work much. Some say she's a figment of the curator's imagination but I say she's half
of the museum staff and that's saying something. I guess.
Thanks to my gorgeous wife, Maryellen
Logan, for not tossing these cans into the recycling bin week after week. She is the greatest!
Why do I collect
beer cans? Fair question. Beer cans are pretty fascinating really. The Beer Can Archeology Museum might be a better name for
my collection, since many of these cans tell stories about American and World History and their values at certain points
in time. I have an extensive Bicentennial section, a sports wing, a huge foreign can section, and some cans dating back to
just after prohibition. The designs of some of these cans show great creativity in some cases and showcase great athletes,
actors (John Wayne Coors series), and patriots (George Washington, Sam Adams). You'll see just a few examples on these pages!
So sit back, pop open a can of beer and enjoy the tour!! Please Drink Responsibly. Even though
I collect beer cans it takes me a good month and a half to go through a twelve pack, so to answer the obvious question, NO,
I didn't drink all those cans of beer!
Cheers,
Kevin Logan, a/k/a K-Lo and Kevbo (your curator
and tour guide)
New 'Superior' Beer tray from Mexico! (Thanks, Scott!)
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