Museum of
Ordinary ThingsA little attention changes everything.
Dark-framed eyeglasses resting on a wooden table.
The collectionExhibit No. 015

In plain sight

Have you seen my glasses?

An essential object, last seen very recently.

The story behind the object
The storyplayful

We checked the kitchen. We checked the newspaper. Someone suggested the car, which involved finding another set of keys.

At some point, the missing glasses were discovered on the head of the person leading the search. No apology was issued. The household simply resumed its afternoon.

This happened often enough to become a family expression. Even now, when I lose something, I check my head first.

A fictional story, written for this sample exhibit.

What ordinary thing would you keep?

Make an exhibit of your own

Fictional sample exhibit · Back to the collection

Photograph by Angus Gray / Unsplash ↗

A closer look · The full photograph

Dark-framed eyeglasses resting on a wooden table.

An ordinary thing, given extraordinary attention.

The Museum of Ordinary Things

Nothing ordinary
about what we keep.

A ticket. A chipped cup. A watch that no longer works. Some objects matter for reasons no label can quite explain. This is a place to try.

This early exhibit explores how a photograph and a few words can give an everyday thing extraordinary attention.

Create an exhibit with your own photograph and words. Save it privately, then choose when to publish it. The two stories in our sample exhibit are fictional.