Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum facts for kids
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, Leavenworth Washington
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| Established | 1995 |
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| Location | 735 Front Street Leavenworth, Washington United States |
| Type | Non-profit |
| Collection size | 9103 nutcrackers |
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum is a special place in Leavenworth, Washington. It's a museum all about nutcrackers and tools used to crack nuts. Arlene Wagner and her husband George started it in 1995.
In 2020, the museum had over 7,000 nutcrackers. By 2023, this number grew to more than 9,000! Arlene Wagner loved nutcrackers because she taught many shows of The Nutcracker ballet. She started collecting them in the 1960s. The museum building looks like it's from Bavaria and has two floors for visitors. It's about 5,000 square feet in size.
Arlene Wagner became known as "the Nutcracker Lady." The museum was shown on the NBC program Today in 2000. In 2001, it became part of the National Heritage Foundation. David Evangelista spoke highly of the museum on an A&E Network special in 2003. Wagner also wrote a book called The Art and Character of Nutcrackers. This book features 1,000 pieces from the museum's collection.
In December 2009, CBS News featured the museum on its "Sunday Morning" program. On November 8, 2010, Arlene Wagner was the very first guest on Conan O'Brien's TV show Conan on TBS.
Many books have praised the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum. The book You Know You're in Washington When... said it was the best place to learn about nutcrackers. Wagner's own book was also mentioned positively. She was even a resource for the book Nutcracker Nation. Authors Ken and Dahlynn McKowen also suggested visiting the museum in their book Best of Oregon & Washington's Mansions Museums & More.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's Story
The museum's main expert, or curator, is Arlene Wagner. She was born in 1925. Arlene and her husband George opened the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum in 1995. They set it up as a non-profit organization. This means it's run for a good cause, not to make money.
Before the museum, Arlene was a ballet teacher. She helped put on shows of The Nutcracker ballet. The museum's website says that just like Clara in the ballet loved the wooden nutcracker, Arlene also fell in love with them. She started collecting these toy soldiers when she was a child. In the 1960s, she began buying many different kinds of nutcrackers.
A Growing Collection of Nutcrackers
Arlene Wagner became famous as "the Nutcracker Lady." The museum was shown on the NBC program Today in 2000. In 2001, Arlene and George Wagner gave their collection to the National Heritage Foundation. They did this to make sure the museum would continue even after they were gone. Arlene Wagner still kept her job at the museum.
In 2003, the museum had 3,028 items. By 2007, the collection grew to over 5,000 pieces. In 2010, it held more than 6,000 nutcrackers. Some of these were very old, dating back to the 16th century. By September 2021, the museum was even in the Guinness World Records! It had an amazing number of nutcracking tools, over 9,000.
The museum has nutcrackers from 38 different countries. It holds the largest collection of nutcrackers in the United States. One special nutcracker is named Karl. He was made in Germany and stands six feet tall! Karl was made for Wagner by Karl Roppl from Oberammergau, Germany. He was carved from a single piece of linden wood.
Ancient Nutcrackers and Global Hunts
One of the oldest items in the museum is a bronze piece from Ancient Rome. It dates from around 200 BC to 200 AD. This ancient tool was found in 1960. Wagner bought it from Rik Gijsen, an Netherlands-based dealer of old items. The museum got this piece in April 2006.
About 1,000 of the museum's nutcrackers are featured in Arlene Wagner's book, The Art and Character of Nutcrackers. The museum is open every day of the year, even on holidays. Arlene and George Wagner traveled all over the world to find nutcrackers for their museum. Arlene once said, "That's all we do! My husband and I have never been on a cruise. We just got back from Europe yesterday, hunting for nutcrackers." They visited the Netherlands and went to big European antique shows. They even had very valuable 16th and 17th century nutcrackers waiting for them to pick up.
Featured on TV Shows
In December 2009, Arlene Wagner and her museum were featured on the "Sunday Morning" program of CBS News. A producer from CBS News found the museum online. She contacted Arlene to learn more for the news story. Journalist Rita Braver from CBS interviewed Wagner about the museum. A CBS camera crew filmed inside the museum and showed its collection.
Wagner said they took pictures and asked questions about everything. This included "nutting stones" that are thought to be 4,000 to 8,000 years old. They also looked at modern nutcrackers. She noted that the CBS crew was very interested in the old ones. They also wanted to know how The Nutcracker ballet made people in America want to collect nutcrackers.
Arlene Wagner was the first guest on Conan O'Brien's TBS show Conan. This happened on November 8, 2010. Conan O'Brien had an online poll on his website to choose his first guest. Wagner was listed with famous people like Jack Nicholson, Pope Benedict XVI, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Vladimir Putin. O'Brien even joked on his Twitter account, "If the Nutcracker lady wins, I'm in trouble."
In an interview with KING-TV, Wagner replied, "Why would he be in trouble? I think I should do just fine on his show." She said the show's staff called her "out of the blue." She explained that many people think nutcrackers are only for Christmas, but they are not. Wagner planned to give O'Brien a gift: an Irish nutcracker from her collection.
See Also
- Leavenworth, Washington
- List of museums in Washington
