The Kazoo Museum facts for kids

The Kazoo Museum is a fun place in Beaufort, South Carolina. It's all about the history of the kazoo, a cool musical instrument. This museum has one of the biggest collections of kazoos anywhere! It first started in Seattle, Washington, in 2007. Then, on October 6, 2010, it moved to its current home in Beaufort. You can find the museum inside the Kazoobie Kazoos Factory. It shows off many kazoos, recordings of kazoo music, and other kazoo-related items.

The Story of The Kazoo Museum

Kazoobie Kazoos Factory

Kazoobie Kazoos is a big company that sells kazoos all over the world. Rick Hubbard and Gayle Andrus started it in 1997. They began by selling kazoos online. The company used to be in Hilton Head Island and Florida. In 2009, Kazoobie Kazoos moved back to South Carolina. They settled in Beaufort, which is the hometown of co-owner Steven Murray.

In Beaufort, Kazoobie Kazoos grew a lot. They moved into a large building that is about 600 square meters. This building has a warehouse and a showroom. In 2010, they added a gift shop. This new space also became the home of The Kazoo Museum.

How the Museum Started

A TV person and kazoo fan named Boaz Frankel first created a version of The Kazoo Museum. This was in 2007 in Seattle. Later, in 2008, his collection moved to Portland, Oregon. At that time, people could not visit the collection in person. They could only see it on The Kazoo Museum's website.

Back then, the collection had about 100 kazoos. It included some of the very first kazoos ever made. There were also books, old patents, music sheets, and records about kazoos. By 2010, the collection had grown to about 200 items.

The Kazoobie Kazoos factory invited the museum to move to Beaufort. So, on October 6, 2010, The Kazoo Museum officially opened its doors to the public in its new home. To celebrate, they had a special ribbon-cutting event at the Kazoobie Kazoos factory. Many local people came, along with curator Boaz Frankel and the owners of Kazoobie Kazoos.

What You Can See at the Museum

Visitors to The Kazoo Museum can learn all about the kazoo. You can discover its history, from when it was invented in the 1840s until today. You can also take a tour of the Kazoobie Kazoos factory. This lets you see how modern kazoos are made right now.

The museum has almost 200 items related to kazoos. This makes it one of the largest private collections of kazoos in the world. All the items are kept safely in glass cases. These cases are in a special building at the Kazoobie Kazoos factory.

Some of the cool kazoos in the collection include:

• One used on the TV show The Partridge Family.
• Kazoos shaped like famous cartoon characters.
• Electric kazoos.
• Kazoos that are over 100 years old!

The museum also shows an old machine that was used to make parts for kazoos. You can see old kazoo music sheets and other interesting kazoo items.

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