Welcome to the Museum of Aquarium and Pet History

Welcome to The Museum of Aquarium & Pet History: the world’s most comprehensive collection of artifacts relating to aquarium and pet keeping. This museum includes a huge depository of over 3,000 items that were historically used to keep pets. These items would be antique aquariums, fish bowls and stands, bird cages, squirrel cages, dog, cat, bird, and fish foods and medications, pet advertising signs including neon and automation, pet product shipping wood crates, metal fish shipping cans, etc., etc. The museum also has a library with over 1,000 aquarium and pet books, 5,000 aquarium and pet magazines, and hundreds of original letters from pet companies, pet publishers, aquarium & pet hobbyists, pet stores, etc.

It took four decades to build this collection and it is currently being housed in six buildings. Building number 1 (display building) houses over 200 antique aquariums and fish bowls plus over 200 bird cages along with dog & cat food items, plus antique pet advertising signs and more. Currently we are online only and have monthly articles published on pet history by the best pet historians worldwide. We also have a YouTube channel with a new major release monthly plus new 5-minute weekly videos. We hope to have a building open to the public with rotating exhibits of our collection by 2027. To stay up to date, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and newsletter.

One of the features of our museum website is to showcase the history of pet companies and aquarium hobbyists. We welcome outside contributions on company history from anyone who may have worked at a company no longer in business, or one still in business that has been in business for 25 years or more. We also would like any historical information on tropical fish farms or aquariums, birds, dogs, cats, etc., and hobbyists that have contributed significantly to pet & aquarium keeping.

How you can help the Museum of Aquarium and Pet History:

  1. Donate. Become a monthly donor or give as you can.
  2. Donate old pet products you may have such as old aquariums, pet magazines, pet catalogs, old invoices, etc.
  3. Write an article on your company, or do a Zoom interview!
  4. Write an article on a historical pet subject that you are an expert on.
  5. Send us samples of products from your company along with your company’s history to keep on file at the museum.

Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned for lots more aquarium & pet history in the months ahead!

July 2026 Video of the month

In this month’s video, Jay Frewer, joint owner of one of the largest turtle and tortoise farms in the United States, showcases his collection of vintage turtle artifacts!

When will the physical museum open?

Lots of people ask us if we have a physical museum they can come and visit. The short answer is “not yet”. We hope to have the physical of the Museum of Aquarium & Pet History (MOAPH) open by the end of 2027. In the meantime, the attached video is our trial run small MOAPH museum we spent 2 years putting together during the COVID times. If you have not seen this video, please have a look and know that the new museum will be 3 times as large, with a coffee shop and gift store.

We greatly appreciate all our donors, whether it is monetary or vintage pet products you have lying around that you would like to see go to the MOAPH museum. Thank You!

MOAPH 5 Minute Video series

The Museum of Aquarium and Pet History just released a new 5-Minute Video! Tune in every Wednesday for a short video featuring a unique artifact from the museum, OR an “unboxing video” for a new treasure just arriving at the museum.

JULY ARTICLES

Palmer's Pet Shop

Palmer’s Pet Shop

In this article, Jessica tells the story of Palmer's Pet Shop and explores its place in the evolving history of pet ownership. From neighborhood storefronts to the growing pet industry, ...
Book Review: Aquarium Buildings. Construction and Design Manual.

Book Review: Aquarium Buildings. Construction and Design Manual.

The subject of this review is a niche book published in 2023. According to the official website of DOM Publishers in Berlin, the main goal of this lavishly illustrated volume ...
British Bird Garden Pioneers: The Enthusiasts Who Built the UK’s Avian Attractions.

British Bird Garden Pioneers: The Enthusiasts Who Built the UK’s Avian Attractions.

The 1960s and early 1970s reflected the birth of the bird gardens open to the public, established and run by private individuals. Increasing interest in the natural world fueled by ...
The Wise Eminence of Aquatics – Günther Sterba

The Wise Eminence of Aquatics – Günther Sterba

In this article, Dr. Hajo Herrmann reflects on a number of lesser-known details and characteristics of this extraordinary scientist and icon in the aquarium field, Günther Sterba ...
Chapter 22 - The Punctual Zebra - Wilde Tiere Frei Haus (Wild Animals/Free Delivery)

Chapter 22 – The Punctual Zebra – Wilde Tiere Frei Haus (Wild Animals/Free Delivery)

In this chapter of Wild Animals, Free Delivery, Hermann faced both professional and personal challenges, including the death of a key zoo director and the demanding transport of white rhinoceroses ...
Shipping Pets By Express

Shipping Pets By Express

An article from the October 1938 edition of All-Pets Magazine underlining the appropriate means of transporting animals including crates, C.O.D. shipments, and costs ...
The Parrot and Cockatoo Industry of California

The Parrot and Cockatoo Industry of California

An interesting historical article from a 1919 Popular Mechanics issue on the parrot and cockatoo industry in California. Notice that even 100+ years ago, they spoke out that captive breeding ...
Marine Magic 1960 Ad

Marine Magic 1960 Ad

Marine Magic: One of the early commercial marine aquarium salt mixes. Manufactured by Lambert-Kay which was known for making dog Linatone! From the June 1960 edition of All-Pets Magazine ...
Mist-O-Cide 1960 Ad

Mist-O-Cide 1960 Ad

Ad for four different "Mist-O-Cide" dog products, including a dog shampoo that you simply spray on your dog? From the June 1960 edition of All-Pets Magazine ...
Nebraska Pet Foods 1960 Ad

Nebraska Pet Foods 1960 Ad

Ad showcasing the Nebraska Pet Foods line of dog food in 1960, including two not sold anymore: whale and horsemeat! And two seldom seen (rabbit and kidney). From the June ...
Duett Bird Homes 1966 Ad

Duett Bird Homes 1966 Ad

Imported Duett bird cages from Germany and manufactured by Joseph Voss Company pictured in an October, 1966 edition of Pet Industry. Notice the “slide out” bottom tray that houses the ...
Pet Crests by Nouveau Enterprises - The Poodle

Pet Crests by Nouveau Enterprises – The Poodle

A 1972 ad for Pet Crests by Nouveau Enterprises. The company provided customers with an image containing a breed and it’s respective coat-of-arms. The back included general information about the ...
How Spillers Shapes are Made

How Spillers Shapes are Made

An article in Spiller’s Dog Journal providing an inside look into the process of making biscuits at the Spillers London Dog Food Factory ...
Pluto Mermaid Jeweled Collars 1965 Ad

Pluto Mermaid Jeweled Collars 1965 Ad

A 1965 ad for Pluto ‘Mermaid Jeweled Collars.' ...
Brain Waves

Brain Waves

Interesting and informative article from the October 1929 edition of The Kennel Review that includes: Kennel Food Supply (Harry Park), Cero-Meato Dog Foods, Justrite Bird Products, Peddycords Pet and Seed ...
Dr. Ernest Bay with "Instant Fish" (Killifish)

Dr. Ernest Bay with “Instant Fish” (Killifish)

Riverside, California: Dr. Ernest Bay examines "Instant Fish" originally imported from South America and Africa. The fish have an astonishing ability to survive for months as eggs in dried-up mud ...
Florence Walton with Capuchin Monkeys

Florence Walton with Capuchin Monkeys

Florence Walton was a famous American ballroom dancer of the 1910s-1920s, best known as one half of the dance duo Maurice and Walton, who helped popularize modern social dancing on ...
Dick and George Trophy

Dick and George Trophy

In 1962, two members, Dick Hendrix and George Silverman, presented this 4-foot-high trophy to the aquarium society that won the most awards at major fish shows in New Jersey and ...
The Hotel Canarien Birdcage

The Hotel Canarien Birdcage

This spectacular large wood-and-wire birdcage was handmade in the U.S. between the 1890s and the 1910s. This cage would have housed a serious canary breeder's prized canaries. The cage itself ...
Stollwerck Trade Card Group 473, No 5

Stollwerck Trade Card Group 473, No 5

This trade card is from Stollwerck, a German chocolate company, and showcases the Regular and Chinese Veil-Tail Goldfish in an ornate planted aquarium. The back of the card highlights Chinese ...
Collectors of Aquarium Literature - Number 48 April 1993

Collectors of Aquarium Literature – Number 48 April 1993

In this Issue: 1.) A Guide to the "Supplementary Plates" of Aquarist & Pondkeeper by John Mangan 2.) 40 Years Ago Part 5 by Stuart Elton ...

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Help The Museum of Aquarium & Pet History expand its collection and physical footprint through a direct donation.  Donations can be one-time or scheduled monthly, quarterly, or annually.  We thank you for your support.