By admin 
Earlier this year, the Roseville Telephone Museum permanently closed its doors. For decades, its displays of antique telephones and communications equipment was one of the largest and most varied in the nation.
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The museum was a project of the Roseville Telephone Company. After the Roseville Telephone Museum opened in 1994, it remained in operation for 22 years. The telephone company, meanwhile, went through a number of transformations, such as a 2000 name change to SureWest Communications and a 2012 acquisition by Consolidated Communications.
Fidium Fiber owned the museum at the time of its closure, and did not respond to requests for comment from The Sacramento Bee. According to a Telephone Museum statement, former staff “are working thoughtfully to ensure the museum’s historically significant artifacts find good homes with local museums and nonprofit organizations.”
Museums of all sizes are having a tough time. When the Sacramento Area Museums organization conducted a survey of their members earlier this year, a whopping 90% reported a high or extremely high need for volunteers. In 2025, the American Alliance of Museums surveyed 511 museum directors across the nation. More than half reported that visitor numbers were down, compared to pre-pandemic attendance, and that 34% of the institutions surveyed had lost important grants from the federal government.
Local treasures on display
Many of the tiny museums that dot the Sacramento area are products of a combination of luck and people passionate about the museum collections.
Don Salvatori was a Long Beach pharmacist “who really had the desire to put together a museum where California pharmacists could donate their artifacts and put them on display,” said Debby Johnson. Upon Salvatori’s death in 1996, instead of flowers, his family asked for donations towards a museum, Johnson said.
Johnson is a retired pharmacist herself, and she was also once the president of the California Pharmacists Association. Despite living in Orange County, she’s also the curator of the Don & June Salvatori California Pharmacy Museum, located within the California Pharmacists Association at 4030 Lennane Drive.
The small museum is divided into three historical sections showing different eras of California pharmacy history. The museum is appointment-only, and visitors must call or email Johnson to view its artifacts. Johnson then dispatches local retired pharmacist George MacMurphey to conduct a tour.
The California Pharmacy Museum has some advantages others don’t, Johnson said. For one, they don’t have to pay rent, since they are located inside the California Pharmacists Association building, and there’s no full-time staff. However, one future problem may be that fewer pharmacists are joining the association, an issue plaguing many other professional organizations, according to Johnson.
Art at home
One small but mighty local museum can be found within a private residence.
Corinna Fish is the owner and curator of the Sacramento Embroidery Arts Museum. Nearly 300 pieces of embroidery by various artists hang from the walls of a dedicated room in her home. Much like larger institutions, Fish hosts artist residencies and has temporary displays along with a permanent collection.
However, to visit SEAM, prospective guests must message Fish on her Instagram and set up an appointment.
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Fish, who works for UC Davis Health, accumulated her collection over the last decade she said. She has no hard rules as for what type of embroidery art makes it onto her walls, except that she’s currently limiting most acquisitions to local Sacramento artists. “I mostly purchased items because I thought they were beautiful,” she said.
Her friends urged her to host a gallery exhibition or find a local museum willing to show the collection. Instead, Fish decided last year to turn a room in her home into an exhibition space and allow people to visit for free.
Having a home museum, she thought, would also help motivate her to catalogue (and dust) the works in her collection. Guests can spend time perusing the pieces, browse her library of embroidery and craft books, or lounge on a beanbag with her cat Libby.
Having a museum in her home also means “there’s no expense, really, except for my mortgage,” she said. Fish has worked for what she called “unusual micro-museums” in the past, as well as the Crocker. “It is just an incredible amount of work with the fundraising and the staffing,” but she considers the work of such institutions “super noble.”
For people like Fish who are passionate about art and artifacts, the work of collecting and displaying treasures for the joy of others is natural. “I think for people that are born collectors, the heart wants what it wants,” she said.
Small and fascinating museums in and around Sacramento
Some small museums are only open by appointment, so it’s always a good idea to call ahead to make sure you can visit.
Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum
2251 Florin Road No. 126, Sacramento
Open Wednesday by appointment, Thursday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.
General admission: $8
Seniors and veterans: $6
Children 7 and under: Free
916-320-9573
California State Indian Museum
2618 K St., Sacramento
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Adult admission: $5
Youth admission: $3
Children 5 and under: Free
(916) 324-0971
Museum of Medical History
5380 Elvas Avenue, Sacramento
Open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free admission
(916) 452-2671
Sacramento Embroidery Art Museum
By appointment only
Address and appointments available through direct messages on Instagram
California Pharmacy Museum
4030 Lennane Drive, Sacramento
By appointment only, via [email protected] or contacting Debby Johnson at 714-376-0424
Free admission
UC Davis Design Museum
Cruess Hall, Room 124, UC Davis
Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m.
Free admission, open to the public
(530) 752-6150
The Big House Museum
312 3rd St. at Folsom Prison
Open Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
General admission $2
Free admission under 12 years old
(916) 985-2561
U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame
303 3rd St., Davis
Wednesday, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. 2 p.m.
General admission $5
$3 for seniors over 55
$3 for students
(530) 341-3263
Locke Boarding House Museum, Chinese Schoolhouse Museum, Dai Loy Museum, Jan Ying Museum
13916–13951 Main Street, Locke
Open Friday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (The Boarding House Museum closes at 4 p.m. on weekends.)
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This story was originally published October 13, 2026 at 11:00 AM.