The Museum of Sleep

08/13/2026

We have not been able to find out more about this invention, but this series of photographs entitled “Bed Master (Gadget For Making Bed)” was shot by Life Magazine photographer Ed Clark in March 1948.

Copyright: © Time Inc.

08/11/2026

We took time off from social media for some travel and family time, but now we’re back with a reminder that we have our two books and one zine for sale on our website.

www.museumofsleep.org/store

08/10/2026

A tradition that is new to us, but hundreds of years old in China.

The tradition of hugging winter melons to cool off dates back over 650 years to the late Ming dynasty in China.

07/02/2026

We somehow missed this when it happened a few months ago, but now it is our favorite thing.

To mark World Sleep Day on March 21st, Shanghai's Chongming Island launched a "forest sleep competition" at Dongping National Forest Park, inviting participants to rest in a natural setting while their sleep was monitored with professional equipment. Held on selected weekends through early May, the contest measured metrics such as sleep latency, duration, deep sleep, and continuity. Cash prizes were rewarded for the highest overall sleep score and the fastest time to fall asleep. Participants had to remain on their mattresses without electronic devices or other distractions. Organizers say the event promotes relaxation, highlights the restorative effects of nature, and offers urban residents a break from everyday stress.

[Photos by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

06/21/2026

The Edward Grandi collection includes a 1926 reprint of George Catlin's 1861 book "The Breath of Life," which was later retitled "Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life." This grew out of Catlin's tours of the United States painting his famous portraits of Native Americans, since he noted that Native mothers closed their sleeping infants' mouths in order to teach them nasal breathing, which he argued led to longer lives than mouth breathers.

06/19/2026

This Obstructive Sleep Apnea Demonstrator was developed by Makoto Satoh, Professor in the Department of Sleep Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan.

“This model clearly explains the changes in the airway that occur when apnea occurs, such as jaw retraction during sleep, fat deposition due to obesity, and hypertrophy of the tonsils and adenoids.”

From the Edward Grandi Collection.

06/16/2026

New eBay purchases for the Museum of Sleep's snapshot collection.

06/08/2026

Our new Museum of Sleep publication is 507 years in the making.

One of the more charming works of Renaissance humanism looking at slumber, "Encomium Somni" (In Praise of Sleep) is a short Neo-Latin work by the German scholar Christoph Hegendorph, written and published in Leipzig in 1519 - the same plague year that also produced his companion pieces praising Drunkenness and Sobriety.

A small, sparkling exercise in the art of persuasion, "Encomium Somni" offers a window into the playful intellectual culture of early sixteenth-century humanism. Hegendorph, who went on to become a legal scholar, educator, and supporter of Martin Luther, was nineteen years old when he published it. His most celebrated work, Dialogi pueriles (1520), a collection of Latin dialogues for schoolboys, was still a year away. The sleep he celebrates in these pages is both a subject and, perhaps, a sly commentary on the learned world around him.

This new edition, published by the Museum of Sleep, presents the first modern English translation of the text.

It is available for purchase as a 36-page paperback directly from the Museum of Sleep, as print-on-demand from Amazon or Ingramspark, as an ebook from the Kindle Store, or as a free PDF download from our website at www.museumofsleep.org/store (along with our other publications).

06/06/2026

The Museum of Sleep is set up to sell our literature, art, and merch at the Berkeley Springs Art Book Fair in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia (including our new book, coming next week).

05/10/2026

We’re compiling our zine, books, prints, stickers (and more to come) for our table at the in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia on Saturday, June 6, 2026.