National Pearl Button Museum at the History & Industry Center

10/06/2026

The Muscatine Cultural Alliance is a group of 17 diverse organizations in and around Muscatine who work together to support the arts, history, and humanities in our community.

Please join us at the National Pearl Button Museum in historic downtown Muscatine on October 15th @5:00 pm for our Cultural Alliance Celebration, Volunteer Recognition, and fundraiser. Tickets are $40 and support the Cultural Allliance and its mission. They can be purchased in person at the National Pearl Button Museum and the Muscatine Community Foundation. You can also purchase tickets online by scanning the QR code below.

Join us on the 15th to support the things you love and care about!

09/28/2026

NPBM AT THE SMITHSONIAN!

Muscatine’s button history is now featured in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). The exhibit, called “From These Lands,” commemorates America’s 250th birthday by showcasing more than 600 items, representing all 50 states. Mussel shells and pearl buttons from Iowa, including historical photos from the National Pearl Button Museum, are part of the exhibit.
In addition, the button industry, and NPBM were featured in a recent issue of Smithsonian Magazine by Ellen Wexler. Check both out here:

John Boepple settled in Muscatine, Iowa, where he produced pearl buttons made from freshwater mussel shells. His innovations brought economic prosperity to the town—and disaster to the local mussel populations

08/24/2026

Though we hate to admit it, there are other great museums around here. If you love history and science, Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois are a treasure trove to be discovered. This Summer my wife and I have visited some pretty cool places and some amazing museums, all within easy driving distance of Muscatine. I recommend you check these out: The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum in West Branch, the Airpower Museum near Ottumwa, the scale model of our solar system in Oskaloosa, the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, the Sawmill Museum in Clinton, and the Anne Franck exhibit at the Danville Station Museum in Danville, Iowa. I guarantee that you will learn something you didn't know. For example, I bet you didn't know that two museums, within an hour of here, recently won Guinness Book of World Records recognition. We visited those, too, and will share those in our next post.
https://www.irm.org/
https://www.thesawmillmuseum.org/
https://hoover.archives.gov/
https://antiqueairfield.com/museum/
https://www.facebook.com/p/Danville-Station-100064328453900/
https://www.mahaskachamber.org/blog/discover_the_wonders_of_the_solar_system_walkway_at_lacey_recreation_complex/

08/10/2026

Saturday was a beautiful day, and a nice one to spend at the newly reopened Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch. The National Pearl Button Museum, along with 20 other museums and cultural organizations from around the midwest, were invited to host a table to share Muscatine's story with hundreds of visitors from around the country. Other organizations included : The National Mississippi River Museum, the African American Museum, the Lincoln Highway Association, Silos and Smokestacks, the John Wayne Birthplace Museum, the Iowa Quilt Museum, the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion, Brucemore Mansion, the Sawmill Museum, the Harry S. Truman and Abraham Lincoln National Historic Sites, Effigy Mounds National Monument, the Kalona Historic Village, and the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum.

08/07/2026

The National Pearl Button Museum's pollinator garden is living up to it's name. We have spotted bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds all Summer, and this morning, under the leaves of this common milkweed, is a future Monarch.

05/01/2026

If you love Iowa, and Iowa history, please come to the National Pearl Button Museum on Tuesday, June 23rd at 6:30 pm for a presentation by Kevin Mason about his new book Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa- Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River. Kevin is a historian and creater of the Iowa history website Notes on Iowa.