Collections

The collections of the Portland Museum play an important role in understanding American life in a particular yet representative place, detailing the history and material culture of Portland, once an independent town at the Falls of the Ohio and now an urban neighborhood of Louisville.

The growing collection includes artifacts, costumes, paintings, drawings, photographs, documents, oral histories and vernacular objects such as: cobblers tools, cooking utensils, quilts, amusement park prizes, opera glasses, chimney pots and various architectural details, business ledgers and advertisements, bottles and crocks, a collection of beer paraphernalia, and handmade cast nets for fishing and net making tools. The collection is informed by a body of research.