Hallmark Ornament Museum, Warsaw, IN
The Hallmark corporation, the producers of the infinite saccharine greeting cards and Christmas decorations, have not kept examples of what they foisted on the world. That role has been taken over by Dorothy, the owner of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Museum housed within 12,000 sq. ft. The Party Shop, an externally unremarkable store in an unremarkable strip mall in Warsaw, Indiana (the self-proclaimed Orthopedic Capital of the World). Inside, however, Hallmark’s take on American taste is summed up in a display of every ornament every made by the company, 1973 to present, over 4000 in all. Wizard of Oz, Elvis, Star Trek (Kirk, Janeway, Piccard, Sisko, Archer are all there – only the wheel-chair-bound Pike is missing, apparently not appropriate for Christmas), Football, I Love Lucy, animals, Eskimos, Star Wars, Shrek, and even the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile are represented.