I'm interested in many facets of American history, from the Revolutionary War and Civil Wars, to early aviation sites, to the famous WPA post office murals.
Most of my souvenirs are the photographs I take, of course. Now that I have a digital camera I can take photos of practically anything without fear of wasting money - street signs, interestig designs on manhole covers, posters in bus stations, as well as interiors and exteriors of buildings, and re-enactors, or street entertainers.
However, that's not enough! I, and I expect a lot of other people, like to have physical souvenirs as well. But more than souvenirs, I like to have a collection.
On a recent driving trip, I traversed nine states, so I picked up nine magnets in the shape of states, from one of the tourist traps I stopped in along the way.
Most museums have gift shops, and usually these shops will sell souvenirs of the museum itself - a picture of the museum on a kitchen magnet, or on a patch, or on a postcard. I like to pick these up as well.
On several of my trips, I've come across penny machines. You insert a penny into one slot, and two quarters into two other slots, and then you crank a wheel until your flattened penny drops into a little container, imprinted with a design from the museum.
I always liked the idea of that, but I never indulged myself because I didn't really have any place to display them. That all changed when I stopped in at the Dinosaur Museum in Thermopois, and saw the Penny Passport, a souvenir penny collecting book.
And then the penny dropped. (That's an attempt at a pun.) I bought the passport, and spent two dollars and four cents on the four designs that the dinosaur museum offered, and my penny collecting career was born.
Of course it's not necessary to buy the penny collecting book, as I realized immediately. A stock book that holds stamps would work also. However, I always like to buy "Official" collecting supplies, and so I did.
And so can you.
If you're interested in collecting "flat," "pressed" or "elongated" pennies, by the way, there's a website that tells you what locations in each state has such machines:
http://www.pennycollector.com/AreaList.aspx
This list includes all United States, and international locations as well.
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