Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Oregon Portland Portland Puppet Museum
AO Edited

Portland Puppet Museum

A puppeteer’s paradise offering shows, workshops, and an archive of over 2,000 puppets.

Portland, Oregon

Added By
Luke Fater
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Portland Puppet Museum   Courtesy Portland Puppet Museum
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Puppetry is one of the most ancient forms of entertainment still in practice, with a history that stretches back to the fifth century B.C. and touches nearly every corner of the globe. Even with the advent of theater, film, and TikTok, children and adults alike (barring those with pupaphobia) are often still hopelessly enchanted by the projection of life onto miniaturized beings. Nowhere is this enduring allure more extensively on display than in Portland’s Puppet Museum. 

Fitting for its focus, the museum occupies a bite-sized room in a former corner grocer built in the 1870s in Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood. Its entire archive of over 2,000 puppets could of course never fit on display all at once, so exhibits rotate every four months. With figures from over 38 countries, both new and antique, spanning a range of different subcategories within the world of puppetry (dummies, shadow, rod-and-arm, marionettes, etc), there’s never a shortage of possible themes. Even curated, the room is stuffed chock-a-block with puppets of all shapes, sizes, and origins. Those of American television fame include an original Miss Piggy (1977), a reproduction of Lamb Chop, and Topo Gigio from The Ed Sullivan Show.

While there are several other puppet museums in the country, this exhaustive and free-admission museum is the only permanent one on the west coast. And while the puppets themselves are of course the big draw, the museum’s greatest asset may be its living proprietor—a real boy, indeed. 

Steven Overton has been collecting, designing, and building puppets for over 50 years. A certified master puppeteer by age 22, he knows what to do with them, too. The museum is his personal collection, and also one that—as he continues building new figures—expands day by day. Overton has retained not only a plethora of puppet knowledge over his many dedicated years, able to explain the origin of every puppet and the history behind its provenance, but is also gregarious enough to share enthusiastically with anyone curious enough to enter.

Overton also offers puppet-building workshops for adults and children in an upstairs space while putting on shows in the building’s backyard. Be sure to scout tickets on their Facebook page in advance—shows tend to sell out if you don’t have a quick hand.

Related Tags

Travel Portland Museums Museums And Collections Children Theaters Workshops Puppets

Know Before You Go

Open to the public Thursday through Sunday 2pm to 8pm by donation.

Community Contributors

Added By

lukefater

Edited By

colleencourtney c93b920e

  • colleencourtney c93b920e

Published

January 10, 2022

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Portland Puppet Museum
906 SE Umatilla Street
Portland, Oregon, 97202
United States
45.4627, -122.656741
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Rose City Rollers

Portland, Oregon

miles away

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Portland, Oregon

miles away

Reed College Research Reactor

Portland, Oregon

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Portland

Portland

Oregon

Places 61
Stories 12

Nearby Places

Rose City Rollers

Portland, Oregon

miles away

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Portland, Oregon

miles away

Reed College Research Reactor

Portland, Oregon

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Portland

Portland

Oregon

Places 61
Stories 12

Related Places

  • Original puppets from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Original Puppets from 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'

    The residents of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe live without much fanfare within the Pittsburgh Children's Museum.

  • Marionettes.

    Salzburg, Austria

    The World of Puppets Museum

    A small marionette collection located within the dark cellars of an 11th-century Austrian castle.

  • Augsburger Puppenkiste Museum

    Augsburg, Germany

    Augsburger Puppenkiste

    This famed marionette theater and museum is bursting with imaginative string puppets.

  • Taiwan has a long, proud history of puppet-making.

    Taipei, Taiwan

    Puppetry Art Center of Taipei

    A museum of puppets and puppetry covering all Asian styles.

  • Outside Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum in Boulder City, NV, with the owner’s custom hearse parked in front.

    Boulder City, Nevada

    Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum

    A professional special effects makeup artist’s collection of horror creatures and one-of-a-kind recreations on display in downtown Boulder City.

  • Collections of stamps, pens in Oficina Museu.

    São Miguel, Portugal

    Oficina Museu (Workshop Museum)

    One artist's collection of homemade handicrafts doubles as a monument to 20th-century material culture.

  • Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh.

    Edinburgh, Scotland

    Museum of Childhood

    The world’s first museum dedicated to the history of childhood opened in Edinburgh in 1955.

  • The welcoming clown.

    Baraboo, Wisconsin

    International Clown Hall of Fame

    This circus town museum recognizes the outstanding clowns of history.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.