About the museum

Crispin's Drug Store Museum held its Grand Opening on July 22, 2007. This pharmacy museum is set up as a small town drug store from the 1880-1920 period. This was a time of transition for druggists - switching from preparing ingredients and products from crude drug forms (such as seeds, barks, and roots) themselves - to buying the ingredients and products already prepared from the growing number of drug manufacturers at the end of the period. Therefore the museum displays both crude drug ingredients and manufactured drugs. 

The wall cases in the museum are from the Snyder Drug Store, and the work counter is from the Frevele Rexall Store. Both of these pharmacies were located in Lincoln, Kansas. Collections include a large number of Kansas bottles, patent medicines, apothecary bottles, druggists' tools, and show globes.

The curator conducts demonstrations of the items in the museum, including the quack devices, crude drug student cabinet, and the reference texts in his library dating back to the early 1800s. 

 

About the Curator

Jack D. Crispin, Jr., the curator of the museum, is a registered pharmacist and graduate of the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He began working in pharmacies at the age of 16 and opened his own pharmacy in Lincoln, Kansas. His collections were housed for many years in the basement of his home, where he conducted tours for family and friends. When his collection grew too large for the basement, he and his wife Kathie purchased the Cummins Block Building in downtown Lincoln to each open a museum. 

Jack and Kathie formed the Crispin Antiquarian Foundation, and their building was listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. After renovating and remodeling the entire building, Kathie opened the Post Rock Scout Museum with her personal collection of scouting memorabilia, and Jack opened the Crispin's Drug Store Museum with a more spacious home for his collection.

Jack and Kathie now live in the loft above the museums.