Bagley Wildlife Museum, Bagley, Minnesota

The slogans announce this museum before you enter:

"The Largest Little Museum In The Northwest"

"Over 750 Speciments - Souvenirs

"Mouse to Moose -- Minnow to Muskie
Hummingbird to Eagle -- Animals, Birds and Fish"

And sure enough, the Bagley Wildlife Museum is a jam-packed ark of a place, an extravagant monument to nature's fertility! This collection long ago outgrew the front window of a shoe store and now occupies half of a ranch home on the edge of town. Most of the animals were bagged and mounted by Bagley shoemaker Hank Haug from the 1940s through 1970s. Since everything in this space is Mr. Haug's creation there is a notable unity to the collection and displays, not only in the selection of items and their preparation but in the construction of exhibits and wording of labels. The museum is an all-encompassing work of untrained genius. Hank Haug's collection is a real compendium of nature's wonders.

One of the most interesting things about this museum is the density of displays. The limited size of the galleries produces unexpected and surreal collages of animal species. Titles of the some of the various exhibits include:
"Weasels in Winter"
"Waffle Iron from Gold Rush days"
"Hind Foot of World's Smallest Deer"
"Bone Sex Organs from Animals"
"Sheep Ram Horn - Tree Grew Inside"
"Five Eastern Brook Trout"
"8 legged Pig. Born on a farm near Bagley"

And so on. A surprising and entertaining collection.

Highway 2 West Bagley, Minnesota 56621

(218) 694-2491