Ski Museum Directory
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
The Ski Museums of the World guidebook is organized alphabetically first by country, and then by city/town. (For example, within the United States, you will find the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame listed under Ishpeming, rather than Michigan.) Within each nation’s listing, the dedicated ski museums appear in the first section, followed by other museums, collections and
libraries that contain ski-history material. Museums or collections that are in storage, or have recently closed, are listed at the end of the guide.
Click here to read an overview of this guide by author and ski historian E. John B. Allen
Publication of this guidebook was partially
supported by a generous grant from the
Marc Hodler Foundation in Switzerland.
Canada
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Address:Contact: Janice Smith
Email: jsmith@cshof.ca
Telephone: (403) 776 1061
Website: www.sporthall.ca
Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Musuem
Address:Contact:
Email:
Telephone: ()
Website:
Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum is planned for Mont Trembling, Quebec. The executive director, Joanne Heard, can be reached at 514-715-0245 or at joanne@hewardgroup.com. The archives are currently in storage, with no opening date set, but the digitized portion of the collection and Hall of Famer bios are available online: http://skimuseum.ca/
Canadian Ski Museum West
Address:Contact:
Email:
Telephone: (403) 762 8484
Website: www.banffnationalpark.com/banff-activities/banff-musueums/canadian-ski-museum-west
Variety of a few artifacts hung in shopping mall.
Laurentian Ski Museum
Address:Contact: Nancy Belhumeur
Email: nancy@museeduski.com
Telephone: (450) 227 2564 x222
Website: www.museeduskideslaurentides.com/index.php?q=node/221
Ca. 700 past and present ski areas, includes 444 alpine areas with lifts and 98 jumps, and ca. 12,500 documents. This is a virtual museum associated with the Musée du Ski des Laurentides. Early skiing in the Laurentians, Cochand, ski trains and village ski growth.
Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
Address:Contact: Kate Dwyer
Email: nwosport@tbaytel.net
Telephone: (807 ) 622 2852
Website: www.nwosportshalloffame.com
Revelstoke Ski Museum and Archives
Address:Contact: Cathy English
Email: curator@revelstokemuseum.ca
Telephone: (250) 837 3067
Website: www.revelstokemuseum.ca
Western Canadian Rocky Mountain skiing.
Rossland Museum and Discovery Center
Address:Contact: Joelle Hodgins
Email: info@rosslandmuseum.ca
Telephone: (250 ) 362 7722
Website: www.rosslandmuseum.ca
Small display, emphasis on early skiing from 1896 with Jeldness.
The International Centre for Olympic Studies at University of Western Ontario
Address:Contact: Michael Heine
Email: via website
Telephone: (519) 661 4113
Website: www.uwo.ca/olympic/about/contact_icos.html
Olympic research center contains Brundage papers. Publishes annual Olympika and edited papers of biennial symposia on Olympic research.
Whistler Museum and Archives
Address:Contact: Bradley Nichols
Email: info@whistlermuseum.org
Telephone: (604) 932 2019
Website: www.whistlermuseum.org
Local skiing with emphasis on Olympics 2010.
Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Address:Contact: Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron
Email: info@whyte.org
Telephone: (403) 762 2291 x332
Website: www.whyte.org
Library and photographic records.
Switzerland
Bally Shoe Museum
Address:Contact:
Email: receptioncaslano@bally.ch
Telephone: (41) 916 129 111
Website: www.bally.com
One of the largest collections of boots and shoes with occasional early ski boots.
Heimatmuseum Grindelwald
Address:Contact: Marco Bomio
Email: grindelwald-museum@bluewin.ch
Telephone: (41) 338 5343 02
Website: www.grindelwald-museum.ch
The winter sport section is on the second floor.
Heimatmuseum und Kulturarchiv Arosa-Schanfigg
Address:Contact:
Email: info@arosa-museum.ch
Telephone: (41) 796 765 658
Website: www.arosa-museum.ch
Local museum with local archive. Essential to call ahead.
Jürg Hess Collection
Address:Contact: Jürg Hess
Email: hess_juerg@bluewin.ch
Telephone: (41) 79 616 7885
Website:
Massive private collection of equipment, especially skis and bindings.
Laurent Donzé Collection
Address:Contact:
Email: l.donze@bluewin.ch
Telephone: (41) 794 188 252
Website:
Private collection of c.a. 2000 cross-country skis.
Matterhorn Museum
Address:Contact:
Email: matterhornmuseum@zermatt.ch
Telephone: (41) 279 674 100
Website: www.zermatt.ch/en/museum
Mostly on growth of Zermatt from mountain farm community to summer and winter alpine resort with much on Matterhorn climbing.
Musée Du Ski Geiser
Address:Contact:
Email: info@geiser-sports.ch
Telephone: (41) 324 874 160
Website: www.geiser-sports.ch
The ski museum is in the shop, various exhibits are available for ski clubs etc.
Museum Alpin Pontresina
Address:Contact: Annemarie Brülisauer
Email: museum@pontresina.ch
Telephone: (41) 818 427 273
Website: www.pontresina.ch/museumalpin
Local museum with some ski material. Exhibit on 50th anniversary of Engadin marathon.
Museum Des Landes Glarus
Address:Contact: Jürg Davatz
Email: info@freulerpalast.ch
Telephone: (41) 556 121 378
Website: www.freulerpalast.ch
Local museum, skiing being one of seven major exhibits with emphasis on Glarus.
Obervaz Museum
Address:Contact: Birgit Parpan
Email: museum.vaz@bluewin.ch
Telephone: (41) 81 385 21 59
Website: www.vazobervaz.ch/sportmuseum
Local museum displaying importance of tourism and holding late 19th century skis.
Saaser Museum
Address:Contact: Damian Bumann
Email: museum@3906.ch
Telephone: (41) 792 202 853
Website: www.3906.ch/de/leben/kultur/saasermuseum
Local museum with some ski-related material.
Sport Museum of Switzerland
Address:Contact:
Email: info@sportmuseum.ch
Telephone: ()
Website:
As of 2019, closed and in liquidation.
Swiss Alpine Museum
Address:Contact:
Email: info@alpinesmuseum.ch
Telephone: (41) 3135 004 40
Website: www.alpinesmuseum.ch
Includes skis of Hermann Hesse. Good library.
Swiss Ski Lifts
Address:Switzerland
Contact: Jakob Schuler
Email: via website
Telephone: (41) 79 894 51 01
Website: www.skilift-nostalgic.ch
A virtual museum; comprehensive on-line depiction of ski lifts in Switzerland.
Swiss Ski Museum
Address:Contact: Luzi Hitz and Pierre Schneider
Email: info@swissskimuseum.com
Telephone: (41) 21 921 9866
Website: www.swissskimuseum.com
A virtual museum; the most comprehensive online depiction and explanation of skiing development in Switzerland, run by ISHA board member Luzi Hitz and Pierre Schneider.
Pages
About the Author
E. John B. Allen is an emeritus professor of history at Plymouth State University and the historian for the New England Ski Museum, both located in New Hampshire, USA. Allen has had an interest in ski history since 1976. He’s an active member of the editorial review board for Skiing History, the bimonthly journal of the nonprofit International Skiing History Association (ISHA), helping to vet all articles for historical accuracy prior to publication. In writing his ten books on skiing, he has traveled to many of the museums listed in this guide. His leading books include From Skisport to Skiing: 100 Years of an American Sport (1993), The Culture and Sport of Skiing from Antiquity to World War II (2008), and FIS: 100 Years of International Skiing (2010), coauthored with Egon Theiner. He’s also the junior partner in a 2019 translation by William Frank of a Russian ski book by K.B.E.E. Eimelius, Skis in the Art of War. In 2020, his short book on 35 skiing artworks and artists will be published in Vienna.
Allen has edited two books of conference papers, International Ski History Congress Collected Papers (2002) and The Spirit of Skiing (2009). He has also published more than 60 articles and book chapters in regional, national and international journals, and written 13 encyclopedia entries. He has consulted on ten films, including Legends of American Skiing, which has appeared on the the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) from time to time since the early 1980s. He is a frequent lecturer in the United States and Europe and has been keynote speaker at academic conferences in Norway, France, Finland and in Austria, and a seminar leader in Switzerland in 2018. In 2009, he made an eight-lecture tour of Slovenia. He has received the Ullr award from the International Skiing History Association (ISHA) for three of his books and ISHA honored him with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.