The plastics industry’s history may be history, as the National Plastics Center and Museum (NPCM) is, after 26 years, being closed. “Unfortunately, the Board has come to realize over the past several years that the Leominster (Massachusetts) facility can no longer be supported financially,” said G. Watts Humphrey Jr., chair of the NPCM board of directors. The plastics museum’s collection will be housed in the future at the Syracuse University Library (Syracuse, NY). 

For MPW the closing is a blow to its history as well. In 1972 the magazine, with the Society of Plastics Engineers, The Plastics Pioneers, and the NPCM, founded The Plastics Hall of Fame, which eventually became an exhibit within the museum, to honor professionals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the industry. With the closing of the Leominster facility, the Hall of Fame is being redesigned into a “multi-location virtual exhibit,” according to a release announcing the closure. 

The plastics industry remains the 3rd largest manufacturing industry in the U.S. Although there are state and regional museums dedicated to other industries, including papermaking, steel working, coal mining and more, none of these industries has a national museum. The aeronautics industry is recognized at the National Air & Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian complex in Washington, DC. There are a number of claims on the title National Automotive/Automobile/etc. Museum.