Olga Malyshkina’s Museum of Thimbles

I, Olga Vladimirovna Malyshkina, have been a thimble collector since 1997. The idea of creating a museum haunted me for many years. Of course for each collector, their own home is already a small museum. But when the small museum grows bigger than the home, and favourite thimbles fill all the cabinets, shelves and showcases, there is a problem. That was my case. What was I to do? Maybe thin out the collection, leaving only the most elite, expensive, or handmade thimbles? No, I couldn’t do it. Everything was precious to me. Fortunately, in 2016 it became possible to move the collection to the building of the Station of Young Technicians, where I was teaching sewing and needlework to children and adults. So the Museum of Thimbles was born in the city of Novouralsk on April 28 of that year. The museum’s exposition now includes more than 4,000 thimbles, including both old thimbles found during excavations and modern ones used for various types of needlework. A special place is occupied by geographical souvenir thimbles brought from more than 80 countries. The collection of handmade thimbles, made not only by famous foreign companies but also by Russian masters, artists, stonecutters, and jewellers, surprises with its beauty.