Hermitage Museum
Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items (the numismatic collection accounts for about one-third of them), including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.
American Museum of Magic
Specifically, the museum includes 2,009 heralds, handbills, and window cards, 587 showbills, and over 5,000 programs, 10,000 books, 24,000 magazines, 46,000 photos and many letters. Magic sets, performer’s scrapbooks, and magic show apparatus are there. This includes the “Milk Can” and "Overboard Box" used by Harry Houdini. The half million (or more) objects occupy three floors. Memorabilia includes artifacts from thousands of conjurers, famous and obscure. (Of course, this is only a fraction of those who are attracted to the arcane arts—witness the 37,000 members in the International Magicians Society.) In any event, it even has escape apparatus actually used by Harry Houdini. The archive includes thousands of little-known illusionists. Magician David Copperfield calls it "one of my favorite places on earth.