The Oz Museum

Financed through a state grant, the Oz Museum includes thousands of artefacts not only from the 1939 MGM film, but also from director Sidney Lumet’s 1978 movie musical, The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. And the museum has been known to convene surviving members of the Munchkins for special events.

The US Cavalry Museum

Ft Riley is a massive US Army base that does not, at first glance from the interstate, seem to merit a closer look. But set in the Flint Hills, a never-plowed expanse of rolling hillocks that relieve eyes weary of dryland farms and tumbleweeds, the base contains a gem among its neat rows of 19th century stone houses and barracks.

It is there that you will find the US Cavalry Museum, which documents the Army’s efforts to “pacify” the native peoples who once roamed the prairie. There is a decent collection of original saddles, sabres and other ephemera used by Army riders. George Armstrong Custer, the cavalry commander, lived in one of the houses here before his fateful Last Stand.

The They Also Ran Gallery

Last, though by no means least, is the portrait hall dedicated to the losers of presidential races. The gallery's management recently held a dedication ceremony for Mitt Romney, the losing Republican presidential candidate. Although the former Massachusetts governor was invited to claim this honour in person, he was, we were told, a no-show.