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MSU's very own 'Moist Towelette Museum' curator

April 18, 2014

Moist Towelette Museum Curator John French explains his quirky collection and highlights some of his favorite pieces. French said he started collecting towelettes about 20 years ago.

Photo by Olivia Dimmer | The State News

John French’s office inside the Abrams Planetarium is an explosion of quirky collectables and colorful trinkets. Ukeleles hang from shelves and Pepsi cups fossilized are left from lunches long past. There’s astronomy memorabilia, hundreds of PEZ candy dispensers, and in a small corner next to the door, a metal bookshelf houses French’s most prized collection: around a hundred moist towelettes.

French, the production coordinator for Abrams Planetarium, said he started collecting moist towelettes nearly 20 years ago as a joke. That joke grew over the years to what French has dubbed East Lansing Moist Towelette Museum, which actually draws a few visitors and donors each year.

French came up with the idea right around the time the internet was first invented — he wanted to make the first website dedicated to moist towelettes. He began collecting with the help of friends and coworkers and eventually amassed enough moist towelettes to start his own museum.

"(People) mostly know I’m kind of crazy in a way,” French said. “Most people realize it is kind of fun. I think an awful lot of people collect an awful lot of things.”

French has a vast array of moist towelettes, from the 1960s to present day and from many different countries. He has towelettes used for dentures, pets, airlines and towelettes from military meal rations.

And right next his desk, Planetarium Education Coordinator Shane Horvatin keeps his collection of PEZ dispensers, which he does not call a “museum.” Horvatin said he started his collection about 11 years ago and doesn’t think anything of sharing his office with another collector.

“I started with the Star Wars PEZ and went from there,” Horvatin said. “I think everyone collects something. That’s just one of the many things I collect, but the only one I keep here at work.”

French said most of his moist towelettes come from friends and relatives who travel and send him towelettes for the museum. He even has a towelette that was used and then donated by the hosts of NPR’s Car Talk. He hopes to expand his collection to include towelettes used by other celebrities.

His next prospect? Miley Cyrus.

“I’ve collected some of them, but most are from people who have donated them to me,” French said. “A lot of them come from random strangers who find the website and mail them in to me. There’s a bin down there with samples of letters they send. Apparently I’ve even got fans.” 

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