To create a retail catalog of quality, entertaining, educational products to extend the museum experience into the home while, at the same time, supporting and improving the financial position of our non-profit member institutions. Marilynne The Museum Tour Catalog is the brainchild of Marilynne Eichinger. As a former educator and president of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Marilynne recognized a need for enjoyable, easy to communicate teaching aides to assist parents in fulfilling their role as primary educators. The Museum Tour Catalog assists parents and educators. The catalog features quality, educational toys and museum gifts that stimulate curiosity, provide aesthetic pleasure and enhance the joy of learning. The catalog's enticing products are pieces of a "hands on" museum parents can take home. All products are selected by museums, aquariums, science centers, and educators for their ability to involve children in thought-provoking and creative problem-solving. (A great number of schools and camps nationwide find our interactive products useful for their group activities.)
Twenty-two national science centers, zoos, and aquariums and a host of some of the nation's top manufacturers have joined together to fill our catalog with award-winning, educational products that extend the museum experience into the home. We focus on the arts and science. The catalog caters to a niche market of highly educated consumers and educators nationwide.
Though many adults purchase educational and inspirational products from their local museum gift shops, not everyone can travel nationally to peruse all of the centers. Our catalog features the sort of items one could find in museum gift shops. Throughout history parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents have taken on the responsibility of insuring that their children become contributing members of society. The training tools they used were found in the kitchen, garage, and farmyard. Today, living in cities and competing globally in a rapidly changing scientific and technical world, we need modern props to assist our children's learning. Need help creating fun, educational opportunities that won't burden you with volumes of facts or complicated instructions that can't be deciphered? The Museum Tour Catalog was created to make it easy for adults to create enjoyable learning opportunities for children. Since its inception in 1995, response to the Museum Tour catalog has been overwhelming. In 1998 and 1999 the catalog was the proud recipient of both the 1998 and 1999 Parents' Choice Award as well as the 2001 Gold and 2002 Silver Award from the Direct Marketing Association in the Children's Category.

Now published annually, the Museum Tour Catalog reaches 2 million homes.