Robert Greenberg has been collecting since he was a kid.

He hopes the one-of-a-kind museum he founded, packed with New Haven artifacts and memorabilia, helps tell a much bigger story. He says Lost in New Haven tells the story of America. With so many firsts, from the first elevator to the first Frisbee and even the electric train, the Elm City has left its mark on history.

“New Haven, Connecticut, is not just a local city. What’s most important about New Haven is how many firsts and amazing things started in New Haven. There are hundreds of things that started here. Alexander Graham Bell created the first telephone exchange in New Haven. Louis Lassen created the first hamburger in America. There has been debate about that, but it actually happened in 1900. We invented the lollipop at Bradley Smith. We had the first corkscrew, the first sulfur match. We had the first artificial heart.”

He also notes there is a deep-rooted history of music in New Haven.

“We have the arena, which is behind me, of course, made famous by Jim Morrison being arrested there in 1967. We have the Cutler’s record exhibit. Cutler’s record shop was the place you would get your vinyl here on Broadway in New Haven.”

Greenberg is passionate about the collection and emphasizes how it helped shape the story of our country.

Lost in New Haven has attracted visitors from all over, and he loves meeting them.

“We’re really celebrating who we all are here. And that’s the important thing to know, that Lost in New Haven is really our story as a collective culture of people in America.”

Lost in New Haven, located at 80 Hamilton Street, is open on Mondays and Thursdays and is available for field trips and special events.