(Courtesy Judy Garland House)

JUDY GARLAND, Grand Rapids, Minn.
Among the Wizard of Oz memorabilia in the museum at the Judy Garland Birthplace Historic House is the carriage Dorothy rides into the Emerald City (it was also once owned by Abraham Lincoln), a blue test dress for the film, and a sword from one of the Wicked Witch's guardsmen. A set of ruby slippers was stolen from the museum last year. 2727 Hwy. 169 S., 800/664-5839, judygarlandmuseum.com, $6.

(Courtesy Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home)

SINCLAIR LEWIS, Sauk Centre, Minn.
The first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, novelist and playwright Lewis used satire and realism to depict American middle-class life in novels like Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, and Main Street. His characters were modeled on people he remembered from Sauk Centre. The Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home is furnished with family pieces, including a sugar bowl that came over on the Mayflower. 810 Sinclair Lewis Ave., 320/352-5201, $5, open only during summer.