Candy Wrapper Museum

Mr. Big-Shag. Chomp. Betcha’ Life. Rambo Black Flak Bubble Gum. Nice Mice. The distinctive packaging of these candies and hundreds more might be lost to the ages if it weren’t for the Candy Wrapper Museum (CWM), a project of supreme sweet tooth Darlene Lacey. “I began collecting wrappers in 1977 with an eye toward the unusual, ironic, and aesthetic, although I also collected ‘classic’ but more mundane wrappers for posterity's sake,” she writes on the CWM website, which features highlights of her collection accompanied by witty captions. And while the wrappers endure, the candy itself doesn’t hold up so well. “One thing I learned the hard way is that no matter how chemically inert or unresembling food a candy product might be, it will eventually become molecularly unstable and turn into a hideous, sticky goo.”