Kitale Museum

Founded in 1924, Kitale Museum is the first domestic museum to be opened in Kenya. It was originally known as the Stoneham Museum and was named after Colonel Hugh Stoneham who had been a large contributor and collector of the artifacts held within the Museum up until his death in 1966. It was later renamed the Kitale Museum when it was established by the National Museums of Kenya in 1974.

Kitale Museum is located in western Kenya in Trans-Nzoia County. It is exactly 380 kilometres northwest from Nairobi. The majority of collections within the Museum are items gathered from various tribes within Kenya such as the Luyha, Maasai and the Turkana. The museum displays their traditional Kenyan homes, weaponry, utensils and native musical instruments.

When Colonel Stoneham died, he willed funds as well as his entire collection, which included an extensive insect collection to the Kenyan government so that they could establish a national museum. In 1974, a new museum building was founded in Kitale on five acres of land making the Kitale Museum the first regional museum to become a part of the Kenya Museum society.