Opened in 1975, Akita Prefectural Museum is a general museum with five main exhibition rooms in the main building and a restored farmhouse around one kilometre away. The Human History Hall exhibits many valuable materials relating to Akita's history, including period reproductions of a house of the Jomon period and a store of the Edo period; the Natural History Exhibition Hall introduces the abundant nature of Akita Prefecture, comprising both geological and biological sections and housing some 7,000 specimens; the Hands-on Experience Room permits young visitors to try various activities involving objects in different-coloured 'Treasure Boxes'; the Memorial Hall of Akita's Pioneers introduces Akita's pioneers who have played important roles at home and abroad over the last 130 years; and the Sugae Masumi Exhibition Hall introduces the work of Sugae Masumi (1754?-1829) who wrote many books with his own illustrations about nature and liefstyles in Akita during the late Edo period. The Old Nara Family House, located about one kilometre away from the museum's main building of Akita Prefectural Museum, was built approximately 250 years ago in the middle of the Edo Period. Restored in period style and open to the public, the farmhouse introduces the old way of life of Akita's farmers, including the maya where horses and cows were kept, and the doma which was used as a workroom.