With a shared interest in Pennsylvania history, and more specifically in Pennsylvania German history, they became active collectors of a range of historic artifacts, including antique furniture, arrowheads and other Native American relics, bullets, buttons, coins, Conestoga Wagons, dishes and glassware, farm equipment and tools, fossils, Fraktur, guns, pottery, and quilts.

As their holdings continued to grow and their educational attraction increased in popularity, they sought funding from the Carl Shurz Foundation to turn their buildings and collections into an official museum.

The cultural attraction was then formally incorporated as the Landis Valley Museum in 1941, and a professional curator was hired to catalogue and display the brothers' collection.

[3][4] In 1953, the aging Landis brothers deeded the museum and property to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which transformed the operation into a living history museum by reconstructing historic structures on adjacent properties purchased by the state in order to develop educational programs that would show groups of teachers and school children, families, tour groups, and other visitors, firsthand, how Pennsylvania Germans lived, farmed and operated their manufacturing businesses during the 18th century.

[3] During the mid-1980s, museum staff launched an initiative to preserve the purity of heirloom seeds, which were grown and harvested on Pennsylvania German homesteads and small farms prior to 1940.

Visitors are able to learn how Conestoga Wagons were made, including the critical process of making spoked wheels, and how 18th-century gunsmiths manufactured rifle barrels.

In addition, guides dressed in period costumes explain the traditions and folklore of Pennsylvania Germans who resided in the area between 1740 and 1940 while specially trained artisans demonstrate the procedures for craftmaking and open-hearth cooking.

Landis’ photography involved a wide range of subject matter including New York City architecture, street and immigrant life, posed-thematic character studies, self-portraits (some of which were in the nude) and a diversity of others.

Establishing a reputation among the Pennsylvania German community, the Landis brothers were rescued as money and age threatened their museum and ultimately the security of their extensive collection.