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Would you, could you, on your car? State is close to moving forward on Dr. Seuss license plates.

The Springfield Museums, which include the Dr. Seuss museum in his hometown, must first get 750 applicants as required by the state.

By Katelyn Umholtz

February 23, 2024

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In honor of one of the most famous children’s book authors in the world — who also happens to be a native Bay Stater — Massachusetts residents can get their hands on a specialty license plate in celebration of the birthday and life of Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss. 

The Springfield Museums, which includes a museum dedicated solely to Dr. Seuss, is selling specialty plates that feature one of the author’s most famous characters, the Cat in the Hat. 

But the process of getting them produced has been a slow effort. Since 2019, when they introduced the specialty plates, museum officials have needed at least 750 orders, the minimum required by the RMV before they’ll agree to produce the specialty plates for various organizations and nonprofits.

The museum had received nearly 300 orders in those first few months in late 2019, and then COVID-19 hit, said Michelle Murphy, the museums’s vice president of development and marketing.

“It caused obvious disruptions,” Murphy said. “As the pandemic has eased, as we have resumed business as usual with great success, we said, ‘Let’s resurrect our campaign to get these plates on the cars.’”

Now they’re less than 20 shy from that goal, and they’re hopeful they’ll reach their goal by or before Seuss’s birthday on March 2.

Those considering a plate should know that specialty plates in Massachusetts come with multiple fees. The initial fee for a specialty plate is $40, on top of a $20 plate swap fee, plus the $60 regular fee. Then there’s the $100 renewal fee that comes every two years, and $40 of that goes to the museum, reports The Republican. 

The costs may add up for a specialty plate, but Murphy said it’s a way to support nonprofits. 

“Specialty plates are wonderful because they support the organization they represent,” she said.

Applications for the plates can be found online.

Springfield Museums are made up of five museums: two art museums, one science, one history, and then The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum. The Seuss museum is the newest of the five, opening in 2017, and Murphy said it’s the only museum in the world dedicated to the late author.

The reason to open such a museum in Springfield, Murphy said, is because that’s where Geisel grew up. In fact, his childhood experiences in Springfield — the zoo, the trees in Forest Park, Mulberry Street — would later inspire some of his works. 

The museum is also located next to the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, and not far from the museum is Geisel’s childhood home on Fairfield Street, which the museum owns and has since restored. 

“Every car that carries this plate will be telling the world wherever it goes about the pride of the driver, and being from Massachusetts, that the state is the home of Dr. Seuss,” Murphy said.