Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-12-30
THE SHELDON MUSEUM.
SOMETHING ABOUT A MIDpLEBuRY IN
STITuTION.


The local correspondent of the Rut-
land Herald has been looking into the
treasures of the Sheldon Art museum
and tells the readers of that sheet what
he saw. as follows
The Sheldon Art museum of this place.
about which but little has been written,
Is one of the most notable in New Eng
land, If not in the United States. The
museum owes its existence to the pur-
chase ola Roman coin by Henry l..
Sheldon of this town in 1875. This
created desire to make a collection,
and for six years coins were procured
from many foreign nations and complete
sets of several of the United States
coins were made. AT this time, 1881.
he began collecting material of all kinds,
such as would be of value for preserya-
ton, both local and general. This mat
ter accumulated so rapidly and was
considered so valuable that society
was. Incorporated by the Legislature,
making permanent institution. All
this time the collection was kept in the
old 'ROokery," which was so much ex-
posed to fire that it became necessary to
get safer place. Accordingly Mr..
Sheldon bought the three story brick
building formerly owned by Judd &
Harris, and thus got much more de-
sirable place for the collection. For the
past IL years Mr.. Sheldon has spent all
of his time and nearly his whole income
in this, his chosen calling.
The collection embraces specimens of
nearly every thing found in the muse
ums of large cities, including old furni-
ture and old clocks, one of which is
"a N nj l-at Ia 4, Ga
set of equipments, such as were used in
the last century, old firearms, guns,
pistols. mortars and swords from one to
four hundred years old, farinihg i'm
plements, last century hats, bonnets,
cloaks, dresses and shoes and full set
of our great-grandmothers spinning
and weaving material and apparatus,
from the raw flax and wool to the loom
where the cloth was woven for the
clothes which were worn in all sections
and by all the workers of those days.
large showcase is filled with mound
builder and Indian relics from the tiny
stone arrow point no bigger than dime
to the ponderous war AK weighing 10
pounds. There are anclent carriages
and vehicles, one of which is famous as
having been used by President Munroe
and Commodore McDonough. There
are also an old piano made in London
in 11SO, many war relics from the bat
tletieds of the French and Indian war,
the Revolution and the war of 1872, the
war with Mexico and the civil war.
One room, memorial hail., is filled
with paintings and pictures of the early
/ inhabitants of this and surrounding
towns. while the different styles of hats
and headcoverings show the changes in
| AL f,r In
A collection of between two or three
thousand autographs, some of them hun
dreds of years old, contains names of
many of the reigning sovereigns of the
world and the men prominent in affairs
in all countries, all the governors of Yer
mont and all the presidents of the
United States. The latter set has the
commissions of every president to the
postmaster in Middlebury ever since the
latter became presidential office.
The literary department is more COM
plete than any other. Ii has upward of
1000 books and as many pamphlets some
of the books are very rare and are worth
from $40 to $50 each. There is variety
of bibles, the oldest being printed in II.
81. The last bible received. the first
American bible. has fac-simile title
page, and. if in perfect condition, would
be worth 5000.
A special feature of Mr.. SheldOn's
work is to get complete sets of publica-
lions, both local and State, and almost
everything ever printed in the town OF
county is on file here. These publica.
tons are classified as reference library,
which is open to the public at all times
The State of Vermont supplies all of its
public documents except court reports,
and several of the departments at Wash
ington send their reports regularly.
The corporation consists of ii board OF
trustees, who elect officers annually. Ii
Is virtually IA town institution, the select
men and town clerk being permanent
trustees. Mr. Sheldon has decided the
buildings and all of their contents. the
value of which is nearly $4,000, to the
museum trustees.