Recent Acquisitions

The Concord Museum continues to collect, and in recent years has added some important artifacts of Concord’s history to the collection. A selected list of recent acquisitions includes:

• A bronze bust of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), modeled in 1879 in Concord and cast in 1915. Emerson sat for French over thirty times so that French could create arguably the best portrait sculpture, and perhaps the best portrait overall, of the famous writer. (Gift of William T. Loomis and Leslie Becker)

• A halfstock percussion rifle made in Concord in 1861 by Alvan Pratt (1790-1877) who established an active gun manufactory on Concord’s Milldam in 1821. (Gift of the Cummings Davis Society)

• A silver tea service with an ornate naturalistic leaf, branch and acorn pattern, made about 1850 and used by the Damon family of Concord. (Gift of Edith Damon Kletzien Bass)

• An artillery driver’s saddle, bridle and leg protector issued to the Concord Artillery Company for use during the Civil War. (Gift of The Concord Independent Battery and The Town of Concord)

• A mahogany and painted glass patent timepiece, or banjo clock, made by Lemuel Curtis in Concord, 1812-1819. (Gift of Janet P. Hosmer and Stephen P. Hosmer)

• A silk and linen family record needlework made by Mrs. Rebeccah Penniman (b. 1795) of Carlisle, Massachusetts, about 1835, recording the names of her first two children, one of whom died at two months old. Her husband, Otis Penniman, was the keeper of Concord’s Wright Tavern. (Gift of Arthur W. Berry)

• An unusually elaborate Windsor style cradle, with many turned spindles, made between 1805 and 1815, and used by many generations of Concord’s Wheeler family. (Gift of Barbara Wheeler)

• A Syracuse Hillside Plow made by the John Deere company, Illinois, about 1890, and a fanning mill made in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, about 1900-1908, both used by the McGrath family on the Barrett farm in Concord. (Gift of Michael R. McGrath)

• A collection of over 300 Native American stone artifacts found on the Barrett farm land in Concord, ranging in date from 7000-400 years ago, representing all but two of the earliest periods of prehistoric Concord. (Gift of Michael R. McGrath)

• A soup tureen and set of soup bowls that belonged to farmer Simon Brown, founding member of the Concord Farmer’s Club and editor of the journal The New England Farmer. Brown joined Concord’s Social Circle in 1848 and likely acquired the soup set in order to host meetings. (Gift of George and Elaine Keyes in memory of his brother, David)

Learn how to donate an object to the Concord Museum.