|
|
One hundred years ago, a band of amateur archaeologists roamed across Northern Manhattan hoping to salvage history before the modern metropolis expanded northward and obliterated all remnants of a fascinating past. They discovered thousands of objects, many of them dating to the Revolutionary War, a key period in the neighborhood's history. Many of these intriguing objects, including cannon balls, pottery shards, bayonet points and grapeshot were donated to the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in 1916 by a key figure in the digs, Reginald Pelham Bolton, an engineer by profession but an archaeologist through his passion for history. With Bashford Dean, one of the creators of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, he created an exhibit on the first floor of the farmhouse. The exhibit was known as The Reginald Pelham Bolton Collection, and soon became affectionately known as the Relic Room. Originally estimated to be a collection of up to 2,000 objects, the accessioning work has uncovered over 5,000 objects. In addition to archaeological objects, the collection includes materials relating to the work of the archaeologists, including notes, boxes used to carry artifacts and labels from the original exhibit. |
We are working to digitize the collection, research objects and raise funds to ultimately reinstall an exhibit. Reginald Pelham Bolton also left the farmhouse a wonderful scrapbook of photographs which we have digitized - many of these images are on display at the farmhouse. |
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum 4881 Broadway at 204th Street |New York, New York 10034 212.304.9422 |212.304.0635 fax | info@dyckmanfarmhouse.org 2011 Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, all rights reserved. All historic images from the Collection of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum. Contemporary Images and design by s de vries |
reginald pelham bolton |