#MuseumMonday The Hill Memorial Museum has a collection of over 6,000 glass plate negatives dating from the early 1880's to about 1920. The majority of these glass plates were donated to the Historical Society in 1984 by Jack Weiss. They were found in the attic of a building owned by Mr. Weiss on Spring Street in Newton. It was the same building that Newton photographer Albert C. Townley occupied in the early 1900's and these glass plates are believed to be from his studio. Also found in the attic with the glass plates were the remnants of an old tricycle. This same tricycle in much better condition can be found in at least four children's portraits.
Check back next Monday for a look at five of the most well-known plates in the Townley Collection.

Museum Monday #16 - The Sewing Machine Combination, also known as the Sewing Machine Trust, was the result of the numerous lawsuits over patent rights that were strangling the growth of the early sewing machine industry in 1856. It was Orlando B. Potter, the lawyer for the Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Company, who came up with this plan. Three manufacturers: I.M. Singer Co., Wheeler & Wilson Co. and Grover and Baker Co., along with the inventor Elias Howe Jr., agreed to pool their important patents and stop the litigation between them. This allowed all four to move ahead with manufacturing and marketing of their own sewing machines, and to collect license fees from other companies wanting to use their patents. The Hill Memorial Museum is fortunate to have samples from all four sewing machine companies. Stop by and check out all of these and much more...we are open Fridays from 9-1.

Did you know that the Sussex County Historical Society is the caretaker for the Old Newton Burial Ground? In 2020, the cemetery will mark 250 years since the first recorded burial in 1770.

About a year or so ago I was at a flea market in Sussex County and came across old documents just tossed around in a box. A quick look revealed that they were not from Sussex County but they looked interesting. I bought the box because I didn’t want these documents to end up in the garbage if they didn’t sell by the end of the day. A few weeks ago I finally got around to looking thru them and discovered they were all from one source. They were from a man named James A. Harps who had a General Merchandise company in Akermanville, PA. There were business checks, some mailings and a whole lot of receipts, all from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The artwork on some of the receipts is outstanding and the checks were very cool looking too. The other day I got to thinking that these don’t belong here in Sussex County, they belong back home in Akermanville. Seeing that there was not an Akermanville Historic Society, I contacted the Slate Belt Heritage Center in Bangor, PA, which is just outside of Ackermanville. I told then what I had and asked if they were interested in preserving these documents for future generations. They said yes and were very excited to hear about them. So today I am driving out to the Slate Belt Heritage Center to donate all of these documents from Akermanville. Today these documents go home. The moral of this story is that it is up to all of us to preserve history so that it doesn’t disappear. When going thru old stuff, especially when emptying out a house of a departed loved one, if you come across old documents and pictures, please don’t throw them away. Please contact your local Historic Society and donate them so that they can be preserved for future generations to learn from.