Paterson Museum is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...

Paterson Paterson may refer to: People * Paterson (surname) * Paterson (given name) Places Australia *Paterson, New South Wales *Paterson River, New South Wales * Division of Paterson, an electoral district in New South Wales *Paterson, Queensland, a lo ...

, in Passaic County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Founded in 1925, it is owned and run by the city of Paterson and its mission is to preserve and display the industrial history of Paterson. It is located in the Old Great Falls Historic District. Since 1982 the museum has been housed in the Thomas Rogers Building on Market Street, the former erecting shop of Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works, a major 19th-century manufacturer of

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

steam locomotives. Prior to 1982 the museum was located in the former carriage house of

Nathan Barnert Nathan Barnert (September 20, 1838 – December 23, 1927) was an American businessman and politician. He was twice elected as the Mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, first on April 9, 1883. He was the original founder of the Miriam Barnert Hebrew Free ...

, civic figure and philanthropist.

Inventory

The museum has some notable old-found items. It has a range of old guns, Native American artifacts, to gem stones and old locomotives. Many tours are constantly coming from schools and other towns to inspect and check out these old items. The museum additionally has a beautiful painting collection, although to make room for more 'notable' items, they have put a lot of these paintings into personal hold. The museum has a vast collection of medicine that was used in the early 1900s, along with beautiful paintings of medicine covers. The number of old medicine caps that they have vary in the hundreds. They also have paintings of old hospital assistants, and how life back in the infirmary was in the early years. Notable exhibits include the '' Fenian Ram'', the submarine designed by John Philip Holland for use by the Fenian Brotherhood and their earlier '' Holland I''. The museum also houses an archive of Holland's life and work. A large collection of early

Colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: * Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People *Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places * Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United State ...

firearms and the façade of a playhouse built by Lou Costello for his children are also on display. There is a display of industrial equipment from the former silk-weaving factories that used to be a prominent part of Paterson's economy, including automated looms. The museum has a railroad track at its entrance, with live toy-model train going around the track.

In popular culture

The museum's first head curator was

James Ferdinand Morton Jr. James Ferdinand Morton Jr. (October 18, 1870 – October 7, 1941) was an anarchist writer and political activist of the 1900s through the 1920s especially on the topics of the single tax system, racism, and advocacy for women. After about 1920 h ...

, who held the position from the museum's founding in 1925 until his death in 1941. Morton was friends with author H. P. Lovecraft, and based on this friendship, Lovecraft includes the Paterson Museum in a scene in his famous 1926 short story " The Call of Cthulhu". Lovecraft's 1935 short story " The Haunter of the Dark" includes an artifact called the Shining Trapezohedron; it has been proposed that Lovecraft based this artifact on a trapezoidal piece of

almandine Almandine (), also known as almandite, is a species of mineral belonging to the garnet group. The name is a corruption of alabandicus, which is the name applied by Pliny the Elder to a stone found or worked at Alabanda, a town in Caria in A ...

on display at the Paterson Museum.The Real Shining Trapezohedron
H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society

References

External links

*
A History of Paterson — The Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works

— preservation efforts on the remaining Rogers erecting shop building.

Photos of ''Fenian Ram'' at the Paterson Museum {{authority control Buildings and structures in Paterson, New Jersey John Philip Holland Industry museums in New Jersey Museums in Passaic County, New Jersey Museums established in 1925 History museums in New Jersey Railroad museums in New Jersey 1925 establishments in New Jersey