REDISCOVERING THE RELICS One of our exciting projects this summer has been an extensive survey of the Reginald Pelham Bolton Archaeological Collection, commonly known as the Relic Room Collection. When the museum first opened in 1916 one of the spaces was dedicated to an exhibit of archaeological objects that had been discovered by Reginald Pelham Bolton and others in the late 19th and early 20th century. At that time, streets were being cut through, the subway was being planned and major development was looming. Amateur archaeologists and historians such as Bolton did frequent digs in Northern Manhattan and discovered Native American, Colonial and Revolutionary War era artifacts. There has never been a thorough survey of the Bolton era objects at Dyckman Farmhouse Museum. We were fortunate to get a group of talented students from New York University to work on the project this summer. So far we are at over 3,000 objects and there are still more to go. Many are shards of pipes and pottery, but there are many complete objects such as bullet molds, grapeshot, ice creepers, buttons and tools. Some objects, such as the mug pictured above, were pieced back together in 1916. The project has yielded some wonderful information, but also many questions as well and we are hoping to piece together the complex story of the digs and the objects we have in our collection. If you grew up in the neighborhood and any of your relatives were involved in the original digs we would love to hear from you! |
Scene Setting
The Relic Room, or the Reginald Pelham Bolton Collection, was an exhibit that was first installed in the farmhouse in 1916 and contained numerous archaeological objects discovered in the neighborhood. Many visitors miss that exhibit and remember in detail the artifacts that were displayed. We are hoping that if you were one of those visitors who loved the Relic Room that you or your friends or family captured it on film and would be willing to share the photos with us. 
Work on the restoration of the north chimney has been completed and the scaffolding has been removed. Our local squirrels and birds are a bit disappointed as they enjoyed some extra perching space, but visitors will be happy that our seating area is once more fully accessible.