New Acquisitions

EARLY AMERICAN ARTIFACTS

Kevin Kramarski, metal detectorist and expert on early American artifacts, setting up a display at Smith-Cadbury. Photo: Lenny Wagner

Kevin Kramarski, an expert on early American artifacts, has accumulated a vast collection from his metal detecting in and around Moorestown, and has donated a portion of his collection to the Historical Society. The items, which include coins, buttons and buckles, shed a great deal of light on the activities of Moorestonians during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Now on display at Smith-Cadbury Mansion.

3 inches round, hand-crocheted of metal colored beads forming an 8-point star.

Accession #1995-13-06

Woman’s coin purse 3” Hand-crocheted of metal colored beads forming an 8-point star. The top has a raised design of a woman’s head in the art-nouveau style. Hinges frame with a pinch clasp closure. This coin purse was donated by Marguerite Coates Cowan, daughter of William G. and Shreve (Kaisel) Cowan, granddaughter of Sallie Ann Wilkens Cowan. It belonged to Sallie Ann Wilkens (the donor’s grandmother.)

Our student intern, Brianna Pepe, has curated an exhibit of vintage beaded purses that are part of the Historical Society’s textile collection. The collection will be on display through December 2024. Read more about it in our September 2024 newsletter!

Top of the coin purse has a raised design of a woman’s head in the art-nouveau style. Hinges frame with a pinch clasp closure.

The opened coin purse.

Crazy Quilt by Marianna Darnell, 1886

Accession #2024-01-01

58″ x 68″ silk, velvet cotton needlework patchwork quilt made by Marianna Darnell (1845-1914) The quilt contains beautiful motifs of flora and fauna and is an example of a Crazy Quilt which was popular from the 1870s to the mid-1880s. To read more see page 5 (below) of our March 2024 newsletter HSM_Mar_2024_NL-C-022824

Friendship Fan

Accession #1970-06-02

A “friendship fan” dated 1868 donated by Mrs Horter Hillman in 1970. A collection of poems copied by “Aunt Rachel Wills” in a bound copy book was donated at the same time. The fan has the signature of “Sallie Wills” who may be the sister of Rachel A Wills. If you have information about any of these people, or this fan, let us know!

Oil painting by Emma Markley Stow

Accession #2020-07

Oil painting (16″x23.5″) by Emma Markley Stow of RCA’s Astro Electronics Missile Defense “Golfball” or radome.

The radome contained an 84-foot rotating radar antenna designed to detect and track various space objects, primarily missiles.

From the archives: Did you know that Moorestown played a significant role during the Cuban Missile Crisis? On 24 October 1962, while President Kennedy read an angry letter from Soviet Chairman Khrushchev that defied compliance with Kennedy’s demands to remove nuclear missiles in Cuba, plans were made to repurpose an incoming missile detection system housed in the “golf ball” building in Moorestown. Normally, the Moorestown system was used for testing purposes, but given the situation in Cuba, the Moorestown system was pressed into real service and was pointed at Cuba to detect any missiles launched toward the United States.

The painting was donated by Helen Anderson and it belonged to her father, Wendall Anderson, an RCA engineer.

Anna W Sutton, Autographs

Accession #2017-09-01

4.5″ x 6″ brown leather Moorestown High School Autograph book belonging to Anna W Sutton, Nancy Froelicher’s mother. Entry dates 1924-1926 with many short rhyming verses.

Page from Anna Sutton’s Autographs Book. Click to enlarge.

Page from Anna Sutton’s Autographs Book.Click to enlarge.

Page from Anna Sutton’s Autographs Book. Click to enlarge.

Sampler by Martha Cowperthwaite, age 10, 1818.

Accession #2010-18

Sampler by Martha Cowperthwaite, 1818. Donated to the Historical Society in 2010 by Susan Alloway of Columbus, NJ, who said the sampler belonged to her late mother-in-law Elizabeth Alloway. The sampler has recently been beautifully restored thanks to a generous grant from the Indian Springs Questers. To read more about it, see below. Better yet, visit us at Smith-Cadbury to see it up close!

Porcelain Doll from 1744

Accession #2018-04

Doll dated 1744. 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. Porcelain face with painted facial features and rouge cheeks. The porcelain head is attached to a wood piece that stops 6″ down. The bottom of the doll does not have an interior frame and the full length beige muslin type fabric covers down to the rest of the doll dress which is ruffled and long sleeved. The arms of the doll are made of rolled fabric. There is an ornate ribboned blue bonnet with a chin ribbon tie. The bodice of the dress is adorned with a bib that has two rows of green and blue beads.
The doll is a donation from Elizabeth Hawks of Naples, NY who is a sister of Bill Archer who, with his wife Eileen, brought the doll to the Historical Society.
An engraved card with “Miss Reeve, 141 East Main Street Moorestown, N.J.” states, “This doll dates from about 1744-She belonged to Hannah Core Foster who married Mark Reeve in 1764.” A ribboned card that accompanies the doll states: “Cinnaminson Home Fete, June 1918, Doll Show, Oldest Doll” The box the doll is in is from Van Dusen & Stokes Co, Artistic Jewelry Oriental Art Objects, 1123 Chestnut Street, Phildelphia Pa.

Alice Doughten oil painting

Accession #2017-20

The Develin Family donated this oil painting by Alice Doughten. Alice Doughten studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and won the prestigious Cresson Award for study abroad in 1910. She studied in France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Northern Italy. Her work at the Philadelphia School of Occupational Therapy is renowned.

Quilt that was found in a trunk in the attic of Nancy Froelicher’s home.

Accession #2017-11

90″ x 90″ square quilt that is not padded and does not have a bottom layer so that the back side of the quilt is exposed showing stitching and quilt side has unfinished edges. There wasn’t any information about the family origin of the quilt that was found in a trunk in the attic of Nancy Froelicher’s previous home on Main St. For more information and to see the quilt please visit us at Smith-Cadbury Mansion when we reopen in September!

Bowers Candy Tin

Accession #2015-17

Recently donated by Historical Society member Dave Homer, a Bowers Old Fashioned Creamy Mints tin. MFD. By Bowers Candies DIV. Of C. J. Webb, INC., Moorestown, N.J. 08057. Ingredients: Cane Sugar, Water, Cream of Tartar, Oil of Peppermint. Do you have information about the Bowers Company that operated in Moorestown for many years? Let us know! Post a comment below!

Henry W. Moore Diary for 1873: click to enlarge.

Accession #2015-12

New in our collection are three books that belonged to the William Moore family. They include a handwritten arithmetic book dated 1829 possibly belonging to Martha Warrington Moore, a detailed ledger book of the Moore finances dated 1841-1881, and a diary of Henry W. Moore (1839-1920) covering the years between 1873-1881. William was the great grandson of Benjamin Moore, believed to have been the brother of Thomas Moore, namesake of our town. The three children of William and Martha Warrington Moore–Henry W., William S., and Hannah E. Moore–lived together as adults in their parent’s home. Bertha and Harvey Brown took care of the childless Moore siblings in their old age, as well as their house and garden. Consequently, the house and its contents were willed to the Browns. This donation comes from Bertha Bendel, daughter of Bertha and Harvey Brown, who grew up and still lives in the Moore home.