The Gardner Museum, not Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Located in Gardner Massachusetts, the Gardner Museum prides itself on the distinction that it is not the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which is Located in Boston. Located at the corners of Elm and Pearl Streets, just off of SR2, this is a quintessential small town museum located in North Central Massachusetts. The museum is in a charming brick building that used to house the Heywood Memorial Library (most of the older residents still refer to it as the library. Alzheimer’s, Dementia, call it what you will). On my visit to the museum I was graciously greeted by the volunteer who was on hand and she asked me if I would sign the guest book. Only three others had been in before me on that day, two where from Burlington VT, and the other was from overseas.
The Collections:
The collections at the Gardner Museum vary greatly. It ranges from objects and pictures of historical and cultural significance to what was once called the Chair City of the World, as well as objects from around the world that where donated by once and current residents of this quaint industrial city that serves as the gateway to the picturesque towns of North Central and Western Massachusetts.
Furniture making was an important part of this city's industrial heritage. A good portion of this museum pays homage to that heritage and history. To collectors and connoisseurs alike, names like Heywood Wakefield, Nichols and Stone, and S. Bent are revered with religious fervor. There are great photos representing those and other companies as well as original pieces of furniture. If you are daring, after leaving the Museum, you can venture down adjacent Elm Street to see what was once the largest chair in the world (Until a Scandanavian Country, that shall go unnamed to protect the innocent, had the Nerve to take that honor away).
Another section in the museum is devoted to the towns now largest Employer, the former Simplex Time Recorder, now part of the international conglomerate Tyco Systems, sold by the single owner Chris Watkins for just over one billion dollars (a lot of money for a single person in this community of 20,000). There are pictures and items that depict the evolution of the company’s long history from its humble beginnings as a manufacturer of time clocks with competitors such as International Business Machines (IBM), to becoming the leading producer of fire systems in the world (Simplex fire systems grace the walls and ceilings of the White House and other federal buildings).
Most interesting among the donated pieces is the collection of dolls from all over Eastern Europe, including the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the former USSR. There are also some traditional American doll houses and a beautiful collection of Russian nesting dolls. From Greece and Egypt there is an interesting collection of reproduced antiquities and a variety of other items.
Finally, in the basement is a functioning reproduction of a New England Silversmith's shop. Silversmiths where quite common in New England villages in the 1700’s and 1800’s. There are still many around to this day, including one in Gardner.
If you would like to visit the museum, be sure to call ahead to get their hours as they do vary. Before you leave, make sure you grab some of the flyers at the museum which will direct you to other attractions throughout the region including the great furniture outlets for which Gardner is still famous.
The Collections:
The collections at the Gardner Museum vary greatly. It ranges from objects and pictures of historical and cultural significance to what was once called the Chair City of the World, as well as objects from around the world that where donated by once and current residents of this quaint industrial city that serves as the gateway to the picturesque towns of North Central and Western Massachusetts.
Furniture making was an important part of this city's industrial heritage. A good portion of this museum pays homage to that heritage and history. To collectors and connoisseurs alike, names like Heywood Wakefield, Nichols and Stone, and S. Bent are revered with religious fervor. There are great photos representing those and other companies as well as original pieces of furniture. If you are daring, after leaving the Museum, you can venture down adjacent Elm Street to see what was once the largest chair in the world (Until a Scandanavian Country, that shall go unnamed to protect the innocent, had the Nerve to take that honor away).
Another section in the museum is devoted to the towns now largest Employer, the former Simplex Time Recorder, now part of the international conglomerate Tyco Systems, sold by the single owner Chris Watkins for just over one billion dollars (a lot of money for a single person in this community of 20,000). There are pictures and items that depict the evolution of the company’s long history from its humble beginnings as a manufacturer of time clocks with competitors such as International Business Machines (IBM), to becoming the leading producer of fire systems in the world (Simplex fire systems grace the walls and ceilings of the White House and other federal buildings).
Most interesting among the donated pieces is the collection of dolls from all over Eastern Europe, including the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the former USSR. There are also some traditional American doll houses and a beautiful collection of Russian nesting dolls. From Greece and Egypt there is an interesting collection of reproduced antiquities and a variety of other items.
Finally, in the basement is a functioning reproduction of a New England Silversmith's shop. Silversmiths where quite common in New England villages in the 1700’s and 1800’s. There are still many around to this day, including one in Gardner.
If you would like to visit the museum, be sure to call ahead to get their hours as they do vary. Before you leave, make sure you grab some of the flyers at the museum which will direct you to other attractions throughout the region including the great furniture outlets for which Gardner is still famous.
