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A Newsletter by the City of Saco, Maine	June, 2006	Return to newsletter index

Saco Museum celebrates 140 years with major exhibition

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The exhibition The Best & The Bizarre: Saco Museum Jubilee - 140 years of history, curiosities & decorative arts at the Saco Museum celebrates the museum's rich history and its remarkable collection of decorative arts, textiles and furniture as well as some of the bizarre or unusual items. The breadth of the museum's permanent collection means that there is something for everyone to enjoy from birds, antiques, beautiful costumes, a sword made out of Chinese coins and a 21-pound lock!

Founded in 1866 as the York Institute, the Saco Museum is one of the oldest museums in Maine and houses an outstanding collection of 18th and 19th century paintings, furniture, decorative arts and natural history artifacts. With over 11,000 objects to choose from for the creation of this exhibit, the museum staff selected some of the best items in the permanent collection in specific areas, including furniture, costume, glass, ceramics, and natural history, as well as unusual or curious items. The exhibit features items from the collection that have regional and national significance, such as the Johnson-Wolcott camera, the first working camera patented in the United States in 1840 and portraits by John Brewster, one of the finest early American folk art painters. The Saco Museum has the largest known collection of Brewster paintings. In addition, the exhibition includes rare 19th century bird's eye view lithographs of Saco and Biddeford - the "Google Earth" of their day. These enhanced perspective colored prints of the cities show a detailed view of every building in the downtowns in 1875.

Thanks to students in a television production class at Thornton Academy, the exhibition will include two videos - one about the Johnson-Wolcott camera and the other about the museum's previous home in the Sweetser Block on Main Street. A slide show about the Pilgrim's Progress panorama, another treasure in the museum's collection, will also be part of the display. Historic images, original documents and objects will be used to capture the story of the museum's history. The Best & The Bizarre will be on view through October 1, 2006.

Museum Information:
The Saco Museum is located at 371 Main Street . The museum's open hours are: Noon - 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Noon - 8 p.m on Thursday. Museum admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, $2 for students and children, and children under 6 are free. The Museum is open free of charge on Thursday evenings from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. For directions and information on related programming, contact the Saco Museum at (207) 283 - 3861 or visit online at: www.sacomuseum.org.