Philadelphia Museum To Close, Prepare For 2010 Move
By Deborah Fitts

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — A Civil War museum that touts itself as the oldest in the country will close its doors this summer and is not expected to reopen at a new location for two years.

The venerable Civil War Library & Museum got its start in 1888 under the auspices of local Union officers. Since 1922 it has been operating in a quiet residential neighborhood, occupying the cramped quarters of a townhouse at 1805 Pine St.

Sharon Smith, the museum’s new president and CEO, said the Pine Street site will close at the end of July. Sometime in mid-2010 the museum will reopen at the heart of the city’s tourism district, in a spacious 1795 bank building owned by the National Park Service.

Smith revealed that the museum’s board will soon announce another name change. Several years ago the museum was changed from the Civil War Library & Museum to the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum.

Smith suggested that the name, intended to attract the interest of the local African-American community, promised something it could not deliver.

“When you call yourself a museum of the Underground Railroad, a majority of your exhibits should reflect that,” or the museum site itself should have been a stop on the railroad, Smith said.

The name “misleads people. It was done out of an effort to communicate that our interpretive story includes a lot about abolition and slavery issues, and that Philadelphia and the region played a very important role in the concept of the Underground Railroad.”

Smith declined to state the new name, saying the board had not voted on it yet. It will likely be announced at the time of the closing, she said.

Meanwhile, architects are working on plans for the new site, the historic First Bank of the United States building at Independence National Historical Park. The museum may seek construction bids as early as this fall and begin work on the bank building late this year or in early 2009. Opening would come in early-to-mid 2010, Smith predicted.

The Philadelphia firm Artex will pack up the collection and place it in their storage facility at the old naval shipyard. Conservation of artifacts will take place during storage.

Smith says she is “confident” that the museum has already identified $15 million of the roughly $25 million price tag for preparing the bank building and designing and fabricating new exhibits. The money will come from both public and private sources.

The museum has benefited from the sale of the Pine Street building several years ago, for $925,000. The money went toward design and development of the new museum and the care of the collection, according to Smith.

“Everyone that we have talked with about this move is very enthusiastic,” she said. “We have such an extraordinary collection. We’ve got amazing things we’ve never been able to display.”

 She cited, by example, a field desk belonging to Capt. Francis Wister of the 12th U.S. Infantry, still stuffed with documents; and a flag of the Pioneer Brigade from the Army of the Ohio.

Largely made up of lumberjacks and rail-splitters from Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, the brigade built bridges, corduroyed roads, dug entrenchments and fought as infantry when needed. Smith said painted silk flag, with blue bands and an eagle in the middle, is thought to be the only one to survive from the brigade.

Among other notable items are a presentation sword given to Gen. U.S. Grant by his officers after Vicksburg and the saddle that Union Gen. John Reynolds was in when fatally shot at Gettysburg, as well as his sash and spurs;

The collection includes 3,000 artifacts, thousands of photos, a 7,000-volume library and thousands of letters, diaries, muster rolls and the like.