Minute Man National Historical Park
Overview: The museum collection at the Minute Man National Historical Park includes not only archival collections, but also archeological materials, furnishings for a historic house museum, the Wayside, artwork, books, and historic photographs and post cards.
Approximately half of the artifacts at the park are archival materials. The main archival collection is the Harriet M. Lothrop Family Papers, the author of popular children’s stories under the pen name of Margaret Sidney. Another highlight from the collection is the institution’s park reports, which include archaeological surveys, historic structure reports, cultural landscape reports, historic studies, and management reports. These documents date from the park’s creation in 1959 to the present.
American Revolution Materials: The archival collections at the Minute Man National Historic Park include two sets of family papers connected to the Battle of Lexington and Concord: the Hartwell papers and the Meriam papers. On April 19, 1775, British Regulars passed Ephraim Hartwell’s home and tavern on their way to and from Concord, while Ephraim’s son, Samuel, served in a company of Lincoln minutemen who fought the British. The Mariam home was close to a gunfire exchange between the British and minutemen as the regulars returned to Boston following the conflict at Lexington and Concord. Materials within these collections include a number of letters, family papers, deeds, and wills from the Revolution-era and eighteenth century more generally.
Key Words: Battle of Lexington & Concord, deeds, Hartwell family, letters, Meriam family, soldiers/militia, wills
Collection Policies: The Minute Man National Historical Park is not actively expanding its collections at present. Finding aids may currently be accessed by contacting the curator; however, in 2013, the park plans to add finding aids to the web catalog of the National Park Service Museum Management Program website. The institution is willing to lend materials for exhibits and has been involved in exhibitions in the past.