Locust Grove: The Samuel Morse Historic Site [NY]

Description

The 180-acre Locust Grove is the estate of Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872), patent holder on the electromagnetic telegraph and creator of an early version of Morse code. The site contains an Italianate villa, housing a collection of European and American art and decorative arts. The grounds hold gardens. Exhibits include telegraph technology and paintings by Morse himself. Morse lived on the estate between 1847 and his death in 1872.

The site offers an introductory film, exhibits, period rooms, five curriculum-based educational programs, a summer day camp, guided tours of the villa, 100-minute group gardens and grounds tours, 2-hour group villa and gardens tours, and trails. Reservations are required for all group tours.

Historic Speedwell [NJ]

Description

Historic Speedwell presents mid-19th-century life through the estate of Stephen Vail (1780-1864), proprietor of Speedwell Iron Works. The site highlight is the factory building where Alfred Vail (1807-1859) and Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872) completed and publicly demonstrated the electromagnetic telegraph in 1838. Other structures include an operational waterwheel; the Vail Home, furnished to an 1844 to 1864 appearance; 1849 carriage house; several residences; and a historic granary.

The site offers period rooms; traditional and interactive exhibits; guided tours of the factory building, Vail home, and Wheelhouse; hands-on workshops; Scout programs; and educational programs.

Samuel F. B. Morse Papers, 1793-1919

Image
Annotation

Offers approximately 50,000 images of 6,500 items from the papers of 19th-century American scientist and painter Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872), inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph. In addition to science and art-related papers, the materials in the collection document Morse's interest in photography and religion, as well as his involvement with the American nativist movement. Includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, books, pamphlets, broadsides, maps, drawings, and other materials, primarily produced during between 1807 and 1872.

The site provides a timeline supplemented with 15 documents; a family tree; two essays of approximately 1,000 words each (entitled "The Invention of the Telegraph" and "The Lesser-Known Morse: Artist, Politician, Photographer"); a bibliography of 22 titles; and links to 16 additional sites.

Searching capabilities leave much to be desired. Keyword searching applies only to titles assigned to documents by the Library of Congress. Thus even though the finding aid lists "Nativism" as a subject, a keyword search turns up nothing. The site unfortunately is of limited use because of this shortcoming.