# Mercer Museum

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{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Mercer Museum
| nrhp_type = nhldcp
| nocat = yes
| partof = Fonthill, Mercer Museum, and Moravian Pottery and Tile Works
| partof_refnum =  85002366
| image = MercerMuseum.jpg
| caption = Mercer Museum in [Doylestown, Pennsylvania](/source/Doylestown%2C_Pennsylvania)
| location = 84 S. Pine St.,<br/>[Doylestown, Pennsylvania](/source/Doylestown%2C_Pennsylvania), U.S.
| coordinates = {{coord|40|18|28|N|75|7|38|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Pennsylvania#USA
| area =
| built = 1904
| architect = Dr. Henry Mercer
| architecture= [Colonial Revival](/source/Colonial_Revival_architecture)
| designated_nrhp_type = February 4, 1985<ref name="nhl">{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=85002366}} |title= Fonthill, Mercer Museum, and Moravian Pottery and Tile Works |accessdate=2013-12-16|work=National Historic Landmark listing|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>
| added = March 16, 1972<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
| refnum = 72001097<ref name=nris/>
}}

The '''Mercer Museum''' is a museum located in [Doylestown, Pennsylvania](/source/Doylestown%2C_Pennsylvania). The Bucks County Historical Society operates the Mercer Museum, the Research Library, and [Fonthill](/source/Fonthill_(house)) Castle, the former home of the museum's founder, [archeologist](/source/archeologist) [Henry Chapman Mercer](/source/Henry_Chapman_Mercer).

The museum was individually listed on the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) in 1972,<ref name=nris/> and was later included in a [National Historic Landmark District](/source/National_Historic_Landmark_District) along with the [Moravian Pottery and Tile Works](/source/Moravian_Pottery_and_Tile_Works) and [Fonthill](/source/Fonthill_(house)). These three structures are the only poured-in-place [concrete](/source/concrete) structures built by Mercer.<ref name=nhl/>

==History==
thumb|100px|right|Sample of tile work from the on-site production facility in the Mercer Museum

Henry Mercer was a gentleman anthropologist. On a cruise up the [Ruhr](/source/Ruhr_(river)) in early adulthood, Mercer was impressed by the eclipse of artisanal culture by industrial production, and resolved himself to preserving artifacts of preindustrial life.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mercer collected [pre-industrial](/source/pre-industrial) [hand tools](/source/hand_tools) and other implements of the past. He believed that the story of human progress and accomplishments was told by the tools and objects that people used and saw these time-honored crafts slowly disappearing from memory.

Mercer personally designed plans for a museum to house his collection, six stories tall and cast of poured-in-place [concrete](/source/concrete). Mercer's museum was completed in 1916.

In addition to tools, it displays furnishings of [early America](/source/Early_American_history), carriages, [stove](/source/stove) plates, a [gallows](/source/gallows), antique [fire engines](/source/fire_apparatus), a [whaleboat](/source/whaleboat), and the [Lenape Stone](/source/Lenape_Stone). The Mercer Museum Library, which houses the Bucks County Historical Society's archive of historical research materials, is located on its third floor.

In June 2011, construction was completed on a new, extensive visitors center at the front of the museum.

==Construction==
The museum is one of three poured-in-place [concrete](/source/concrete) structures built by Mercer. The others include his home Fonthill and the [Moravian Pottery and Tile Works](/source/Moravian_Pottery_and_Tile_Works), both of which are located one mile from the museum.

Mercer decided to build with concrete after the [Great Boston Fire of 1872](/source/Great_Boston_Fire_of_1872) destroyed his aunt's prized collection of medieval armor, which had been stored in wooden structures. He did not want his own collections to suffer the same fate.

Locals mocked his choice of building materials, but on completion of the museum, he lit a bonfire on its roof to prove that it was fireproof.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=319|title=Curious Expeditions » Blog Archive » The Concrete Castle|date=May 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501151310/http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=319 |archive-date=May 1, 2008 }}</ref> Mercer's museum was an early demonstration of [rebar](/source/rebar)-reinforced concrete as a structural material.

==Gallery==
<gallery mode=packed heights=200>
View of Atrium in Mercer Museum, Doylestown.jpg|Inside the Mercer Museum. Pieces hang from the ceiling and walls.
Cigar Store Figures.jpg|19th century cigar store figures
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Official website|http://www.mercermuseum.org/}}
*Panoramic images: [http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=6335 exterior], [http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=6347 main chamber], [http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=6338 stove plate gallery]
*{{HABS |survey=PA-1007 |id=pa0216 |title=Mercer Museum, Pine and Ashland Streets, Doylestown, Bucks County, PA |photos=21 |data=6 |cap=2}}

{{Portal|Philadelphia}}
{{Museums in Pennsylvania}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania}}
{{Authority control}}

Category:Museums in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Category:History museums in Pennsylvania
Category:Industry museums in Pennsylvania
Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania
Category:Biographical museums in Pennsylvania
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Category:Museums established in 1904
Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Pennsylvania
Category:Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Category:1904 establishments in Pennsylvania

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mercer Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Museum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Museum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.