Slater Memorial Museum

{{Distinguish|The Slater Museum of Natural History}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Slater Memorial Museum | nrhp_type = cp | nocat = yes | image = John Fox Slater Memorial Museum, 108 Crescent Street, Norwich (New London County, Connecticut).jpg | caption = The Slater Memorial Museum in 1958 | location= 108 Crescent Street | coordinates = {{coord|41|32|1|N|72|4|55|W|tupe:landmark_region:US-CT|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Connecticut#USA | built = 1885; dedicated 1886; opened 1888. | architect = Stephen C. Earle, Cudworth & Woodworth | architecture = Richardsonian Romanesque | added = May 12, 1989 | area =  | partof = Chelsea Parade Historic District | partof_refnum = 88003215 }}

The '''Slater Memorial Museum''' is a historic building and art museum on the grounds of the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, designed by the architect Stephen C. Earle.<ref name=Dahl>{{cite book|last=Dahl|first=Curtis|title=Stephen C. Earle, Architect: Shaping Worcester's Image|location=Worcester, MA|publisher=Worcester Historical Museum|date=1987|pages=17, 24–25}}.</ref> The building was begun in 1885, dedicated on November 4, 1886, and opened to the public in 1888.<ref name=Dahl/><ref name=Kent3>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=Henry Watson|title=What I Am Pleased to Call My Education|editor-last=Comings|editor-first=Lois Leighton|location=New York|publisher=Grolier Club|date=1949|pages=23–37|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89056202245&seq=7|via=HathiTrust}}</ref> It was commissioned by the textile magnate William A. Slater in honor of his father, John Fox Slater (1815–1884).<ref name=Kent3/> The building, constructed of brick and brownstone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, with rusticated masonry, medieval decorative elements, and the lavish use of tiles and terracotta, is considered by some to be Earle's finest work.<ref name=Dahl/><ref name=ChelseaParade>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=88003215}} |title=National Register of Historic Places proposal: Chelsea Parade Historic District |date=June 25, 1988 |first1=William|last1=Devlin|first2=Bruce|last2=Clouette |publisher=National Park Service|at=section 8, page 6|access-date=2025-03-04}}</ref><ref name=History&Mission>{{cite web|url=https://www.slatermuseum.org/page.cfm?p=5136 |title=History and Mission|website=www.slatermuseum.org|publisher=Norwich Free Academy|access-date=2025-03-04}}</ref> It is a contributing property in the Chelsea Parade Historic District in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places.<ref name=ChelseaParade/> The adjacent Converse Art Gallery, built in 1906, was designed by the firm of Cudworth & Woodworth.<ref name=History&Mission/><ref>{{cite book|title=Class of 1884, Harvard College: Twentieth-Fifth Anniversary, Report of the Secretary. Report VII, June, 1909|location=Cambridge, MA|date=1909|page=235|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fBAnAAAAYAAJ|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The original museum collection consisted of 227 plaster casts of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Renaissance sculpture, acquired in 1887–1888 with the assistance of Edward Robinson, the curator of classical antiquities at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.<ref name=Kent4>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=Henry Watson|title=What I Am Pleased to Call My Education|editor-last=Comings|editor-first=Lois Leighton|location=New York|publisher=Grolier Club|date=1949|pages=39–53|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89056202245&seq=7|via=HathiTrust}}</ref><ref name=KentCat>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=Henry Watson|title=Catalogue and Brief Description of the Plaster Reproductions of the Greek and Italian Sculpture in the Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, Conn|location=Norwich, CT|publisher=Academy Press|date=1889|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.fl4m8t&seq=7|via=HathiTrust}}</ref> These are still displayed in the main hall of the building, and together represent one of the largest surviving collections of plaster casts in the United States.<ref name=galleries>{{cite web|title=Permanent Galleries|website=slatermuseum.org|publisher=Norwich Free Academy|url=https://www.slatermuseum.org/permanent|access-date=2025-03-05}}</ref> The original displays also included electrotype copies of ancient Greek coins and Renaissance medals, together with photographs of European art and architecture.<ref name=Kent4/> The collection has since expanded to include colonial and local historic artifacts, American and European paintings and decorative arts, African and Oceanic sculpture, and Native American objects.<ref name=galleries/>

==See also== *John F. Slater House, 352 E. Main Street, Norwich, CT.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.slatermuseum.org/ Slater Memorial Museum] (official web page)

Category:Museums in New London County, Connecticut Category:Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Connecticut Category:Buildings and structures in Norwich, Connecticut Category:Art museums and galleries in Connecticut Category:History museums in Connecticut Category:Historic district contributing properties in New London County, Connecticut Category:Plaster cast collections