00:19 - Hello there.

00:20 - Thank you for stopping and visiting the Christian Sanderson Museum.

00:23 - We're located in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, on Creek Road.

00:28 - We're going to take a look at Chris Sanderson's collection

00:31 - and other items that he had during his lifetime.

00:35 - Now, let's go inside and take a look.

00:37 - Christian Carmack Sanderson was born in 1882, in Port Providence,

00:43 - Pennsylvania, across the Schuylkill River from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

00:47 - He went to school there and lived with his parents and younger brother in the area.

00:52 - By the time he was a senior in high school,

00:54 - he already knew how to play the violin or fiddle as he called it.

00:58 - He also understood he was interested in history

01:01 - and knew he wanted to be a teacher, as his father was a senior.

01:05 - His father, who was superintendent of steel pouring at the Phoenix

01:09 - Bridge Works, died from typhoid,

01:12 - but they managed to come up with enough money

01:15 - to for him to go to the normal school in West Chester to become a teacher.

01:19 - The room that we're in right now is what we call the entry room,

01:22 - and I like to say it has a little of this and a little of that in it.

01:27 - The there's the one collection that he purchased on his own.

01:32 - Were the historic transfer aware plates.

01:35 - We have about 200 of them in the museum.

01:38 - As far as other items in here, we have, in the one

01:41 - case, a paper maché shoe from the Revolutionary War.

01:46 - This was used to hide valuables

01:48 - in it from the British soldiers as they were raiding homes.

01:52 - We also have a signed baseball from her.

01:56 - Pennock, who is the first Chester County native

02:00 - to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

02:04 - Another set of items we have in here are Chris's toys.

02:08 - His mother saved everything, and that's probably where

02:12 - Chris got his ability to save everything and anything.

02:16 - We're in the battlefield room right now.

02:18 - It says items in it from the Revolutionary War through World War two.

02:24 - On the one wall, we have pictures of the map of Battle of Brandywine

02:29 - and one of Chris's many hand-drawn maps of the battlefield.

02:34 - We have items from the Civil War, in particular the Battle of Gettysburg.

02:39 - Probably the most interesting piece in that display

02:42 - is the purse that belonged to Jennie Wade.

02:46 - She was the only civilian killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.

02:50 - Chris received her purse from her sister, Georgia Wade McClellan.

02:56 - She was so impressed when she met Chris at the 50th reunion

03:00 - of the Battle of Gettysburg that she turned around

03:02 - and mailed it to him to add to his collection.

03:05 - We have other items from that Revolutionary War

03:07 - that Chris received by trading with other people.

03:11 - Everything you see in the museum, for the most part, Chris

03:15 - either collected or he gave it to someone and they gave it back to him.

03:19 - We do not take anything that people want to send to us.

03:23 - We have items from World War One and in fact, a field

03:26 - hospital from Jefferson Hospital trained here in Chadds Ford.

03:31 - And Chris and his mother, Hannah, sort of became their grandmother and grandfather.

03:36 - Once they finished their field training, they then hopped on a train

03:40 - and went into Philadelphia and shipped out in 1917.

03:44 - We have items from both the European Theater

03:48 - and the Pacific Theater from World War two that were given to Chris.

03:53 - The painting you see on the wall is called troops by the hundreds where passing.

03:58 - It was an illustration for a magazine

04:01 - article called Sally Castleton that N.C.

04:05 - Wyeth did in 1912.

04:08 - It was published as a book, called

04:11 - Sally Castleton in 1913.

04:14 - The painting was given to Chris Sanderson's mother, Hannah, by N.C.

04:19 - Wyeth and 1913, and was inscribed to her.

04:24 - The painting on the far wall here in the battlefield

04:28 - room, is a picture of Chris Sanderson,

04:31 - painted by Andrew Wyeth in 1937.

04:36 - 1937 was a very busy year.

04:38 - That's when Chris and his mother

04:39 - moved into what she called as the Little Gray House.

04:43 - The painting was presented to her in August of 1937 by Andrew,

04:49 - and she was just absolutely flabbergasted when she received it.

04:53 - It has been here in the museum ever since,

04:57 - and it has been shown in other areas around the country.

05:02 - We're now in the Chadds Ford room.

05:05 - This has items related to the area,

05:08 - as well as items about the Battle of Brandywine, and a few other issues

05:13 - that caused Chris to want to live in this area.

05:17 - On the door here, we have a picture of

05:22 - Washington's headquarters, which is now at the Brandywine Battlefield State Park.

05:26 - Chris lived here from 1906 until 1921 with his mother.

05:32 - The picture below is after the building burned in 1931.

05:38 - Chris was absolutely devastated by the, fire that destroyed the building.

05:44 - They also use a number of our photographs to help in the rebuilding

05:47 - of the headquarters, which occurred after World War Two.

05:50 - Chris was not above staging a few events for history,

05:54 - and one of the fun ones is a picture.

05:57 - Right?

05:58 - But it was taken right by this door where I'm standing right now.

06:01 - You can see Mrs.

06:02 - Sanderson reaching up with her hand to pull a chain

06:06 - to turn on the first electricity in the building.

06:10 - It was not the first, and it would not be the last time

06:13 - that Chris staged an event for his photographs.

06:17 - Chris had something like 5000 photographs in his collection of

06:21 - from all over the United States, and also from all over the area around here.

06:26 - Chris had a birthday party for him in 1962.

06:32 - It was his 80th birthday.

06:34 - Jamie Wyeth drew an illustration of Chris

06:38 - in a classic pose with his fiddle case

06:42 - and his exercise clubs and his briefcase,

06:46 - and it was used for the cover of the program.

06:49 - We also have a picture showing Jamie presenting the picture to Chris.

06:55 - Chris attended the Westchester Normal School

06:58 - to become a teacher and got his teaching certificate there.

07:01 - He finished up in 1901.

07:05 - While he was there, he read the book The Story of Ken It

07:08 - by Bayard Taylor Baird.

07:10 - Taylor only wrote two fiction books, one being the one about Ken and Square.

07:16 - Chris was so intrigued by the story that he decided he needed to go see the area,

07:21 - and it was one of the big reasons why he decided to move down to Chadds

07:27 - Ford and live in this area along the Brandywine.

07:31 - In our display case, we have several copies of the book

07:35 - that he wrote, and Chris could identify every person in the story

07:40 - as who it actually was in history.

07:42 - The display case to my left

07:45 - is our Battle of Brandywine Artifacts exhibit.

07:49 - In it is a copy of the Encyclopedia

07:53 - Britannica from 1793.

07:56 - This is the first published account of the Battle of Brandywine.

08:01 - You'll notice that on the plaque here is a breast

08:04 - British breastplate made of brass.

08:08 - We also have another one, and that one's made out of lead.

08:12 - The brass ones were for officers and the lead ones were for enlisted men.

08:17 - We have other samples of both,

08:21 - canister shot and musket shot that are here in the case.

08:25 - Chris helped prepare a brochure

08:29 - for the 150th anniversary of the battle of the Brandywine.

08:34 - And there's a samples of those all the way in the bottom of the case.

08:37 - We're now on the second floor in the pickup's in room.

08:41 - This room has items related to the family

08:46 - of Chris Anderson, as well as Brandywine School artist.

08:50 - Have some material in this room.

08:52 - The large sign to my right

08:56 - is the Chadds Ford barbershop sign,

09:00 - and it was outside for many years,

09:03 - and it's well known for its saying at the bottom,

09:06 - this is the place where Washington and Lafayette had a very close shave.

09:11 - It was moved in here by Andrew Wyeth

09:15 - in the creation of the museum, to prevent

09:18 - continued deterioration of the sign directly above.

09:21 - It is a illustration

09:25 - that was produced by Peter Herd, one of N.C.

09:28 - Wyeth students.

09:30 - It was for a contest for a fresco that was going to appear

09:35 - in a federal office building in Texas.

09:39 - Peter did not win, but it was eventually used in a post office in Texas.

09:45 - We also have an illustration by one of Howard

09:49 - Pyle's, relatives

09:52 - showing a young lady in a nice red dress.

09:56 - We also have pictures of both of Chris Anderson's

09:59 - grandfathers, who were fought for the Union in the Civil War.

10:04 - One made it through, but his one of his other

10:08 - grandfathers was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

10:12 - Also in this room is what we call the keepsake case.

10:17 - Chris saved many little items and wrote little notes on them.

10:21 - For example, there's a broken shoelace

10:24 - from a presidential inauguration that he attended.

10:27 - There's also a piece of a raincoat from another one.

10:30 - And then finally, there is a copy of the ticket that Chris had

10:35 - when he went to the 1915 World Series,

10:39 - where the Red Sox defeated the Phillies.

10:43 - We're now in the CalMac room, which was Mrs.

10:47 - Sanderson's bedroom.

10:48 - On the wall we have a portrait of

10:51 - Chris painted by Barclay Rubin. Cab.

10:54 - He was one of N.C.

10:56 - Wyeth students, and it happens to be my personal favorite picture of Chris.

11:01 - Mrs. Sanders would like to make 13 star flags,

11:05 - and the one that you can see here was the last one

11:09 - she made in December of 1943.

11:12 - She passed away Christmas morning of 1943.

11:16 - We have three of the cash registers from the museum.

11:21 - Chris had a register for every museum that he had,

11:24 - and every home that he lived in had a museum on the left hand side

11:30 - is the drawing of a Continental Soldier by N.C.

11:35 - Wyeth.

11:35 - And the middle is, Andrew Wyeth drawing of Washington's headquarters.

11:40 - And in the middle of the room is a stand

11:43 - with many of the items that Chris collected over the years.

11:47 - One of the interesting one is a brochure that Chris wrote for Hires Root Beer.

11:53 - It gave

11:54 - sample instructions on how to square dance,

11:57 - which Chris was well known as a square dance caller.

12:00 - All over the area, people could purchase a copy of that

12:05 - from his root beer by sending in the hang tag.

12:08 - They put on the bottles of root beer

12:10 - and sending in $0.10, and they would send it back to him.

12:14 - Over a quarter million copies of that document were printed.

12:18 - Copies of it are still being used to this day.

12:21 - We're now in the Brandywine Room, which is where many of our Wyeth

12:27 - related items that Chris received over his lifetime are displayed.

12:33 - There's letters between Wyeth and Chris

12:37 - and other people who were who knew the wives on the wall.

12:42 - To my left is a study of the country school master.

12:48 - Chris served as the model for this particular, illustration

12:52 - that was going to be used in a book called The Brandywine,

12:56 - which was part of the Rivers of America series.

12:59 - Directly behind me are some illustrations

13:03 - that were used to develop the drawing of skating on the Brandywine.

13:09 - The lower picture

13:11 - is the very beginning, a sketch showing, Chris skating.

13:16 - It gets more detailed as you look farther up with a fire,

13:20 - and then eventually it ends up becoming a double spread.

13:23 - And the book on the other wall, there's another example of a migration

13:28 - or a development of a theme that was used for the cover.

13:32 - You can see where they originally had two boats going down the Brandywine

13:37 - and the final illustration which appeared on the cover only has one.

13:44 - Finally, in some of the panels, there's a picture of Washington

13:48 - in the Lafayette that Andrew Wyeth created when he was younger.

13:52 - At the bottom of our display case that I'm standing

13:54 - by are a number of copies of books that N.C.

13:59 - illustrated.

14:01 - He turned around and would give those to Mrs.

14:04 - Sanders, and every year as a present.

14:07 - And she read every one of them.

14:09 - We're now in the music room where a number of Chris's

14:13 - violins are housed, as well as other music related items.

14:17 - On the wall are three of the violins

14:20 - that we had conserved and are playable.

14:24 - The one in the middle is Chris's favorite one.

14:28 - It belonged to Ollie Bull, a Norwegian

14:31 - violin soloist who did play in the United States.

14:35 - Chris bought it from an owner

14:39 - of that violin for $125, and he paid it off at $5 a week.

14:44 - There's some interesting photographs.

14:47 - The one at the top, directly over the violins, is a picture of Chris

14:52 - at the Old Fiddlers Picnic in Parkersburg, Pennsylvania.

14:57 - There were a number of old fiddlers picnics, but the two that we know

15:01 - most about are the one in Parkersburg and another one at Lenape.

15:05 - We like to call them dueling, fiddlers picnics.

15:10 - Chris also is a radio broadcaster.

15:13 - He broadcasted on stations in Wilmington, Delaware for ten years.

15:18 - And then after the Second World War, he moved and broadcast

15:22 - on a station, WCCO Jay, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

15:26 - He played with his band, and sometimes you just talked about what was going on.

15:30 - He was very happy to learn about recording tape,

15:33 - which was invented by, Bing Crosby.

15:36 - So if he wanted to go someplace,

15:38 - he could just call the engineer and they would put a tape on of his shows.

15:42 - Chris and his band played for the USO clubs in Philadelphia

15:48 - from the beginning of World War Two up until 1947.

15:53 - There were two clubs that he played at.

15:55 - The first was the Stage Door Canteen,

15:59 - located in the basement of the Academy.

16:01 - Music.

16:02 - The other one was at the Central City YMCA,

16:06 - which was located then had Broad and Arch streets.

16:10 - We are now in the school room with items

16:13 - related to the schools where Chris taught,

16:16 - and also some artifacts from the different classrooms.

16:19 - On my left are pictures of all of the schools that Chris taught Ed

16:24 - from 1901 until 1929.

16:28 - They were in Montgomery County, several in Chester and Delaware County,

16:32 - and finally the last school he taught at where he was principal

16:36 - was in Ellesmere, Delaware.

16:38 - In addition to these photographs of the students and in front of them,

16:42 - we also have a school desk that came from another one of the schools.

16:48 - And we have some student lists.

16:50 - In fact, there's an interesting note that we show from the Glenn

16:55 - Miller School where it talks about this young lady was asked to

16:59 - if she could have the day off so she could help plant potatoes.

17:02 - Well, we know for a fact that

17:05 - the note was written by somebody else because her parents

17:08 - were Italian and could not speak any English or write in English.

17:12 - Finally, in this room, we have a large map of historic

17:17 - Chester County that was designed by Chris,

17:21 - and the illustrations were handled by Andrew Wyatt.

17:25 - It's four feet by four feet, and in addition

17:28 - to the county illustrations, the famous

17:32 - people are around the outside edges, and next to it on either side

17:36 - are some of the preliminary studies that Andy used for the illustration.

17:42 - Chris and Andy tried to get the map reproduced

17:47 - and they were going to sell it, but they wanted to get a dollar a map.

17:52 - But this was in 1936 and 37, and a dollar was a lot of money.

17:58 - It would buy four gallons of gas and multiple loaves of bread.

18:02 - Well, suffice it to say, they didn't do a very good job of selling it.

18:06 - And so most of them are still available for sale.

18:10 - Thank you very much for visiting here

18:12 - at the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford.

18:16 - For more information about the museum, please go to our website.

18:22 - If you're interested in being a volunteer, there is information

18:25 - on the website about how to get in touch with us.

18:28 - Thank you again.

18:34 - For your.