Members of the Chadds Ford Business Association got a free tour of the Christian C. Sanderson Museum as part of the association’s November meeting. Chuck Ulmann, museum curator, was the guest speaker and he handed out guest passes after his talk.
Ullman gave an overview of the museum’s history as well as that of the man for whom it’s named.
Chris Sanderson, born in 1882, graduated from the West Chester Normal School — now West Chester University — in 1901. He was a teacher, fiddler and, most of all, a collector of all things he thought were historical.
Prior to moving into the little house on Creek Road where the museum is located, he and his mother once lived in the Ring House — Washington’s Headquarters — the stone house on the hill at the Brandywine Battlefield State Park. (The current house is a reproduction. The original was destroyed in a fire.)
Sanderson became friendly with both N.C. and Andrew Wyeth. It was Andrew who was part of the effort to turn the Creek Road house into a museum after Sanderson died in 1966.
The museum has eight rooms and thousands of artifacts, letters and books. Among the items available for viewing are the purse that once belonged to Jenny Wade, the lone civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg, a piece of bandage believed to have covered President Lincoln’s fatal wound and a lock of Gen. George Washington’s hair.
The letters and books are available for research by appointment, Ulmann said.
There are also cannon balls, photos, weapons and ammunition from various wars, as well as inauguration material from each president from Teddy Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson.
In addition, the museum has several paintings done by members of the Wyeth family and one by Peter Hurd.
The museum is open four days per week, March through November.
Caption: Sanderson Museum Curator Chuck Ulmann, left, shows a map from the Battle of Brandywine to CFBA member Marty Milligan.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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