CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
OF PHILADELPHIA
CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
OF PHILADELPHIA
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The Collection

The Civil War Museum of Philadelphia Collection is one of the most significant collections of Civil War artifacts in the country, in fact the largest collection of significant artifacts and archival material outside of government hands. Harold Holzer, noted Civil War historian and former Co-Chair of the United States Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, said of the collection: “The Civil War Museum's collection is truly an American treasure”.


Comprising some 3,000 artifacts, several thousand photographs, hundreds of works of art, scores of maps and charts, and nearly 100 linear feet of letters, diaries, muster rolls and other archival materials, the collections of the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia rank among the largest and most comprehensive in the United States. More than 80 percent of the materials came to the Museum directly from Civil War veterans or their descendants. The collections hail from every state involved in the Union side of the war, and also include a small yet significant body of materials from the Confederate side. Prominent individuals such as Abraham Lincoln, General George Meade, Jr., General Ulysses S. Grant, and Rear Admiral George Melville are represented along with hundreds of other individuals whose names are less familiar, but whose heroism and contribution were no less distinguished.


The bulk of the Museum’s collections document the military experiences of individuals during the war. It includes an extensive armory collection of firearms, edged weapons, and ammunition; officers and enlisted soldiers’ uniforms, field equipment and utensils; battle and regimental flags and banners; recruiting posters and commissions; badges and insignia; escutcheons (military coats of arms); surgical tools and pharmaceutical materials; military band instruments; and other souvenirs from battlefields and prisoner of war camps.


The collection also shows the War’s impact on civilian life. Letters and journals describe housewives’ struggles to raise a family, make ends meet, and cope with loneliness and loss. Nurses’ field kits, equipment and supplies produced by female war workers tell the important story of the role that women played in the conflict, and children’s clothing and schoolbooks, shed light on other aspects of life on the home front.


Where to see artifacts from the collection:

National Constitution Center

Founding Forward at the Union League

Gettysburg Battlefield Museum and Visitors Center

Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum & Archive

African American Museum in Philadelphia

Pennsylvania National Guard Armory

Battleship New Jersey

LancasterHistory

Historical Society of Montgomery County, PA

New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center

The Grand Army of the Republic Hall & Museum of Lynn, MA

Michigan's GAR Memorial Hall & Museum

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Naval History and Heritage Command

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United states

Dames of the Loyal Legion of the United States

The Armed Slave by William Spang

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln by David Bustill Bowser

Fragment of the original battle flag of the 118th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

Calfskin knapsack of Pvt. John S. Greer, Co. C, 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters

Calfskin knapsack of Pvt. John S. Greer, Co. C, 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters

Bullet-struck pocket watch of Sgt. John O. Foering, 28th Pennsylvania Infantry

Bullet-struck pocket watch of Sgt. John O. Foering, 28th Pennsylvania Infantry

Surgeon's Kit

Portrait of General George Gordon Meade

Slouch hat of General George Gordon Meade


Frock coat of General George Gordon Meade

The eyeglasses of General George Gordon Meade after conservation treatment 

Portrait of Robert E. Lee

Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant

Presentation sword and scabbard given to General Ulysses S. Grant by the men of the Army of the Tennessee for his victory at Vicksburg in July 1863

General Meade's presentation sword after conservation treatment

Personal battle flag of Brigadier General  George A. Custer used at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Drawing from soldier Carlton Birch's "Record in War" (before conservation treatment)

The Army letters of Francis Adams Donaldson vol. 1 which describe events, people, places and gossip in the Army of the Potomac from 1862-1864 (before conservation treatment)

Questions or comments: 

contact@civilwarmuseumphila.org

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