Our Evolving Archives and the Richard B. Bronson Circus Collection

This summer (2021) for had the good fortune of receiving two significant donations of archival materials. John Bragg and Jonathan Eames of the one time family owned N.H. Bragg & Son Company, founded in Bangor, Maine in 1853, donated a number of late 19th century ephemera as well as some catalogs from the retailer in heavy equipment, tools, and mechanica supplies. We hope to receive a larger donation of archival materials in the future. The other donation came from Tracy Bigney and Rick Bronson. This is the lifetime circus collection of their father Richard B. Bronson, Sr. who passed away in 2004. The boxed collection had been in storage for more than a decade.

This significant circus collection found us, as it occurred to the donors that the relocation of our carousel building and 1894 Herschell-Armitage horse carousel might be a fitting match to their father’s collection. With the re-assembly and restoration of the octogonal, three story structure that has housed the restored horse carousel since 1990, we put in the effort of sheathing the interior walls with tongue and groove bead board (wainscotting) and putting a coat of white paint. The intention has been for some time to not only offer all visitors in the near future a ride on the carousel but to use the space as a gallery to exhibit archival and art long hidden in filing cabinets and back rooms vitually unknown to most. The carousel itself came with a donation of many other artifacts once belonging to Ivory Fenderson, its original owner. This included just about every document, receipt, photographs, and other material culture saved by the Fenderson family since the carousel was retired to a barn on their farm in Saco. Maine a hundred years ago this coming year!