The Bucks County Historical Society: Fact Sheets

Fact Sheets

Mercer Museum

Fonthill

Spruance Library

Bucks County Historical Society

Henry C. Mercer

Mercer Museum

Henry C. Mercer (1856-1930) began construction of the Museum in 1913 with the help of eight day laborers and "Lucy" the horse. The Museum was completed in June of 1916.
Rising six stories high, the Museum is built entirely of concrete reinforced with iron rods and mesh. Concrete was used because of its plasticity and fireproof properties.
The estimated weight of The Mercer Museum is 6500 tons, and the cost to build it was $38,944.99.
Henry C. Mercer, architect and builder of the Museum, believed that the story of human progress and accomplishments was told by the tools and objects that people used.
More than 60% of the Museum's 50,000 artifacts, ranging from clock making tools to a conestoga wagon, are exhibited.
More than 60 Early American trades (including cider making, black-smithing, printing, needlework, shoemaking, and farming) are represented.
Among the oldest artifacts in the Museum collection are a whale oil lamp over 2,000 years old, and Native American implements dating to 6,000 - 8,000 B.C.
In 1989, a Changing Exhibits Gallery in The Mercer Museum was opened to further interpret the BCHS' collections.
The Mercer Museum was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The Museum was awarded accreditation in 1992 by the American Association of Museums, the national organization which upholds museum standards.
More than 80,000 people from around the world visit The Museum annually.
The Mercer Museum offers a variety of programs for all ages including an audio guide of the collections, grade-specific school programs, family craft activities, craft demonstrations and classes, and a summer craft camp for children.

Fonthill

Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) began construction of Fonthill in 1908 when he was 51. The reinforced concrete building was completed in 1912. He next built the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works which is operated as a living history museum by the County of Bucks; for more information click here. There are forty-four rooms in Fonthill: 10 bathrooms; 5 bedrooms; at least 32 stairwells; 18 fireplaces; and 21 chimneys and air vents.
Mercer incorporated his own tiles into Fonthill's architecture as well as Persian, Chinese, Spanish, and Dutch tiles he had collected.
Fonthill was equipped with two dumbwaiters, an Otis Elevator, an intercom buzzer system and phones to communicate within the house.
Over 900 prints (of the 7,000 that Mercer collected from around the world) are displayed at Fonthill.
Built-in bookcases throughout Fonthill hold over 6,000 books.
Fonthill cost $32,482 to build and is situated on 60 acres of land at Doylestown.
After Mercer's death, Fonthill was operated by a separate Mercer/Fonthill Trust. Since 1976 the Bucks County Historical Society has administered Fonthill and in 1990 the two governing boards were merged.
A variety of programs are offered to the public including regular guided tours, special "Behind-the-Scenes" tours, programs specifically geared to students, and holiday events.
Fonthill was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
Fonthill Museum was awarded accreditation in 1992, by the American Association of Museums, the national organization which upholds professional standards for museums.
Fonthill is visited by more than 30,000 people from around the world annually.
Fonthill is supported by a corps of 40 volunteers.

Spruance Library

The Spruance Library is a research library, open to the public, devoted to the collection and preservation of historic documents and materials to be used for genealogical and scholarly research. The Spruance Library's collections are focused in three main areas: the history and culture of Bucks County; the history of of of trades, crafts, and artifacts of everyday life before c. 1850; and the life of Henry C. Mercer (1856-1930), his accomplishments, and his place in the American Arts and Crafts Movement. The Library continues to actively collect in all of its areas of interest.
The Spruance Library is located on the third level of the Mercer Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Additions to the Library were made in 1934, 1937 and 1997 to accommodate the growing collection of the Society.
The Library houses over 15,000 volumes of books; periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, maps, and prints; over 12,000 photographs and postcards, and a wide variety of ephemera such as trade and greeting cards as well as social invitations.
The Library serves as the archival repository for historical records of several Bucks County offices.
Orphans Court records occupy 198 cubic feet.
Tax records occupy 413 linear feet.
The largest single manuscript collection is the papers of the Mercer Museum's founder, Henry C. Mercer.
The Library houses over 100 pieces of Pennsylvania German Fraktur art as well as hundreds of schoolchildren's hand decorated exercise books.
The Library staff and volunteers provide reference service to more than 2,500 researchers a year, as well as telephone and mail requests from around the world.

Bucks County Historical Society

The Bucks County Historical Society (BCHS), a private nonprofit organization, is a unique cultural and educational institution that operates the Mercer Museum, Spruance Library and Fonthill Museum. As the County Historical Society, it is charged with collecting, preserving and interpreting the rich history and culture of Bucks County and the Delaware Valley region. As the primary inheritor of the material and intellectual legacy of Henry C. Mercer, the BCHS is custodian of a regionally and nationally significant collection of tools and artifacts that illuminate the history of pre-industrial America to c. 1850.
The BCHS was founded in 1880 by General William Watts Hart Davis with several friends, including the 23-year-old Henry C. Mercer.
In 1903 a site was purchased for the Historical Society and in 1904 the Elkins Building was erected. The organization remains housed in the Elkins Building that is now directly adjacent to the Mercer Museum.
Activities such as family hands-on craft workshops, special exhibits, craft demonstrations, children's summer camp, lectures and other special events are offered to a diverse audience to educate and entertain.
Annual programs and fund-raising events include the Mercer Museum Folk Fest where over 80 skilled artisans demonstrate 18th- and 19th-century crafts; Fonthill’s Old-Fashioned Fourth of July with fun for the whole family; and Savory Sampler where guests sample fine cuisine from area restaurants while touring the Mercer Museum.
The Bucks County Historical Society is supported by 40 full and part-time staff members, and more than 250 volunteers. Membership is open to individuals, families, organizations and businesses.
The Bucks County Historical Society is governed by a Board of Trustees made up of 30 men and women from Bucks County and beyond.

Henry C. Mercer

Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) a noted tile-maker, archaeologist, antiquarian, artist and writer, was a leader in the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts Movement.
Henry Chapman Mercer was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1856 and died at his home, Fonthill, in Doylestown in 1930.
After graduating from Harvard in 1879, he was one of the founding members of The Bucks County Historical Society in 1880.
He studied law at The University of Pennsylvania and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. Mercer never practiced law but turned his interests towards a career in pre-historic archaeology.
From 1894 to 1897, Mercer was Curator of American and Pre-historic Archaeology at The University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.
As an archaeologist, he conducted site excavations in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and in the Ohio, Delaware, and Tennessee River valleys.
In 1897, Mercer became interested in and began collecting "above ground" archaeological evidence of pre-industrial America.
In searching out old Pennsylvania German pottery for his collection, Mercer developed a keen interest in the craft. By 1899 he was producing architectural tiles that became world famous.
At fifty-one Mercer began building the first of three concrete structures: Fonthill, 1908-10, his home; the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, 1910-12, his tile factory; and The Mercer Museum, 1913-16, which housed his collection of early American artifacts.
Mercer authored several books and articles including Ancient Carpenters Tools and The Bible In Iron.
Fond of animals and birds, Mercer developed a large arboretum with plants native to Pennsylvania on the grounds of Fonthill.
Mercer received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, in 1916, and an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, in 1929.