A New Home For Adams County History

The Adams County Historical Society has been a careful keeper of legacy since 1940 – but it started much earlier than that.  

Since the mid-1800s, especially when mindful people started documenting the Battle of Gettysburg, there has been a need for a place to keep the county’s amazing history. Gettysburg statesman and newspaper editor Edward McPherson was especially cognizant of the need for preservation of what has come before. An historian in his own right, McPherson did much to record and keep the past in remembrance. Over the decades, many more have followed in his footsteps.  

The Adams County Historical Society is moving to a yet-future, permanent location to carefully preserve, protect, and exhibit the countless items of our area history. The new museum, archives, and education center will be housed at 625 Biglerville Road in Cumberland Township. The center will be 25,000 square feet, with an additional, sizable, climate-controlled storage facility.

For many years, the directors and volunteer preservationists at the society have known that they needed such a place. “We have a common history of three hundred years,” explained Andrew Dalton, the Executive Director of the Society. “We have original documents, original artifacts, and we have no way to protect them, no way to properly display them.” Were there to be a disaster, these precious items could be lost forever. The myriad pieces include the original town map of 1785 – the year before Gettysburg was officially a borough – made of animal hide. There is an original program for the National Cemetery dedication where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address – a paper as rare as an original copy of Lincoln’s historic speech. There are original diaries of Gettysburg civilians who witnessed the famous battle in 1863. Among other treasures, they have Gettysburg photographer William Tipton’s camera, a Mamie Eisenhower hat, the pen General Eisenhower used to register to vote, a document signed by Francis Scott Key when he came to Gettysburg to free his slave, Clem Johnson. A favorite find is a letter left by a Confederate soldier to a Gettysburg farmer, explaining why he and his regiment destroyed some of the farmer’s property during and after the Battle of Gettysburg. There are enormous boxes filled with over 10,000 ancient arrowheads, many of them discovered in and around Gettysburg in the 19th century. Director Dalton described them as being from “the late archaic period.” When asked what that meant, he answered, “B.C.”

With over one million pieces housed with the society, a new facility is essential. There will be, finally, a new home for these amazing three centuries of history.

In addition to the preservation and storage of documents and artifacts, the new building will also be an education and research center. The education center will feature historic programs for all ages and differing levels of expertise. There will be a reading room for research with easy access to needed materials, from those interested in genealogy and family history to those researching the area history for professional or scholarly reasons. Windows will give views of the battlefield to all.

There will be an exhibition gallery that, according to the director, “will be artifact-driven, interactive, and with powerful human-interest stories” in a variety of topics, from ancient times through the 20th century. Some themes include the Era of the Dinosaurs, Native American Raids and the Pennsylvania Frontier, The Civilian Experience at the Battle of Gettysburg, The Eisenhowers in Gettysburg, and Integration, Immigration and Women’s Suffrage.

The groundbreaking for the new Adams County Historical Society edifice is planned for the spring of 2021. The storage facility is planned to be finished first, followed by the main center. The plan is to have the new home ready by late autumn of 2022.

Currently, the Adams County Historical Society has established a Capital Campaign for those who wish to contribute to the preservation of this unique history. “If everyone in Adams County gave just ten dollars,” Director Dalton said, “there would be enough to completely fund it.” Already, seventy percent of the cost has been met.  

Contributions may be sent to The Adams County Historical Society, P.O. Box 4325, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 17325.

This quiet corner of bucolic Pennsylvania is memorable for those who share in its community, those who visit, and those around the world who wish to know us better. With a new beginning, and a new home that will last for many decades, the past – our past – will never be lost.