It may not count as a museum, but...

When the volunteer fire companies were replaced by a paid department in
Philadelphia, PA (1870), some of the volunteers formed a Veteran
Firefighters Association. Among their activities were the preservation of
the uniforms, equipment, and vehicles that had belonged to the volunteers.
They moved to a new hall in 1897, where these things were displayed. I'm
not sure if they were displayed elsewhere before that. A large part of the
collection went to the Bucks County Historical Society in Doylestown, PA
around 1916. BCHS has done a lot to document and preserve this collection.

Mary Catherine Bluder, Curator
America On Wheels
P. O. Box 950
Allentown, PA 18105-0950
[log in to unmask]

On Mon, 16 May 2005 15:59:01 -0500, Hugh Genoways
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> Dear David:
>> The current fire museums in New York and Boston both claim very recent
>> founding dates in the AAM Directory:
>>
>> New York City Fire Museum--1987
>>
>> Boston Fire Museum--1983
>>
>> The two that you mention may have been in operation and then
>> dissolved.  These are hard to track, but would be interesting.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Hugh
>Hugh H. Genoways
>Professor
>W436 Nebraska Hall
>University of Nebraska-Lincoln
>Lincoln, NE 68588-0514
>
>
>On May 5, 2005, at 10:20 AM, David Lewias wrote:
>
>> Interesting topic!!
>>
>>  You asked about "specialty" musuems -- firefighting museums have as
>> their origins the volunteer fire companies of the 19th century.  When
>> not busy fighting fires, they organized balls, competitions, and 
>> grand excursions to visit other fire companies.  All these activities
>> were accompanied with gifts -- certificates of appreciation,
>> presentation items, photographs, and trophies of every sort.  Naturaly
>> "relic rooms" were created to house this collection -- and the rest
>> (as they say) is history.....
>>
>> I have two short news clippings that talk about early fire museums.
>> The first, ("Fireman's Journal" Nov. 6 1886), describes a "firemen's
>> museum" in Boston. The second ("National Fireman's Journal, Jan. 12
>> 1874) mentions a New York City firemen's "relic room."
>>
>>  The oldest fire company in *continued* existance (thought this too is
>> contested) is the Rainbow Fire Co. of Reading PA (1773).  The Liberty
>> Fire Co. (also of Reading) is now home to the fledgling "Reading Area
>> Firefighters Museum" which provides a fantastic peek into the fire
>> museums of the past!  It'll make  most museum professionals cringe --
>> everything is as it was displayed 100years ago, the upulstered 
>> furniature is still used by the membership, they have 18ft tall
>> windows on most walls (with minimal shading), and there's no labels or
>> interpertation! -- but despite this all it's a neat place, and like
>> most small museums, they're trying to do the imposible on a shoestring
>> budget.
>>
>> Reading Area FireFighters Museum
>> http://www.readingpafire.com/museum/museum.htm
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  - David -
>>  David Lewis, Curator
>>  Aurora Regional Fire Museum
>>  and webguy for the Fire Museum Network
>>
>>
>>  ========================================================= Important

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