The Christian C. Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
THE MUSEUM
The Sanderson Museum is a tribute to the life and collection of one man, Christian C. Sanderson. A private non-profit organization founded in 1967, the year after Sanderson's death, the museum contains thousands of artifacts pertaining not only to local Chadds Ford history, but to American history as well. This juxtaposition of local artifacts and those of countrywide significance puts a small town man's life into a national context.
Christian Sanderson’s fascination with history and the importance of the “living records” of history has culminated in a collection of archives, memories and actual physical remains of days long gone but, thanks to Mr. Sanderson, days well remembered.
The personal context of the Sanderson museum collection brings new life to the characters and events of American history. Just as the Internet is heralded for its ability to bring the world to anyone’s neck of the woods, the same effect is had in the Sanderson Museum. It is a time and place machine, presenting the world’s most distant lands and history’s most grandiose events and figures, and drawing them down to the eye level of the typical visitor.
Christian Sanderson accumulated, cared for and recorded some of American history’s most personal relics. The museum’s board and volunteers are working hard to assure that they will be witnessed by subsequent generations.