Museum Monday: Baldwin Family Papers

It’s Museum Monday, so we want to share the news of an exciting collections donation we received this week! On Thursday, we were honored to receive six boxes of materials from the Baldwin Family. You may recognize the Baldwin name from last week’s Tuberculosis Thursday post about Dr. Edward R. Baldwin, but the collection also contains papers, photographs, journals, correspondence, and more from Mary Ives Baldwin, Ernest H. Baldwin, and Anne Leonard.

As we shared on Thursday, Dr. Baldwin was a close friend and colleague of Dr. E.L. Trudeau, and was the Director of the Saranac Laboratory. Mary Baldwin was the wife of Dr. Baldwin, and was active in local civic and philanthropic organizations, including the Village Improvement Society. Mary was also a talented photographer. Ernest Baldwin was Dr. Baldwin’s brother, and together with his wife, Anne Leonard, founded the Baldwin School in 1907. Ernest was also the first director of the Saranac Lake Free Library in 1907.

The collection was donated by Barbara Baldwin Knapp, Dr. Baldwin’s granddaughter, with assistance and accompaniment by her son and daughter, Gunnar and Tina (pictured in front of the Baldwin House). This donation is a thrilling addition to the collections here at the Saranac Laboratory Museum, and we can’t wait to share the contents (and future additions!) with you as we process them!

We want to share just a few snapshots of items from the collection, starting with photographs of Dr. Baldwin as a scientist, father, and outdoorsman; correspondence from Dr. Baldwin to his son Henry and his membership certificate for the Stevenson Society of America; travel medicine kits (including this one with Dr. Baldwin’s handwritten instructions); photographs and pamphlets from the Baldwin School; a travel diary from Mary Baldwin’s (pictured) trip to Europe in 1924; and photographs of Saranac Lake life (including Winter Carnival scenes) from a scrapbook from the 1910s.

Thank you to the Baldwin Family for their generosity and hard work in preserving (especially Gunnar!) and sharing this fascinating material with us!

To learn more about the Baldwin Family, visit our wiki!

Learn more about the Baldwin Family!