Skip to main content

Sharon Historical Society & Museum

Sharon Historical Society & Museum

The Sharon Historical Society has an institutional history similar to many small historical societies. Founded in 1911, the Society spent the first forty-odd years of its life meeting, usually monthly, to listen to a semi-scholarly paper on some aspect of Sharon history, presented by a member. An entirely volunteer-run organization with no building of its own, it used the second floor local history room at the town library as headquarters. Books, papers and some archival material were stored at the library, while other collections objects resided in the homes of members. In 1951, the SHS was bequeathed the home of past president, Miss Anne Sherman Hoyt. Unable to assume financial responsibility for the entire building, the SHS rented out the first floor of what became known as the "Gay-Hoyt House" to the thrift shop associated with the Sharon Hospital. The SHS used the second floor of the house for collections storage and meeting space.

Early in 1999, based on the museum's heightened public profile, the success of several large fund raising events and a growth in membership, Board and staff began to take a serious look at the museum's physical plant. Located in a brick house, built in 1775, with a tiny, "piece meal" addition, no climate control, no handicapped access, and little multi-purpose space, the feasibility of renovation and expansion was addressed. The museum's public profile was examined. The results were positive. A building campaign was begun, an architect selected, and plans were drawn. The ceremonial groundbreaking was a gala fund raising event itself, taking place in early July 2001. The $670,000 building project was completed in December 2002. All debt associated with the project was paid by December 2003.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Featured Articles

Rarely has the full story been told how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

Often thought to have been a weak President, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or political fallout.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.

Native American peoples and the lands they possessed loomed large for Washington, from his first trips westward as a surveyor to his years as President.

A hundred years ago, America was rocked by riots, repression, and racial violence.

During Pres. Washington’s first term, an epidemic killed one tenth of all the inhabitants of Philadelphia, then the capital of the young United States.

Now a popular state park, the unassuming geological feature along the Illinois River has served as the site of centuries of human habitation and discovery.  

The recent discovery of the hull of the battleship Nevada recalls her dramatic action at Pearl Harbor and ultimate revenge on D-Day as the first ship to fire on the Nazis.

Our research reveals that 19 artworks in the U.S. Capitol honor men who were Confederate officers or officials. What many of them said, and did, is truly despicable.

Here is probably the most wide-ranging look at Presidential misbehavior ever published in a magazine.

When Germany unleashed its blitzkreig in 1939, the U.S. Army was only the 17th largest in the world. FDR and Marshall had to build a fighting force able to take on the Nazis, against the wishes of many in Congress.