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“The Tools of the Nation Maker,” HCM's 1897 exhibit of hand tools. Mercer grouped and labelled the artifacts himself, using the courtroom of the Bucks County Courthouse as his exhibit gallery.
1897 County, to demonstrate his new type of “tool” collection, gathered on behalf of the BCHS. A sudden thunderstorm forced the dismantling of the exhibit, though Mercer’s address and planned demonstrations of colonial tools took place in a nearby pavilion.
October 7: Mercer re-staged the exhibit in the courtroom of the Bucks County Courthouse. He had labored for weeks to label and categorize the artifacts, and the exhibit presented them in groups, accord-
ing to the scheme he had developed.
HCM’s catalogue of this exhibit, The Tools of the Nation Maker, is an amazing document — a classic of its kind. In addition to describing each of the 761 objects included and listing the donor, it links each with its Old World origins and with the folklore associated with its use, such as superstitions, songs and rituals. Mercer used oral interviews as well as historical and visual sources in his research for this booklet.
HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER: AN ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGY