Scudder's American Museum

"[1] It was located at 57 King Street, with Pintard serving as secretary and Gardner Baker (more of a showman between the two) as keeper.

Relying now only on ticket sales to finance operations, he raised admission prices and kept attempting to add new curiosities to draw visitors.

[4][5] Poet Fitz-Greene Halleck referenced this social experiment in an 1819 satirical piece which includes the lines: "Once the old alms house, now a school of wisdom, Sacred to Scudder's shells and Dr.

Expecting to see paintings, Beaumont wrote that instead they "laughed like the blessed" to see the sideshow-like contents such as a "magic lantern and some stuffed birds."

"[9] Holdings at the museum included the first American flag hoisted over New York City on the day the British departed in November 1783.

Scudder's American Museum circa 1825
The leftmost part of this 1861 lithograph shows a part of Scudder's American Museum (the letters "Museum" can be made out) in 1831, in its final location across from St. Paul's