Early American Mummymania

Egyptian mummies.

Mummies at the British Museum.

Postcard view of the mills in Gardiner, Maine.

Postcard showing the rear view of the paper mills in Gardiner, Maine.

Stanwood & Towar Mill in Gardiner, Maine.

Postcard of Stanwood & Towar Mill, later Hollingsworth & Whitney.

View of S.D. Warren & Co, in Westbrook.

Postcard view of Cumberland Mills.

The New Dam at Great Falls.

Postcard view of the new dam at Great Falls, built by S.D. Warren Co.

Postcard view of Gardiner, Maine.

Postcard view of Gardiner, Maine.

"Everyday Egyptian Coffin"

An image of an "everyday" coffin which is similar to the one shown in the Barnum advertisement.

Peale's New York Museum

Watercolor of Peale's New York Museum.

Gadsby's Hotel

Gadsby's Hotel (Also known as the National Hotel) where Turner's mummy was exhibited.

Advertisement for exhibition of a mummy at Scudder's museum.

Scudder's American Museum.

An unidentified mummy on exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair.

An unidentified mummy which was exhibited at the Metropolitan Fair.

Egyptian antiquities.

Unidentified Egyptian antiquities exhibited at the fair.

Exhibition of "mummy wheat"

"Mummy wheat" or "Egyptian wheat"

Lyceum, New Orleans.

Location of George Gliddon's final mummy unwrappings. The Lyceum was located on the second floor of the City Hall for the Second District. Later known as Gallier Hall.

Edgar Allen Poe.

Dagguereotype of Poe.

Peale's Museum (The Arcade, Baltimore)

View of Ruben Peale's Baltimore museum.

Muhammad Ali Pasha.

The Pasha of Egypt.

Djedkhonsuiuesankh (Mummy)

Woodblock of Djedkhonsuiuesankh (Mummy)

Franklin Building, Salem, Mass.

Djedkhonsuiuesankh (Mummy) was exhibited here. It burned in 1860.

Scudder's American Museum.

Scudder's American Museum. Djedkhonsuiuesankh (Mummy) was exhibited here.

Congress Springs.

View of the Spring House.

Castle Garden.

View of Castle Garden, where the autopsy of Lee's mummy was carried out.

Colored illustration of an unidentified mummy.

Unidentified mummy, in colored coffin.

Advertisment for circus attractions, including mummies.

List of exhibits, including mummies.

Hand-colored map of Norwich, Conn.

Hand colored map of Norwich which was issued inside the Norwich Jubilee book.

Fine binding for the Norwich Jubilee book.

Gold-stamped and gold-tooled tan morocco leather binding for the deluxe edition of the Norwich Jubilee book.

Publisher's cloth binding for the Norwich Jubilee book.

One of two bindings for the Norwich Jubilee book. This was the less expensive of the two.

Cutting the paper to size.

Cutting the paper from the big rolls was another job that women could do in the papermills.

Finishing the paper.

Papermaking--Connecticut--Norwich.

Fourdrinier machines.

Fourdrinier machines took the raw materials and converted them to basic paper.

Running the slurry into the machines.

Putting the slurry from the tank into the papermaking machinery.

Rag pulp grinding tanks

The pulp is ground to make a slurry before going into the machines.

Beating rags to a pulp (literally)

Rags were washed again and beaten to break down the pieces into a pulp.

Steam boiler for boiling rags.

Rags were boiled to complete the cleaning process.

Rag cutting.

Rags being cut into small pieces, and debris being removed.

Cumberland Mills, Westbrook, Maine.

S.D. Warren imported mummy rags as a source for fiber in his Cumberland Mills.

Cumberland Mills, Westbrook, Maine.

Mummy rags were stored here and shipped to S.D. Warren Company's other mills in Maine.

Cumberland Mills, Westbrook, Maine.

View of the falls and mill buildings on the Presumpscott River.

Mummy from Barnum's Museum.

Drawing of an unidentified mummy in Barnum's American Museum. This may be a generic drawing as it does not match the images in the museum catalogue.

Isaac Augustus Stanwood.

Isaac Augustus Stanwood, partner of William Towar. They made mummy paper at their mill in Gardiner, Maine.

Coffin of one of the two "Peregrine mummies."

Inner coffin of an unidentified female mummy, which arrived on the brig Peregrine in 1824.

Coffin of one of the two "Peregrine mummies."

Outer coffin of an unidentified male mummy which arrived aboard the brig Peregrine in Boston in 1824.

Broadside advertisement for the three mummies on display at Greenwood's Museum.

Advertisement for display of the two mummies from the Peregrine and Larkin Turner's mummy.

Handbill for Gliddon's exhibition of his Panorama of the Nile at the Chinese Museum in Philadelphia.

Handbill, printed in red ink, for the exhibition of the Panorama of the Nile in Philadelphia.

Chelsea paper mills, Greeneville (Norwich), Conn.

One of the largest paper manufactories in the world, used mummy wrappings to make paper.

Title page of the Norwich Jubilee book.

The Norwich Jubilee book was printed on paper made from mummy wrappings.

Article from the newspapers about the arrival of Boylston's mummy.

Newspaper account of the arrival of Boylston's mummy in Boston.

Male mummy head at the Phrenological Institute.

Male mummy head in the collection of the Phrenological Museum of New York.

Barnum museum fire.

Lithograph of the fire that destroyed Barnum's American Museum.

Admission tokens for Peale's New York museum

Admission tokens for Peale's Museum, New York.

Vermont Republican and American yeoman.

Another advertisement for the Blockhead mummy.

Advertisement for exhibition of the "Blockhead mummy."

Advertisement for Turner's muumy at the Portland Museum.

Independent inquirer and commercial advertiser.

View of Nauvoo, Ill.

View of the city of Nauvoo, where the Mormons settled.

The tombs at Thebes.

View of the site of Thebes, where many mummies were buried.

Article about Egyptian mummies.

Reworked picture of mummy and coffins--altered to fit landscape mode.

Notice of the sale of Jesse Sharples' estate and museums.

Notice of the sale, including a mummy.

Advertisement for the exhibtion of Capt. Lee's mummy

Adverisement for the exhibition of the mummy in Newark, N.J.

Advertisement for Reubens Peale's New York Museum.

Advertisement for Peale's New York Museum, listing the attractions.

Samuel George Morton.

Morton was an ethnologist who believed in polygenisis and collected skulls in order to defend his theories.

Larkin Thorndke Lee's mummy.

Mummy brought into New York City in 1824 by Captain Larkin Thorndike Lee.

Late 19th century woodcut of two men looking at a mummy.

Advertising cut (type) for sale by A.N. Kellogg Newspaper Co.

Masthead of the Columbian centinel.

Masthead of the first newspaper to publish the arrival of Ward Nicholas Boylston's mummy.

View of Tremont Street, Boston, in the 1850's, showing Tremont Temple.

View of Tremont Street, showing Tremont Temple and other buildings.

Great Fire in Chicago Oct. 9, 1871.

Half of a stereograph view of the ruins of Wood's Museum and the Globe Theater after the great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Ruins of Wood's Museum and the Globe theater.

Half of a stereograph view of the ruins after the Great Fire of 1871.

Joseph Smith, Mormon prophet and leader.

Portait of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism

Masonic Temple (Philadelphia).

View of the Masonic Temple where Michael Chandler exhibited his mummies.

John Collins Warren.

Warren was a phusician at Massachusetts General Hospital, who examined several mummies for authenticity, and wrote about Boylston's mummy as well as Padihershef

Exhibition brochure for the "Blockhead mummy."

Outer coffin of one of a pair of mummies brought by Henry Barclay and purchased by Rubens Peale.

Mummies at the circus.

Two wrapped mummies on display with Barnum's circus at Watertown, Conn. (Adult & child?)

Women sorting rags.

Sorting room at Chelsea Mills. This was one of the mill jobs which could be done by women

Cover of "Handbook to the Panorama of the Nile."

Female mummy head at the Phrenological Institute

Head of a female mummy in the Phrenological Museum of New York.

Samuel Dennis Warren.

Samuel Dennis Warren owned many mills in Maine, most of which used mummy rags. He also built Westwood, Maine as a model community.

View of the interior of the Pacific Museum of Anatomy.

Interior view of the Pacific Museum on Anatomy showing the different types of display, including mummies.

Exhibition brochure for the "Blockhead mummy."

Variant exhibition brochure for the Blockhead mummy. One of a pai of mummies brought by Henry Barclay and purchased by Rubens Peale.

Captain Larkin Turner's mummy.

Woodcut of the mummy brought into America by Captain Larkin Turner.

Ward Nicholas Boylston.

Mummy and its case.

Unidentified mummy and its coffin.

Mummy and its case.

Unidentified mummy and its case.

S.J. Wolfe's book.

A history of Egyptian mummies as artifacts in 19th century America.

Trough of the outer coffin of Padihershef

Trough or the outer coffin of Padihershef after conservation and restoration.

Modern view of the dam,falls and mill buildings on the Presumpscott River in Westbrook, Maine.

View of the falls, dam and remaining mill buildings of the S.D. Warren Company, that made paper from mummy wrappings in Westbrook, Maine.

Great Falls Dam.

Modern view of the Great Falls Dam, all that is left of the paper mill that it served.

Dam at Stanwood and Towar Mill in Gardiner, Maine.

Originally the Cobbossee Mill, then Stanwood & Tower, then Hollingsworth & Whitney. Mummy paper was made at this mill, and it is the only mummy paper mill still standing in Gardiner, Maine.