Merritt Museums
RD 2
Douglassville, PA 19518
(610) 385-3809 Doll Museum • 385-3408 Museum of Childhood

Note that these museums have been permanently closed. If different information comes to light it will be posted here. The numbers shown above now reach Merritt's Gift Shop.

Mary and Robert Merritt were avid collectors of antiques, traveling extensively throughout the United States and Europe to find them. This was during a time when it was not unusual to find rare items at a farm sale.

Their collections are enormous, the items unique. And they are on display at two adjacent museums.

The Mary Merritt Doll Museum

This neat museum features more than 1500 dolls, and the collection is still growing. Dolls range from an Egyptian bone doll (7th - 8th century) to Shirley Temple dolls of the 1930's, and many others.

Visitors will find paper mache' Greiner dolls, china dolls, Queen Annes, milliner's models, wax and rag dolls on display. There are French dolls with paper weight eyes and lavish 18th century costumes. A Shoenhut 75-piece circus can be seen. An amazing French mechanical doll collection includes a smoking doll and a cyclist.

More than 40 miniature rooms and doll houses are each papered, curtained and furnished, and there is a full size re-creation of a mid-19th century Philadelphia toy shop stocked with fascinating playthings from the old days.

A visit is truly a memorable experience. It is easy to spend hours looking at all these things.

Merritt's Museum of Childhood

Collections of antiques relating to childhood eras long past will be found in this nostalgic museum. Tin and iron toys, cookie cutters, early baby carriages, children's wagons and carts, mechanical banks and other items stir up feelings of nostalgia even for those too young to be familiar with these things. Other items include pottery, rare Indian relics, Colonial lighting devices, paper weights, crafts and memorabilia, and wax figures in authentic era costumes. A special feature includes two completely furnished rooms (c.1780).

Each museum has its own special flavor, though they obviously have something in common: antiques and childhood. They are fascinating places, and very educational. Families and groups alike are welcome, and though there are no educational programs per se, a Tour fits the bill for many School Groups. 10 or more people comprise a group.