Native American Artifacts & Collectibles
Lot 1:
Shields Family Provenance Archive
A provenance packet consisting of photocopies of three original Shields family photographs and a Sunday Patriot-News feature article documenting the private museum of James F. Shields of 200 Wood St., Paxtang, Pennsylvania. The originals remain with the Shields family, who supplied these copies to accompany the dispersal of selected artifacts from the collection.The photographs include:A color portrait of James F. Shields standing in his artifact room.A black-and-white photograph of his son inside the same artifact room.A second color interior photograph showing additional portions of the museum.The accompanying newspaper article, written by staff writer Frances Wrobel, describes Shields’ extensive Susquehanna Valley Indian artifacts, Civil War relics, geological specimens, and Pennsylvania historical curios, as well as his home museum and his children, Dr. Martha Eleanor Shields and Paul Shields, who were noted admirers of the collection. The article notes that many of the Susquehanna Valley artifacts were originally collected in the early 1900s, forming the foundation of the museum Shields later expanded during the 1940s-1950s.While the article highlights the locally significant Susquehanna Valley portion of the museum, the surviving artifacts and family-provided photographs demonstrate that Shields also acquired material from Virginia and other states, reflecting a broader collecting scope typical of mid-century artifact collectors.This provenance archive documents the origin of the Shields-sourced artifacts offered throughout this sale. Lots containing items from the Shields Collection are individually noted as such.
Condition: Collection Provenance
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