Gettysburg National Museum
| Former name | National Museum |
|---|---|
| Established | 1921 |
| Dissolved | 2011 (new location built) |
| Location | Gettysburg, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 39°49′3.78″N 77°13′58.92″W / 39.8177167°N 77.2330333°WCoordinates: 39°49′3.78″N 77°13′58.92″W / 39.8177167°N 77.2330333°W |
| Type | History museum |
| Collections | Transferred to new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center |
| Collection size | 89,246 pieces |
| Founder | John Rosensteel |
| Owner | National Park Service |
The Gettysburg National Museum was a Gettysburg Battlefield visitor attraction on the south border of the Gettysburg borough. Established by George D. Rosensteel after working at his uncle's 1888 Round Top Museum, the facility had an interpretive Battle of Gettysburg map using incandescent lights and was acquired by the National Park Service for use as the 1974–2008 Gettysburg National Military Park museum and visitor center after the Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg and before the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
In 1929, Dr. William J. Chewning, having amassed over 100,000 Civil War artifacts, opened The National Battlefield Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This private museum operated under his direction from 1929 until his death in 1937. In his final years, Chewning tried to find a local buyer for the collection, but neither the National Park Service nor the City of Fredericksburg opted to purchase the artifacts. With his passing, Chewning’s widow and son inherited the collection. They, however, did find a buyer. The April 30, 1938 edition of The Free Lance-Star carried an editorial entitled “Fredericksburg Loses.” The column announced the sale of the Chewning Collection to a buyer in Manassas, Virginia. The local paper lifted this editorial from The Suffolk News-Herald. In announcing the sale, the editor mourned Fredericksburg’s loss of the collection.
“The master collection belonged in Fredericksburg and there it should have remained. These relics will be of immense value historically and intrinsically no matter where they are but they will fit nowhere like in the place of their origin. We have no hesitancy in saying that this collection should be acquired by the Federal government and made more accessible to the public. It is in many respects educational. Fredericksburg has lost a rare chance to capitalize it along with its sacred shrines. But that city’s loss is Manassas’ gain. The place that gets it has something.”
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