The Cottage Museum Today

The museum holds one of the largest and most important collections of Stevenson artifacts in the world. It includes over 50 items that Stevenson personally owned or used that give visitors an intimate view of the writer at various points of his life from his infant cap and childhood toys to the last pen he ever used and the woven mats that covered his coffin in Samoa. These items include Stevenson’s trademark black velvet jacket, the penny whistle he played as a reprieve from writing, the ice skates that he frequently used on Moody Pond nearby, the invalid’s writing table he used when he needed to work from bed, his handkerchief, monographed with the famous initials RLS, spotted by faded blood stains, and many more. The layout of Stevenson’s living quarters is preserved with original furniture he used, some of it still bearing burn marks from his cigarettes! The collection also includes a number of original photographs, letters, some of Stevenson’s manuscript pages, and hundreds of books that are made available to researchers.

 

The collection also holds a number of original art works. In addition to the relief sculpture by Gutzon Borglum, the museum also has the original medallion, famously showing the author working in bed, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens as well as original paintings by artists in Stevenson’s circle in Barbizon, France.

 

Beyond the Stevenson collection, which draws worldwide interest, 10% of the collection relates to the cottage’s original owners the Baker Family, which holds significant local interest.