Collection Highlights
The Melvyn and Bette Wolf Collection of American Pewter
Historic Trappe is now home to more than 450 pieces of historic American pewter. Generously donated by Bette Wolf, this collection was assembled by Bette and her late husband Dr. Melvyn Wolf over 60 years. The Wolf collection is considered the finest and most comprehensive collection of American pewter ever assembled. Highlights include one of the earliest signed pieces made in the colonies— a circa 1730 beaker by Simon Edgell of Philadelphia—and nearly two dozen pieces by William Will, one of America’s greatest pewterers. Don't miss our upcoming special exhibition Pewter: An American Story which opens on August 29 and closes on October 26, 2025.
Historic Trappe is thrilled to announce the acquisition of an extraordinary book of fraktur, seventeen pages in all, that provides an incredibly rare glimpse of a fraktur artist’s work behind-the-scenes. It was made by Samuel Musselman, who signed it multiple times, and is dated 1816. There were multiple Samuel Musselmans in Bucks County at this time and we are still working to identify which one is most likely the artist. The book contains samples of various bookplates and other types of fraktur, likely as both a memory aid for the artist and to show prospective customers. Because of the book’s fragile nature, it was completely photographed and a digital flipbook version can now be viewed below.
Fraktur book by Samuel Musselman, Bucks County, 1816. Photographs and video by Michael E. Myers, Steadfast Imaging. Museum purchase with funds provided by Debra and Ron Pook, Elizabeth and Irwin Warren, Susan and Steve Babinsky, Kathy and Robert Booth, Jane and Gerald Katcher, Austin T. Miller, Eileen M. Smiles and David A. Schorsch, Carl Henry, Tom Musselman, Brett Robbins, Nancy Kollisch and Jeff Pressman, and Dianne and Earl Cram