Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities A calf with two heads, the horn of a unicorn, George Washington's button! These are just some of the many objects that are on exhibit in the Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities. When the Old State House opened in 1796, Joseph Steward, a deacon in the Congregational Church in Hartford and a portrait painter asked Governor Wolcott if he could open a painting studio on the top floor of the building, in rooms set aside for legislative committees. The Governor agreed, and Mr. Steward was soon turning out portraits of notable citizens from Connecticut and elsewhere. Mr. Steward's portraits hung throughout the building where they could be seen during legislative sessions. It would appear that Mr. Steward, like others of his day, was fascinated by the exotic specimens of flora and fauna, cultural artifacts and new technical devices that were becoming available in the eighteenth century. He began collecting items in his studio at the State House and discovered that his patrons were often more interested in his curiosities than they were in his paintings. On June 5, 1797, Joseph Steward announced in the Connecticut Courant (known today as the Hartford Courant) that he was opening a Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities. Visitors who were sufficiently motivated to climb the three floors to his museum could view his growing collection for 25 cents. Where and how did Mr. Steward acquire his collection? It is not clear in all cases. Some items were contributed by local supporters of his museum. Others appear to have come from the farthest corners of the known world. Hartford was a busy international seaport at the time. When they arrived in port, hungry for cash, seaman were more than happy to sell items which they claimed to have found in distant lands. Mr. Steward's advertisements in the Courant provide a good inventory of the items known to have been in his museum. From these advertisements, it would seem that Mr. Steward was something of a showman, a predecessor of P.T. Barnum. He claims, for example, to have acquired the "the God Bacchus' shoes." Whatever might these have been? Eventually, Mr. Steward's collection became so large that he found it necessary to move to other quarters in Hartford--first north up Main Street, then across from the State House on Central Row. Joseph Steward's collection continued to grow until his death in 1822. Where items in his collection finally ended up remains largely a mystery. The Joseph Steward's Museum has been carefully researched from diaries of the day and local newspaper advertisements. The Old State House Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities has been assembled in the very building where Steward's museum opened over two hundred years ago. It reflects the spirit of the museum collections that became popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries We do not know exactly what Mr. Steward's museum looked like tucked away in the attic of the building, but we have been able to locate replicas of many items that he mentions in his advertisements. We have also added numerous items that are in keeping with Mr. Steward's collection. Today, you can visit the Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities on the second floor of the Old State House. It is filled with wonders that delight and amaze all.