Park Museum Collection Profiles (NPS)

Among the sites that make up Boston National Historical Park are the Old State House, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Faneuil Hall, Old South Meeting House, the Charlestown Navy Yard, Dorchester Heights and Bunker Hill. The Boston African American National Historic Site, which is run in conjunction with the Museum of Afro-American History, was added in 1980. Significant collections are owned by the National Park Service and such institutions as the Bostonian Society, the Paul Revere Memorial Association and the USS Constitution Museum. Most of the National Park Service museum collection relates to the activities of the former Boston Naval Shipyard (the Charlestown Navy Yard). The museum collections include historic objects, furnishings, and artwork associated with Revolutionary Boston. Holdings in the Charlestown Navy Yard include representative examples of rope-making machinery, wooden casting patterns, machinery from the Chain Forge shop, and tools and memorabilia from Navy Yard employees. The archival collection consists of architectural drawings, photographs, shipyard closure and property disposal records, ledgers, logs, and notebooks. Significant components of the Charlestown Navy Yard's collection include:
The Boston Naval Shipyard Archives
The USS Cassin Young Collection
The Ropewalk Machinery Collection
The Chain Forge Machinery Collection