Stanley Museum

05/08/2026

04/07/2026

The steam team working on cutting 600 copper tubes. They’ve got a great system going.

04/02/2026

Copper tubing arrived today for the ‘09 boiler. The next phase will soon begin. A huge shout out to the steam team for taking on this project.

04/01/2026

We are open, and that's not just blowing steam! The Stanley Museum's hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11:00am to 4:00pm. We hope that you will stop in! Today is also the birthday of Raymond Walker Stanley, the son of F.E. and Augusta Stanley, born April 1, 1894. Mrs. Stanley had kept Raymond's impending arrival a family secret, so successfully that many of their friends received the news of his birth as an April Fools joke! Raymond lived to see the founding of the Stanley Museum, and bequeathed his family papers and archives to the new museum for future researchers to access and use.

03/25/2026

Born this day in 1874 was Harry Houdini, shown here in an early advertisement for W**d Tire Grip Chains. The cars of this day had to carry chains virtually year round. Augusta Stanley mentions in her diary on summer motoring trips through Maine with F.E. in one of their latest Stanleys being forced to stop and mount tire chains due to how muddy the roads were.

We are pleased to announce that the Stanley Museum will open in April, and we hope you can free yourself from any and all entanglements and come visit us!

03/03/2026

Due to a staff shortage the Stanley Museum will not reopen for its regular Spring hours until May. We will update our hours when we have firm commitments. Sorry for any confusion.We look forward to your visit then! (Photo: the combined classes of the Stanley School, circa 1915, courtesy of the Kingfield Historical Society.)

02/22/2026

Occasionally vintage steam cars pop up in popular media, such as the PBS program, Antiques Roadshow, bringing undiscovered steam car memorabilia to light. Here are two excerpts: a White Steam Car archive that turned up in a 2009 program filmed in San Jose, Calif., and a delightful Stanley/Fred Marriott collection appraised in Boston in 2013 (we reported on the Stanley episode back in 2013 but here is an updated link in the comments).

01/01/2026

Happy New Year! The Stanley Museum will be closed during the winter months of January and February, but we will have weekly office hours and occasional visitor hours by appointment. We will reopen for our regular spring schedule on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Our best wishes for the season to everyone!

12/31/2025

Today is the birthday of Fred Marriott, the Stanleys' celebrated race car driver and Repair Shop Foreman, who was born in the Hylandville section of Needham, Massachusetts, around 10:00 pm on New Year's Eve in 1872. Fred became a local cycling champ and skilled mechanic, and went to work for the Stanleys in 1898 just as they began to manufacture steam cars. He was eventually promoted to Foreman of the Repair Shop, where he also oversaw work on their special competition cars. He campaigned in Stanleys in hill climbs, race tracks, and beach and road races. Fred won automotive fame by setting the Land Speed Record of 127.66 mph at Ormond Beach, Florida in 1906, driving the experimental Stanley racer, later named the "Rocket.” Upon the Stanley team's return to Ormond in 1907, Marriott attempted to better his own record, but poor beach conditions led to a disastrous crash at an estimated 150 mph. Fred miraculously survived, and was back to racing Stanleys by the 4th of July. In this photo, Marriott is at the wheel of one of the two special Stanley "Vanderbilt Cup" racers outside the Stanley factory in Watertown, Mass., talking with one of the Stanley Twins (not sure if it is F.O. or F.E.). He retired from the company in 1919 and opened his own garage down the street from the old factory, servicing Stanleys until his death in 1956. It has become something of a Stanley Tradition to make a toast to Fred Marriott on the anniversary of his birth, at each New Year's celebration, at around 10:00 pm. Happy Birthday Fred, and Happy New Year!

12/30/2025

Today is the birthday of Chansonetta Stanley Emmons, born December 30, 1858 in Kingfield, Maine, the only daughter among the six sons of Solomon & Apphia Stanley. Her parents took her name from the French for “Little Song.” After a brief study at the Western State Normal School (now the University of Maine at Farmington), Chansonetta began her career in the arts as a painter. She also was exposed to the new medium of photography, working for a time at the Lewiston, Maine studio of her brother, F.E. Stanley. In this tintype image, Chansonetta (on the left) is shown hand coloring photographic prints with an unidentified coworker. A common practice of the day was to add a touch of pink to the cheeks of the people in black & white photographs, as can be seen here on the two women themselves. Coloring photographs was detailed work and Chansonetta was a talented miniaturist. Chansonetta married James N.W. Emmons, a shoe dealer, in Lewiston in 1887, they settled in Roxbury and Dorchester, Massachusetts (both now part of Boston), and they had one daughter, Dorothy, who was born in 1891. James died in 1898, and Chansonetta and Dorothy moved to an apartment in Newton where they were supported by her brother, F.O. Stanley. Chansonetta began to take up photography in earnest, traveling extensively in New England, the Carolinas, out west in Colorado, and overseas in Europe, documenting and recording her travels with a 5” x 7” view camera. Her work was relatively unknown in her lifetime, but is regarded as pioneering today.
Happy Birthday Chansonetta!