Curatorial assistant Amy Colpitts turns a lever on the side of a beautiful wooden box, and a cascade of notes rings out as a metal cylinder slowly spins inside. The cylinder music box at the Keillor House Museum in Dorchester is one of Colpitts’ favourite pieces in the museum’s collection, in part because of its direct connection to the Keillor family. While the museum features a wealth of items from the region’s history, “there are very few items that are connected back to the Keillor family,” says Colpitts. “So this is one of the few that we have.”
There’s also “the interactivity of it,” says Colpitts. “I think it’s a nice piece for guests to see when they come. We always try and play a song for them… It’s a unique piece and a very elegant piece as well.”
Hear this installment of The Stuff of History:
The cylinder music box is believed to have been gifted from former Dorchester resident and Father of Confederation Edward Barron Chandler to Thomas Keillor and Mary Jane Moore in 1851.
Keillor House itself was built by Thomas’s parents, John and Elizabeth, and finished in 1815. The Westmoreland Historical Society acquired the house in 1965, and it now houses the museum, including some artifacts from the Keillors’ lives in the home.
The museum is open for tours Wednesday through Sunday, from 10am to 5pm, with some special events planned for the summer, including a Victorian Garden Party & Tour on Saturday, July 26, and a Heritage Fair on August 9 and 10.
