The largest artifacts in the collections are the buildings on the 1839 Courthouse Square, a site listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Original buildings on the square include a Greek Revival courthouse built in 1839, a sheriff’s residence constructed in 1870 and a county records building built in two sections in 1860 and 1873. An 1830s log house was relocated to the site and placed behind the courthouse in 1974. In addition to the buildings, the 1839 Courthouse Museum collection includes approximately 7,500 artifacts, including photographs and archival materials. The collections include artifacts from Fort St. Joseph, an 18th century colonial French outpost; blacksmithing and woodworking tools; military artifacts from the Civil War through Desert Storm; agricultural and household artifacts; and period clothing and accessories. Special collections include instruments and company papers for the Marx Music Company, a manufacturer of novelty instruments from 1927 to 1972 based in New Troy, Michigan. The company was famous for its Violin-Uke, an ingenious combination of the violin and ukulele. Befitting the slogan "Anyone Can Play," the Marx Company developed a system that allowed even a novice to play any Marx instrument "by the numbers," whether it was a double-decker Marxolin or a one-string slide guitar called the Pic-Nik. The company founder was convinced that children lost interest in learning to play an instrument because they could not learn to play a tune fast enough.
In addition to company records, the archives include films, photographs and and equipment models. The Clark Archives project is currently underway with an inventory of archival material as the first order of business. The Ingersoll-Rand gift has been enhanced through the donation of additional artifacts and archival material from former Clark employees and their families. The BCHA’s photographic collection contains 2,100 images covering all of Berrien County. Photographs and postcard views of area attractions, downtown businesses and individual portraits are available. The museum has an especially large collection of images related to the history of railroads in the county. In addition to its own archives, the BCHA manages Berrien County probate records, death and marriage certificates, corporation reports and naturalization records. Records are managed under a formal agreement with the County of Berrien, which retains legal responsibility for the documents. By having BCHA handle these historic records, the county enhanced the level of service afforded to researchers and genealogists. Please click on photos at anytime to view a larger version. |
Berrien County Historical Association |
THE COLLECTIONS 
The 1839 Courthouse Museum is also the repository for the Clark Equipment
Company archives. Headquartered in Berrien County until the 1980s, Clark Equipment became famous as a major manufacturer of heavy construction and material handling equipment, with customers
worldwide. The company became known for products such as the Michigan Crane and its line of
fork-lifts. In 1996, two tons of Clark Equipment Co. archives were donated to the BCHA by
the Ingersoll-Rand Corporation, which also generously donated $5,000 toward the initial
processing of the materials. The acrchives became available after Clark was aquired by Ingersoll-Rand.