Putnam Vet Hall, Archives And Doll Museum Settling Into New Home

The doors are now open to the Putnam County Archives, Veterans Hall and Doll Museum.

“We have over 100 mannequins with fully dressed military attire, guns and all, and it’s really important to the families that their actual personal items are in those showcases,” Putnam County Archivist Glenn Jones said. “There’s over a thousand framed photographs of veterans and people like to come by and see their uncle, their grandfather, their father hanging there beautifully, in a beautiful frame, so it’s really important to the veterans.”

Jones said the Doll Museum is also an impressive collection with an equally impressive history. The Doll Museum used to be inside the Patton House that was destroyed by the March 2020 tornado. Its new home is on the same property with a new building.

“Maurine Patton’s idea was to do one room with dolls,” Jones said. “Well when I saw Velma Thompson, I met with her. It was all over her house. She had over 2,000 dolls, and unbelievable furniture back to the 1850s. It was unbelievable what was in that collection. So, when she decided she would donate to the county, I had to move it to Maurine Patton’s house that was going to be the Putnam County Museum, and it actually took up the whole house just putting the doll display in there.”

Jones said only about one-third of the dolls from the old museum are on display.

“You know you had to take, I’m gonna say, ten pounds of potatoes and put them in a five-pound sack,” Jones said. “So, it took a long time to kind of shrink it down to fit the new building.”

The archives are located on the first floor. The Veterans Hall and Doll Museum are both sharing space downstairs. Jones said the Veterans Hall is especially impressive and a gift to the community.

The Archives, Doll Museum and Veterans Hall are open Wednesday through Friday from 11am to 3pm. You can also make an appointment to tour the museums.