Bell Haven Museum
Back in the 1950s, Oliver Elliott had a rural milk-delivery route in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Whenever he approached a house he would ring a bell so the residents would know to come out and get their milk, and this inspired him to start collecting bells. By the 1970s he had amassed the largest collection of bells in the United States, and probably the world. He turned his home into what he called Bell Haven Museum. People were welcome to tour free of charge. His collection included: "a bell from 14th century China, a bell that came from Gettysburg in 1776, 75 handblown glass wedding bells, 125 strings of sleigh bells, eight sets of Conestoga bells and 32 temple gongs from the Orient." Pittsburgh Press - Apr 18, 1976 Elliott died in 1983, but his collection was taken over by his daughter, Iva Mae Long, who proved to be an even more passionate bell collector than he was. She soon had grown the collection to over 35,000 bells. By this time it included: angel bells in porcelain, ceramic or silver plate; bells made in Spain in the shapes of turtles; bells used as paperweights; bells that do not ring, but nod; town crier bells; an ornate railroad bell used to commemorate the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, in 1869; a Nepalese temple bell with engravings in Sanskrit; a mission inn Spanish crown bell made by Vigas in 1834; and a bronze bell made in England in 1874 for the Earl of Derby. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Apr 7, 1988 York Dispatch - Nov 30, 1989 Long died in 2009. Apparently some of her children and grand-children were also interested in bell collecting, but maybe not to the same extent because I can't find any evidence that Bell Haven is still around. Google Maps doesn't show any bells outside the address that (I'm pretty sure) was where it was located. Though I wonder what could have become of all those bells. The only other museum devoted to bells that I can find in the U.S. is the Bast Bell Museum in Germantown, WI. It claims to host the "5000+ bell collection from Sila Lydia Bast who was born and raised in Germantown, WI." Evidently the bells from Bell Haven didn't end up there.
His collection included: "a bell from 14th century China, a bell that came from Gettysburg in 1776, 75 handblown glass wedding bells, 125 strings of sleigh bells, eight sets of Conestoga bells and 32 temple gongs from the Orient."
Pittsburgh Press - Apr 18, 1976
Elliott died in 1983, but his collection was taken over by his daughter, Iva Mae Long, who proved to be an even more passionate bell collector than he was. She soon had grown the collection to over 35,000 bells.
By this time it included: angel bells in porcelain, ceramic or silver plate; bells made in Spain in the shapes of turtles; bells used as paperweights; bells that do not ring, but nod; town crier bells; an ornate railroad bell used to commemorate the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, in 1869; a Nepalese temple bell with engravings in Sanskrit; a mission inn Spanish crown bell made by Vigas in 1834; and a bronze bell made in England in 1874 for the Earl of Derby.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Apr 7, 1988
York Dispatch - Nov 30, 1989
Long died in 2009. Apparently some of her children and grand-children were also interested in bell collecting, but maybe not to the same extent because I can't find any evidence that Bell Haven is still around. Google Maps doesn't show any bells outside the address that (I'm pretty sure) was where it was located. Though I wonder what could have become of all those bells.
The only other museum devoted to bells that I can find in the U.S. is the Bast Bell Museum in Germantown, WI. It claims to host the "5000+ bell collection from Sila Lydia Bast who was born and raised in Germantown, WI." Evidently the bells from Bell Haven didn't end up there.
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