Imagine a world-class museum of Victorian-era curiosities, recognized by the Smithsonian Institute and Chicago Field Museums, in a small town in the Indiana countryside. Then, imagine that museum closing after just six years and the priceless, unusual artifacts vanishing into thin air!
This film covers the fascinating story of the Borden Museum, its visionary leader, and the incredible collection that vanished after the museum closed. Though Mr Borden’s widow closed this grand museum over 115 years ago, this film goes inside to investigate two floors and a basement, typically closed to all but a few.
In the small town of Borden, Indiana, among its citizens’ modest buildings and homes, stands an unusual building. It catches the eye with its classical design and carved limestone accents – the Borden Museum, completed in 1900. According to writer William E. Wilson, who saw the museum in its prime, it contained one of the most valuable and rare collections in the state of Indiana. In its time, it was nationally famous and visited by scholars and scientists from across the United States, including the Smithsonian Institute. However, after the museum closed, this fantastic collection of priceless Victorian-era curiosities vanished. While we know where some of it went, the rest remains unclear. What exactly was in this collection that was so special, and where did it go? This is the Borden Museum mystery.
The Borden Museum was the creation of one remarkable man, William Borden, born in New Providence, Indiana, in 1823. He developed an interest in fossils and geology at an early age, which followed him throughout his life. A well-educated man, he spent three years at Washington County Seminary in Salem, Indiana, and later attended Indiana College, later known as Indiana University. After striking it rich at the silver mines in Leadville, Colorado, alongside his brother John, he became incredibly wealthy, the millionaire of Clark County.
With his wealth, William Borden created a college for teachers in 1884 called the Borden Institute. This institution made education affordable to low-income families in rural Indiana and introduced unique teaching methods, including hands-on experience and an excellent laboratory for scientific experiments. As part of the hands-on curriculum, Mr. Borden created the Geological Cabinet, displaying a lifelong collection of curiosities called mammoth in size. The collection became so extensive that he built a standalone museum in 1900 on the corner of East Main Street, now known as Borden Ridge Drive.
The museum housed artifacts from Borden’s expeditions and excavations throughout Indiana and items from around the world. The collection included swords and firearms from the American Revolution to the Civil War, a valuable coin collection, rare manuscripts, and books. The fossil and prehistoric artifacts were considered the true highlights, and nothing about the collection was trivial.
William Borden was not just an educated millionaire but a respected professor and geologist who contributed significantly to Indiana’s early surveys, particularly in southeast Indiana. Representatives of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., visited the museum, and there was an active correspondence between them and Mr. Borden. He also had a close friendship with the president of the Chicago Field Museum, who greatly admired his collection. William Borden was a philanthropist, respected in Clark County and beyond, so the town where he grew up, once called New Providence, was renamed Borden in his honor.
When William Borden died in 1906 at 83, there was no successor to take his place. The Borden Institute closed in the same year, later becoming Borden High School. The school was used until 1955, when a larger one was built, and by 1993, the former Borden Institute was demolished due to disrepair. His mansion on the hill, overlooking the town named after him, still stands. Unfortunately, the grand museum of curiosities met a similar fate, closing in 1906 after only six years of operation.
The museum was constructed adjacent to the tavern his mother ran from 1824 to 1851, built-in 1819. William included it as part of the museum as a memorial to his parents and the town’s founder, his father, John Borden. Initially named New Providence, the town was renamed Borden in his honor. Stepping inside the tavern, where a young William Borden worked with his mother after his father’s passing, conjures up wonder about its contents during the Victorian era.
The museum, built when the wealthy collected mummies and relics from the ancient world as conversation pieces, held artifacts from around the world. The items were acquired without legal restrictions on exporting antiquities or pillaging prehistoric sites in America, considered a hobby of the era.
Today, the first-floor collection of the Borden Museum has been replaced by tables and chairs, functioning as a community event center. A painting and sculpture of William Borden, as well as artifacts from the Borden Institute and its later use as a high school, can be seen. The second level retains its impressive mineral and fossil displays, and the top floor preserves the grand curio original to the museum, almost precisely as it was in 1900.
However, with its intriguing design and solid brick ceiling, the basement holds the mystery of the missing curiosities. With the skeleton key, over 120 years old, one can enter this old and enigmatic space where any clues to the past have vanished. While some items from the Borden Museum went to different Indiana institutions, including universities, the most significant mineral, fossil, and prehistory repository was once at the Indiana State Capitol building. Starting as a small museum upstairs, this collection later became the Indiana State Museum, eventually having its own building.
Items from the Borden Collection were also donated to the Chicago Field Museum, as evidenced by at least 135 unique specimens in their catalog today. William Borden’s close ties with Edward E. Ayer, the president of the Field Museum, likely facilitated this donation. However, a search for William Borden and his artifacts in the Smithsonian catalog remains inconclusive, possibly due to the controversial nature of some findings. Borden had participated in a geological survey at Rose Island in Charlestown, Indiana, describing ancient stone walls and fortifications resembling European masonry. Unexplained artifacts, such as Roman coins, an ancient shield, and stone with ancient writing, indicated European settlement in America before Christopher Columbus by at least 300 years. Samuel Langley, the Smithsonian secretary from 1887 to 1906, known for suppressing controversial findings, may have kept Borden’s artifacts from being officially recognized.
Standing before the Borden Museum today invites admiration for William Borden and his passion. Despite having the option to move to a big city for more fame, he chose to stay in his hometown, giving back to his community and helping countless people. The museum he created was a remarkable testament to his vision, briefly putting a small town in Indiana on the world stage. The Borden Museum, with its vanished curiosities, remains a mystery that captures the imagination, reminding us of a time when great minds from across the country visited this unique place.
