Crane Museum
Housatonic Street
Dalton, MA 01226
(413) 684-2600

Built in 1844, papermaking giant Crane and Co.'s Old Stone Mill was converted into a spacious one-room museum in 1930. Its ivy-covered outside walls house elegant "ship hull construction" and a colonial look augmented by both natural lighting and detailed chandeliers. The extensive use of hand-worked oak paneling give visitors a sense of the warmth of old New England. The Museum is only part of the picture; the exhibits offer a fascinating glimpse into the history of papermaking in the country, a history that continues to have major economic impact on the region and on the country in general; Crane produces the rag paper on which every piece of US currency is printed.

Master modeler Dard Hunter created a scale-model of the original papermaking process and there are many examples of the financial instruments and stationery which are made from Crane's paper.