Gift Shop
The museum has a variety of merchandise related to the history of Washington, Connecticut for sale. Items can be purchased at the museum or online below. Items can be shipped by mail for an additional shipping fee. Please email museum@gunnlibrary.org if you need assistance placing your order.
2023 Calendar
The Gunn Memorial Library and Museum’s 2023 calendar features a collection of Lake Waramaug postcards. All proceeds benefit the Museum.
$15.00 plus $3.00 shipping
Rossiter: Country Houses of Washington, Connecticut
Ehrick K. Rossiter, an exceptional local architect with international recognition, remains a figure of interest to many. Born in 1854, he was strongly influenced by both English architectural forms and early New England aesthetics. Washington boasts an outstanding array of Rossiter buildings, Gunn Memorial Library among them.
Each home has its own charm, which only a century of use by different owners can bestow. The houses were originally built as summer cottages for wealthy New Yorkers, many of whom were artists; most are now occupied year-round.
This limited edition documents many of Mr. Rossiter’s houses in Washington, Connecticut with 116 color photographs by Miki Duisterhof and book design by Wendell Minor, showcasing the homes as they exist in the twenty-first century. The book recently won the book design category of the 2007 Connecticut Book Award. Production of the book was underwritten by Ericson Insurance Services and the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.
Written by Stephen J. Ketterer
Photos by Miki Duisterhof
Design by Wendell Minor
2007 Connecticut Book Award Winner
Published by Gunn Memorial Library, Inc. 2006
First Edition, First Printing
Edition: Hardcover with dust jacket. 10.25 x 10.25 inches; 156 pages; 116 Full-color images.
$75.00 plus shipping. All proceeds benefit Gunn Memorial Library, Inc.
Return to Arcadia – Ehrick Rossiter’s Washington: The Architect, His Clients and Their Houses
This scholarly volume documents the work of architect Ehrick Kensett Rossiter. Among his designs are more than two dozen Shingle Style and Colonial Revival cottages within a one-mile radius of the Washington, Connecticut Green. “The Rocks,” “The Knoll,” “The Sumacs” — these were among the large, rustically stylish country homes called cottages – a deliberate understatement by their owners to set themselves apart from the pretension and tastelessness of the nouveaux riches who were establishing palatial seaside estates in Newport and Greenwich. The perception of Washington’s Green as a “fairyland” and an arcadia apparently extended to its social complexion as well as to its physical appearance, as its residents sought a more pastoral lifestyle.
Written by Alison Gilchrist
Published by Gunn Memorial Library, Inc. 2006
Second Edition. Soft cover, 6 x 9 inches;
40 pages; 28 black & white images
$15.00 plus shipping. All proceeds benefit Gunn Memorial Library, Inc.
1854 Map of Washington, CT
High-quality paper reproduction of an 1854 map of Washington, CT.
Measurements: 36″ wide and 40.5″ high.
$20.00. This item is not available to ship; pickup is available at the Library or Museum. Thank you!
Washington Connecticut Mug
$15.00 plus shipping
Historical novel about the early 1900’s Swedish emigration to America.
Alfred is only five years old when his father dies in 1890. His mother inherits the lonely and difficult task of managing their little farm in Skåne, in the southern part of Sweden. After finishing school, Alfred is trained to be a tailor in the city of Helsingborg. At the end of his apprenticeship, he is attracted by what he hears about greater opportunities in America.
In 1903 Alfred convinces his brother Martin to leave the safety of Sweden for thrilling experiences and alluring places in America. Alfred is faced with dramatic turmoil in Chicago’s ethnic melting pot, he searches for gold in the Alaskan arctic and witnesses the murderous wild west coast.
At the same time, Rosalie lives a much calmer and refined life as a housemaid in Washington, Connecticut. She has emigrated from a poor croft, close to where Alfred grew up, to become familiar with the environment around well-off families in New England.
The Swedish Tailor and Adventurer is a historical novel, based on true events and facts. The fates of these young emigrants, Alfred and Rosalie, whose lives eventually intersect, are portrayed in a century that was young and optimistic. For more information: tailorandadventurer.com
Written by Rolf Johansson
Published January 2021
Soft cover, 6 x 1.16 x 9 inches;
460 pages; _ black & white images
$21.00 plus shipping.