917 Madelaine Street
Gilmer, TX 75644
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Larry W. Osborne
phone: 903-843-2282
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While some Texans travel all over the world visiting museums, there is one Gilmer, Texas, man who has built his own. Larry W. Osborne has taken memorabilia from his many travels and what could he do with all that? Of course, he built a literary museum. The two-room structure is located behind the Osborne home at 917 Madelaine Street. For more than forty years he has collected memorabilia pertaining to American Presidents, British Royalty, American and British authors and characters.
Since the museum is almost filled to its capacity, collectibles are now finding locations inside the home, especially in the garage and study.
Visitors to the museum first receive an audio tour pointing our some of the special collectibles. The fifteen-minute CD tour begins by highlighting the special keepsakes in the American Presidents and British Royalty room in the museum and then he invites guests to tour his home and view additional collectibles.
It is my wish that others will enjoy viewing these priceless literary collectibles as much as I have enjoyed collecting them the past forty years.
The collection began in 1967 and continues to grow. During his teaching days in the public and college classrooms, he wanted American and British literature to be alive for his students. The late Miss Minnie Enid Aycock, his mentor, motivated him to begin his literary travels and to start his collection.At that time she gave him some of her most valuable possessions--a Royal Doulton china plate depicting William Shakespeare and his plays, purchased in the early sixties at a gift shop in Stratford, England; twenty-nine hand painted wooden cut-outs of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims, purchased in the early fifties at the Pilgrim's Bookshop in Canterbury, England; and a Royal Doulton William Shakespeare mug, purchased in the late sixties at a shop in Stratford-on-the-Avon.
From Gladewater, to Longview, to Marshall, to Mt. Pleasant, to New Diana, he has instilled young minds to appreciate his collection. Nothing thrills him more than for the young and the old to visit his museum and enjoy his unique collection.
Original manuscripts, colorful literary candles depicting Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims; wall hangings depicting American and British authors; busts of famous American and British writers, framed pictures of the British Royal Family; mugs, plates, cups, saucers, tiles, bookmarks, and buttons representing American and British authors; dolls of characters from literature, British and American writers, British Royalty and American Presidents
Access: General Public, Students
Appointment required: Yes
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