Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

Specialties

The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum is dedicated to honoring the life and literary legacy of the author. Held in trust is a valued collection of Stevenson artifacts and manuscripts, preserved for the benefit of enriching present and future generations. Through creative programs, displays and research opportunities, the museum educates and increases awareness of RLS and his works.

History

Established in 1969.

The Museum was the realization of the dream of one of America’s foremost bibliophiles. As a young man, Norman H. Strouse came across John Henry Nash’s fine press first edition of The Silverado Squatters, read it with enthusiasm, visited the site of the bunkhouse, and became an ardent Stevenson collector. When Mr. Strouse retired as Chairman of the Board of J. Walter Thompson Company, he and his wife, Charlotte, retired to St. Helena, where they established a foundation to provide funds for a museum devoted to the life and works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Mr. Strouse gifted his personal collection of Stevensoniana, one of the finest in private hands, and this became the nucleus of an ever growing collection.

For nine years the Museum was housed in a beautiful old stone building, The Hatchery, but in May, 1979 it moved to more spacious and permanent quarters in the new St. Helena Public Library Center, where it erected its own wing at its own expense.