True Tales from Canton’s Past: Collecting History

By George T. Comeau

As he got older, he moved just a bit slower, and the bulk of his collection was located on the second floor of his house. While I was working on my Postcard History of Canton, I would visit Sarra and he would slowly climb the impressive staircase to his study. It might take a bit longer, but the trip was worth it. Large binders held his collection of hundreds of Canton postcards — all meticulously ordered and catalogued. Arranged by subject, the cards were in pristine condition, and Sarra knew exactly what he paid for each one and the source as well.

Collectors never really collect only one thing. Sarra also collected books on Arabian horses, and he had hundreds of references, rivaling any museum. Experts on the topic would consult with Sarra and quote his research on the famous horses that were owned by princes and kings. He owned Arabians as well, so his collection also included the real thing. Displayed on the walls of his home were portraits of horses and the lineage charts of the bloodlines.

As for books, the greatest collector that I ever knew was Gene Williams, who lived in the mansion across the street from Pequitside Farm. When he died, the town found a way to acquire his property and now we enjoy it as the Williams Estate. I often visited Williams as a boy, and it was a scene straight out of Charles Dickens, with heavy drapes reaching from ceiling to floor and large, silver coffee services in the dining room. The house was dripping with antiques and the finest furnishings, but what you really noticed were the books — thousands upon thousands of them. They were on tables, stacked on the floor, piled in the living room, on shelves, on benches and chairs. Williams acquired so many books that he had the third floor reengineered to support the massive weight.

Throughout the collection was amazing artwork. Williams was a friend of Georgia O’Keefe, and he owned original artwork as part of his collection. A very proper man of venerable Canton roots in the Draper family, he was never without a hat, coat and bowtie as his signature garb. When he died, his family relocated anything of value, much of it consigned to a distant auction house. The rest of his collected life was unceremoniously dumped into a 30-yard rubbish container and hauled off. A few items survived, skimmed from the trash and now secreted in another Canton collection.

A snuffbox from Joseph Warren Revere’s house in Canton (collection of the author)

My collection started with that little snuffbox and continues to grow modestly over the years. Postcards, books and artifacts have built up and now take up a bookcase dedicated to the subject. Among my most treasured objects is an ancient book that came from the White sisters estate auction in the early 1980s, a worn yet solid original volume of the American Gazetteer from 1797 and printed in Boston. This book was an accurate account of every city, town, village, river, bay, harbor and discovery on the American continent. Most exciting is that under the “C” section is listed our town. “Canton, a new township in Norfolk co. Massachusetts, incorporated in 1797, it being formerly the northerly part of Stoughton.”

Over the years, I have seen many collections, and it is always with a source of pride that the collector shares the tales of acquisition. I’ve had the good fortune to see the items that Canton residents have saved: Colonial era guns, local milk bottles, arrowheads, and even a collection of big game from Africa mounted and stuffed as part of a 19^th century exploration. It is with keen interest that we watch the Antiques Roadshow to vicariously live with the thought that our treasures might well be actual treasures.

On Sunday, October 2, from noon to 5 p.m., bring a few of your treasured collectibles to the Knights of Columbus Hall at 500 Pleasant Street. The Canton Historical Society is presenting its very own “Antiques Roadshow” with Robert Grabosky appraising your most valued antiques. This fundraiser costs $10 per item (limit three items), but the stories are free. Come and watch or bring along a few items — either way you will leave with more than you came with. I’ll bring along a few of my items, and we can share stories of treasures from collections and of Canton’s history.

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