Memorial Reading Room

A peaceful & engaging resource center

A variety of books, papers, magazines, maps, and videos to extend your understanding of hunting with hounds. 

History of the Room

Developed with a gift from the Ruth Ellison Robins family as a multifaceted and interpretative site.

Subsequent gifts from Lynne Kindersley Dole, Mrs. William S. Carpenter III, Louise Mellon, Barclay Rives, and the Brainard family, to name just a few, have added greatly to the depth of the Room’s collection.

Row of old books at the MHHNA

History of the Museum

Important trophies from various hunt clubs and family collections have been added as well. The first trophies welcomed to the Museum came from the Rose Tree Hunt—two gold cups and 36 silver trophies along with the Rose Tree Charter of Incorporation issued November 22, 188. Another spectacular collection, that of 33 silver trophies, the earliest dating back to 1922, was given to the Museum by the Virginia Foxhunters Association.

Mrs. Charles Kindersley donated a sterling silver Paul Revere bowl as a memorial to her late husband. The trophy was presented in 1954 by J. Watson Webb, President of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, as a perpetual trophy to the Canadian Hound Show. In 1977, the Canadian Hound show presented the trophy to Major Charles M. Kindersley in recognition of his notable contributions to hound breeding and organized foxhunting.

For more information on these and other treasures from the Memorial Reading Room collection, read Museum News, December 1988, Vol. 2, No. 3 and May 1994, Vol. 6, No.7.

A Word of Appreciation

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude...

…to the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation. The Foundation supported, encouraged, and inspired the work of the Museum. Mr. Sherman P. Haight, Jr., ex-MFH, first broached the idea of a museum dedicated to maintaining North America’s heritage of hunting with hounds in the early 1980s.

He organized a feasibility group made up of fellow hunt masters to study the concept. Dr. Joseph M. Rogers, MFH and member of the Board of the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation, suggested Morven Park for the new museum’s home. Fellow Foundation Board members Erskine Bedford and Arthur McCashin joined with Dr. Rogers and together they turned the concept into a reality: The Museum of Hounds & Hunting North America was born. We thank them.

The Foundation has provided rooms in the Morven Park Mansion to house the Museum’s growing collection. Without this generosity, there would be no Museum of Hounds & Hunting North America and everyone associated with this institution is indebted to each member of the Foundation Board.

Mr. Sherman P. Haight, Jr, ex-MFHA
Mr. Sherman P. Haight, Jr, ex-MFHA