Founded in 1866 as the York Institute, the Saco Museum is one of the oldest museums in Maine. Its mandate was to promote the study of natural history, encourage science and art, and collect and preserve material related to the natural and civic history of York County. Among its founders were John Johnson, a pioneering inventor of early photographic processes, and Charles Henry Granger, a Saco artist known for his painting Muster Day in the National Gallery of Art. The institution first occupied the upper floors of George Calef's commercial block on Factory Island, but its growing collections soon outgrew the space. In 1871, the York Manufacturing Company offered a large hall over its offices, and in 1890 a bequest by philanthropist Cornelius Sweetser enabled the purchase of Sweetser's old shoe factory on Main Street. The Sweetser Block housed the museum for more than 30 years before it moved farther north on Main Street. The Institute sponsored educational lectures and live entertainment, with early lecture topics including germ theory, disease, electricity, the Gulf Stream, and atmosphere, and travelers often returned with specimens and photographs to share their stories. In 1926, a lot in Hartley's Field was purchased for a new York Institute building, and a gift from Orestes and Josephine Pierce and Henrietta Watkinson Pierce made the building possible. The organization secured architect John Calvin Stevens to design the Colonial Revival brick and granite building that stands at 371 Main Street. In 1969, a large windowless gallery addition was built for exhibition space and on-site storage. In 1976, the York Institute merged with the Dyer Library Association, and in 2000 it took the name Saco Museum. Today, the Dyer Library and Saco Museum serve as an important cultural hub for the region. With over 11,000 objects, the collection includes the largest known group of portraits by American folk art painter John Brewster, Jr., the first patented camera in the United States, 19th-century furniture, ceramics, and other artifacts. Regional artists in the collection include Gibeon Elden Bradbury and Charles Henry Granger. Rare objects of national significance include the Walcott-Johnson camera, the first daguerreotype portrait camera in the United States, built in 1840 and presented by John Johnson, and the 850-foot Panorama of Pilgrim's Progress, painted in New York in 1851 by artists and illustrators associated with the National Academy of Design, with scene designs contributed by Frederic Edwin Church and Jasper Cropsey. Permanent exhibits include paintings, furnishings, household objects from the Saco valley in the 18th and 19th centuries, and a natural history display featuring birds of New England. The museum also offers ongoing public programs for students, adults, and families, including art classes, workshops, and visiting lecture series.