A new Taylor Swift collection is now on display at the Stone Harbor Museum in Stone Harbor, the small Jersey Shore town where Swift spent her childhood summers.
The collection opened on Thursday, June 13 — Swift’s lucky number — and will run through the end of September.
Featured items in the collection will include photos of Swift vacationing in Stone Harbor as a child, which were provided by her family, plus four “Midnights” vinyls that form a clock display, a “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film poster, a Taylor Swift-inspired Peter Max poster, and a “Midnights”-themed guitar signed by Swift herself.
“Our Museum is thrilled to have these items,” Teri Fischer, President of the Board of Trustees for the Stone Harbor Museum, said in a press release. “It’s not just about the items, it’s about the fact that her family wanted us to have personal family photos from some time ago that were taken while they were staying in Stone Harbor.”
Swift was raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, about an hour west of Philadelphia, but visited Stone Harbor with her family in summers from 1992 to 2004. Some of her earliest performances were at the Coffee Talk coffeeshop. She also sang karaoke at Henry’s, which has since shuttered. One of her favorite spots was Italian Garden which has also since closed down. She even went to Springer’s, a popular ice cream shop in the area. Her favorite flavor? Cookies ‘n’ cream.
“I remember when I was little, I used to walk in there and just stare up at all the flavors and toppings, completely frozen and unable to make a final decision,” Swift told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2009. “I was always so overwhelmed when I went in there.”
Her father, Scott Swift, had a close connection to Stone Harbor as he volunteered as an EMT with the Stone Harbor Volunteer Fire Company No. 1.
“We hope that the 2024 Taylor Swift collection at the Stone Harbor Museum will now bring new and old visitors into the Museum where they will not only enjoy seeing these wonderful items, but that they will learn about other Stone Harbor history as well,” continued Fischer. “Our mission is to acquire, preserve, display, celebrate and promote archival and artifactual items relevant to the development of our unique cultural heritage and to delight, inspire and educate the present and future generations about the story of Stone Harbor, NJ. Taylor Swift is definitely part of the Stone Harbor story, and I know that she does delight and inspire so many of us.”
The Stone Harbor Museum is an archival museum that was founded in 1996 and preserves the history, activities and events of the borough.
There have been a fair share of Swift exhibits and collections popping up. Last year, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York debuted the “Taylor Swift: Storyteller” exhibit which closed last month. It featured costumers from some of her most iconic tours and music videos like “Shake it Off, “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” and “Bejeweled.”
The Grammy Museum Experience previously held a Taylor Swift exhibit at the Prudential Center in 2018.
As for Swift, the global pop star continues the European leg of the Eras Tour, following the release of her album “The Tortured Poets Department” that was released in April. She plays Liverpool, England, on Thursday.
