A priceless collection of American Revolutionary war treasures has been waiting patiently for more than a century for a permanent place to call home.
Currently held in a secret, nondescript building in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the carefully kept collection will take up residence when the Museum of the American Revolution opens in the City of Brotherly Love's historic district.
Like an American version of the U.K's Royal Crown Jewels, the collection contains Founding Father George Washington's original tent, which has been compared to an outdoor Oval Office.
Carefully stacked on shelves, hanging on walls and spread out on tables in a large climate-controlled room are thousands of artifacts from the Revolutionary War.
They will remain under wraps in their anonymous location until late 2015, when The Museum of the American Revolution opens in Philadelphia's historic district. 'We're still finding things,' curator R. Scott Stephenson said during a recent behind-the-scenes tour of the Colonial-era cache.
He recently discovered, as one example, five law books among the hundreds of storage boxes inscribed with the owner's name: Patrick Henry. More digging unearthed estate and auction records verifying the books belonged to the Founding Father known for his 'give me liberty or give me death' speech, and not someone with the same name.
The collection was started by the Rev. W. Herbert Burk, an Episcopal minister and George Washington enthusiast who founded the Valley Forge Historical Society in the early 1900s.
That group is the predecessor of the American Revolution Center, a nonprofit and non-partisan group working to raise $150 million to build the 110,000-square-foot museum.
Earlier this month the Oneida Indian Nation announced a $10 million gift to the museum in honor of Oneidas who fought alongside the Continental Army against British forces.
The donation comes in response to a challenge from Philadelphia media magnate and American Revolution Center chairman H.F. 'Gerry' Lenfest, who last month said if the museum can raise $40 million he will match it.
Among the roughly 3,000 artifacts waiting in the wings include all manner of muskets and rifles, textiles, cups and canteens, art, books, periodicals and manuscripts. The item that started the whole collection will be a highlight of the museum: General. George Washington's sleeping and office tent.
The 20-foot-long canvas marquee – a little like an outdoor Oval Office – was purchased in 1909 from Mary Custis Lee, Martha Washington's great-great-granddaughter.
The 2012 
