All Over Albany

Minnie Clark Bolster's personal Saratoga museum

More than 50 years ago in a Vermont antique shop, Minnie Clark Bolster asked her husband if he thought $3 was too much to spend on an old Saratoga bottle. Years later she would sell that bottle for $75. But more important than the profit, that day marked the beginning of an incredible collection of Saratoga history.

The collection came to include chairs, tables, and skeleton keys from the famous Saratoga hotels; photos by her brother-in-law, George Bolster; postcards; books; paintings; stories; and more. It takes up much of her home.

Bolster herself is a treasure trove of Saratoga history. Born in the Spa City in 1920, she's a 1938 graduate of Saratoga Springs High School who worked for lawyers and judges in the city for most of her life. She's written three books and is working on a fourth book about the land that is now Saratoga Spa State Park and the people who lived there.

Bolster's now 95 years old, and she's started parting with her collection, selling it piece by piece to friends, collectors ,and antique dealers in an effort to ensure these nuggets of local history have a good home.

Last week Minnie gave us a tour of what is left of the collection -- which is a lot. Here's a look...

One of the most impressive items in the collection hangs in the kitchen: a hand-colored map of Saratoga Springs, done by George Bolster. Minnie Bolster says her brother-in-law spent more than 400 hours on that map. "He should have been a painter," she says, "he was a wonderful artist."

Bolster's collection also includes photos by George Bolster, many of them hand colored:

Old hotel keys from the Grand Union, the United States and other old hotels.

Furniture from the elaborate Grand Union Hotel:

A painting from the Worden Hotel done in the 1900s depicts Broadway in the 1800s. Today the Wine Bar sits on the Broadway lot depicted here:

A rug from the Worden:

Here's a croupier chair from an old Saratoga casino:

This bronze casting depicts tobogganers from Saratoga:

Bolster has a photo of Lilian Russell -- the actress, and girlfriend of famous gambler Diamond Jim Brady -- along with stories by Russell and her mother about their lives.

The collection includes 800 books about Saratoga:

Saratoga bottles:

A program from the opening of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center:

Old Saratoga newspapers:

Countless paintings, posters and depictions of old hotels and Saratoga landscapes:

China:

Among the more personal items we found amid the Saratoga history were Minnnie's own 1938 graduation photo from Saratoga Springs High School:

And this shot of young Minnie having fun with a pair of police officers at the Saratoga Race Course:

And one piece that depicts something that never happened in the past, but numbers among her dreams for the future of Saratoga Springs: a Jenness Cortez painting of ice skating on the infield at The Track.

Bolster said she's actually tried to make this painting come true with some phone calls to some of the movers and shakers she's come to know in her 95 years as a Saratogian -- but so far, no luck.