Memorial Hall was originally the Deerfield Academy building. Since 1880 it has been the museum of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, one of the country’s first historical preservation societies. It was dedicated on September 8, 1880 with seven exhibition rooms. The centerpiece of its collection was the door from the John Sheldon house (the “Old Indian House”), which bears marks from the February 29, 1704 raid on Deerfield by a force of French and Native allies during Queen Anne’s War (1701-1713). By 1883 memorial tablets were installed in the museum’s middle room “in memory of the sufferers of February 29 1704.” Also included in the early years were objects relating to the Pocumtuck nation (the inhabitants of the Connecticut River Valley before European settlement), a Colonial kitchen, a domestic industries room, and a library of more than 2,000 volumes. These original exhibits and collections survive, and many more have been added throughout the museum’s history.