Laurel and Hardy Museum receives new items

The Laurel and Hardy Museum of Harlem desperately needs more room thanks to the generous donation of a fan of the comedic pair.

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Laura Sherfick recently drove from her home in Madisonville, Ky., to deliver about 200 items of Laurel and Hardy memorabilia to the museum.

"This is quite a collection," said museum volunteer Linda Bailey. "It is huge. ... We're trying to expand. We need to."

The collection includes lots of figurines and statues, movie posters and numbered Laurel and Hardy prints, among other items.

Sherfick said she paid more than $6,600 for the items.

Sherfick, who recently retired from the military, spent nine years in England, where she collected most of the items.

Stan Laurel's hometown of Ulverston, England, also boasts a museum in his honor.

She'd visited that museum a few times, and collected memorabilia from the many villages in England that sell Laurel and Hardy items. Sherfick said she'd heard of Harlem building a museum and knew once she returned to America she wanted to visit.

After contacting the museum about the donation, her first visit was to deliver it and help unpack some of the items.

"I moved and I don't have room," Sherfick said. "I decided that what I had was going to go in one room and this was the spillover. ... I'd rather (the museum) have it than anyplace else."

Though it was hard to part with her memorabilia, Sherfick said she kept many of her favorites items, including statues and figurines, playing cards and even a Laurel and Hardy-themed Jack-In-the-Box.

"You pull Hardy's tie and Laurel pops out," Sherfick said.

For museum volunteers, the donation is a great asset. Most people who make donations do so only a few items at a time.

"It is like Christmas for Laurel and Hardy nuts," said Gary Russeth, a member of the Berth Marks, Harlem's chapter of the international Laurel and Hardy appreciation society.

"I think she should be given a membership into the Berth Marks," he said.