Member-Wide Survey to Gauge Interest in a Winterthur Special Program

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This or a similar email will soon hit member email inboxes. It is repeated here such that it can be linked to from the eventual online survey, making the detailed program description available to survey participants.

To: SAPFM Members
From: Dale Ausherman, President SAPFM
Subject: Member-Wide Survey to Gauge Member Interest in a Proposed Winterthur Special Program.
Date: 20 November 2016


SAPFM is conducting a survey to gauge member interest in a proposed Winterthur Special Program for SAPFM members.  We are conducting this survey to see if there is sufficient member interest to justify expenditure of Winterthur and SAPFM resources to make such a program a reality. Members will soon receive a survey invitation email with a link to the short online survey.  We request all members to complete the survey so that we have the best feedback possible to make this a successful program for members.

This document provides detailed information on Winterthur and the intended Program as necessary background for the survey.  The document will also be available via a link within the survey to the SAPFM Forum website.

Some members may not see the SurveyMonkey invitation email in their email in-box, but in their SPAM or Trash folders, so we suggest you check these folders if you have not seen the survey invite within four hours of receiving the survey invitation email.

Please direct any questions regarding the SAPFM survey to [email protected].


1.   The Museum

Winterthur Museum is a well-known landmark in the Middle-Atlantic states, but less known in other parts of the country.  Some SAPFM members have visited the museum as a side trip during prior Midyear meetings.  Other SAPFM members participating in the Delaware Valley or Chesapeake Chapters may be familiar with this museum.  However, we know that many of our members in these as well as other chapters of SAPFM have never visited and may know little about the institution.  Winterthur Museum is dedicated to the collection and preservation of the most significant furnishings and decorative styles reflecting life during the early history of the United States.

The Winterthur Museum, Gardens & Library website is accessible here:

http://www.winterthur.org

Additionally, a basic description of a variety of activities in the region that is home to the Winterthur Museum, Gardens & Library is accessible here:

http://www.thebrandywine.com/attractions/winter.html

The above websites are tourist oriented, so a more detailed, furniture-oriented discussion focused upon the proposed SAPFM Winterthur Special Program continues below.

The Winterthur Museum, Gardens & Library started out as the personal hobby of a member of the du Pont family early in the 20th Century, well after his direct ancestor had founded the DuPont Company in 1802.  Beginning at an early age, Henry du Pont’s hobby grew in scope as he actively pursued it throughout his life, consuming a significant portion of his personal share of the family fortune.  Upon his death in the mid-20th century, Mr. du Pont willed his then greatly expanded home and his fully housed collection to create an endowed museum open to the public. 

Henry du Pont quietly amassed some of the finest pieces of furniture and decoration, in sufficient numbers and scope to make this easily one of the largest collections in the United States.   Unusual among museums, portions of the collection include segments of (or in some cases, entire) rooms carefully dismantled to preserve them, then crated & shipped to Winterthur for installation in the museum.  One particularly unusual example is the complete furniture & woodworking shop of the Dominy Family of eastern Long Island.  That display includes their tools, benches, equipment, work in progress, and the entire enclosing shop building, with examples of chairs, tables and other pieces built in the shop and sold to customers before being collected by Mr.  du Pont.  The Dominy shop was operated for over a century, and then was closed up without being cleaned out.  Everything sat in place from the mid-1800’s until it was acquired by Mr. du Pont in the early 20th century.


2.   The Winterthur SAPFM Program

The Program will be a much more interactive event than a typical tour through this or any other museum’s exhibit halls.  Participants will see a special selection of furniture, talk with conservators in their work areas, and explore the resources this museum makes available to the public through its expansive library and outreach activities. 

The structure of the actual Program involves small groups, engaged in a day-long series of activities.  The groups will rotate between each of the following destinations on a planned schedule, as room sizes will not permit more than two groups simultaneously in many of the locations to be visited.
   
Museum Staff will serve as guides, and their availability to serve for the Program event as well as the arrangement of the facilities are what place a limit on group size and overall participation.  Overall enrollment for the Program will therefore be limited to 40 SAPFM members.  If SAPFM member interest supports it, additional Program events may be offered in the future.

Four areas / activities within the museum are proposed for inclusion in the SAPFM Program, along with a long break to allow for lunch and some free time for participants to explore exhibits, the museum store, and the grounds on their own.  The duration for each area / activity will be 60 – 90 minutes.

The four areas / activities will be:

A) Tour of the Furniture Conservation Laboratory

In this portion of the Program, each group will spend time with the on-staff furniture conservators within their work area, reviewing their activities, methods, facilities, capabilities, and both ongoing and past projects.  The conservators will explain their current activities and/or discuss prior projects, and answer as many questions as the allotted time permits.  Requests to take photos and / or make close physical observation in this area will be at the discretion of laboratory personnel. 

B) Study of Selected Objects in the Winterthur Collection

The intent of this portion of the Program is to allow up-close study of styles, finishes, and joinery and other construction details of a selection of original period pieces in the museum’s collection, to the extent possible within the limitations of the museum’s collection preservation rules.   Museum staff will choose pieces that are representative of the furniture periods and arrange them for viewing by the Program groups.

The furniture collection in this museum numbers in excess of 10,000 pieces, and all are either on display or in the workshops at any time; Winterthur does not maintain a warehouse for excess pieces.  Over 4,500 pieces of the collection are already digitally cataloged and accessible for viewing online by the public 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  The museum’s digital repository is called the ‘Winterthur Catalog’.  Anyone can view the present contents of the Winterthur Catalog via the following link (no fee, subscription, or password is required):
 
http://museumcollection.winterthur.org/index_intra_files/index-Furniture-catalog-20-1.html#.V31NrU36v5o

Some, but not all, of the items shown in the Winterthur Catalog have already been professionally photographed and measured.  A variety of photos and/or measurements may be available for order from the museum during or after the Program for any piece or pieces of interest to participants at the cost of reproduction and mailing.  If you do attend the program and want to see what additional photos are available for a specific piece, be sure to ask your docent or museum staff. 

During the Objects Study portion of the Program, museum staff will be allowed to open doors or compartments in furniture pieces for view or discussion. The museum has already said SAPFM members may take photos (with or without flash) at what the conservators deem a safe distance from the objects.    However, Program participants may not touch or open any parts of furniture or other items on display. These restrictions are part of a very strict set of conservation rules in force throughout the museum to preserve these objects for future generations.  Many of the pieces in the collection are thought to be unique, and some are of considerable value; all must be reasonably protected.

The methods of display the Staff choose will minimize risk of damage to the piece, yet afford better views than you would normally have in a museum setting.   While there are going to be limitations on what participants can do, the opportunity to ask questions about the objects and the facilities you will see will surpass any opportunity you would normally have as a visitor to this museum.

C) Tour of the Scientific Analysis and Research Lab 

This laboratory is equipped with high-grade scientific inspection and testing equipment and staffed by people with specialist training and experience in microscopic, elemental, and chemical assessments.  You will be encouraged to ask questions, have methods of examination explained, and see examples of materials that have been studied or reproduced using historically correct materials and methods of manufacture.

D) Introduction to the Winterthur Research Library

Winterthur has amassed and maintains a very large collection of manufacturers’ catalogs, books on furniture and furnishings design & construction, day books by joiners and cabinetmakers, and untold number of other documents dealing with the history of creating furnishings.  The collection is well respected within the conservation world.  The public  may access services of the Library section on a wide variety of these topics. 

The scope of the Research Library collection and the services offered by Library staff will be explained and demonstrated with each group.  Questions will be welcomed.  Note: A more detailed description of the Research Library than provided here will be found in the Winter edition of SAPFM Pins & Tales.

An additional element of the Program is:

Lunch & Free Time

A lunch break is anticipated, perhaps 60 to 90 minutes within the period 12 Noon to 2 PM, with the specifics to be determined before the formal invitation to enroll in the program goes out. 

There is a cafeteria at the Visitors Center which provides lunch or other items from their menu at listed pricing.  If program registration approaches capacity, a catered lunch may be provided at a per person cost and added to the registration fee.

Program participants will be free to exercise the rights of the Museum Day Pass included in the registration Fee.  The Day Pass provides an opportunity for SAPFM members to use free time to visit the exhibits of the museum, walk the extensive grounds and experience the collection of plant species, see garden designs that rival many other botanical collections, visit and make purchases in the museum Book Store, or seek further information about the museum’s programs, activities, or photos & drawings of furniture from visitor service staff. 
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This completes the introduction to the Winterthur Museum and the proposed Winterthur SAPFM Program.  The following pages provide additional information for those members who might be interested in other activities before or after participation in the Winterthur SAPFM Program event


3.   Additional Attractions for an Extended Visit

Some participants in the Program may wish to spend more than one day to explore the museum further or to visit other regional sites as part of a vacation or weekend excursion. 

Winterthur Museum has a year-round schedule of activities that might be of interest beyond the described Program; some of Winterthur’s Spring 2017 activities are listed below.  As the exact date of the SAPFM Winterthur Program is yet to be selected – it will depend in part upon the outcome of the survey to be sent to you very shortly – the coincident events at Winterthur are not currently known for certain.

• Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes - April 1, 2017–January 7, 2018
• Historic Autos at Winterthur – each Saturday in May
• May 7, 2017 – 39th Annual Point-to-Point Steeplechase
• Striking Beauties: American Shelf Clocks and Timepieces Exhibit - July 2, 2016–June 2017

Please check the museum’s website for additional events:   www.winterthur.org

The Delaware River Valley region has many other attractions within easy driving distance of the Museum, and a wide selection are mentioned in the Events Calendar webpage of the same tourist site referenced at the very beginning of this document:

http://www.thebrandywine.com/special/index.html

That site’s list of major attractions is found in a small drop down box just above the year (‘2016’, or ‘2017’ as the case may be) visible at the upper part of their Events Calendar webpage.  Activities in the region are shown by month in the body of the website.

Other Attractions with Colonial Ties to Period Furniture

For those SAPFM members who are already familiar with Williamsburg, one thing you might want to do for a day is visit ‘Olde New Castle’, Delaware.  You may or may not know that over half a century ago the Rockefeller family’s foundation arranged to purchase the ‘colonial Williamsburg’ portion of that town and large areas of land and buildings nearby to create their Williamsburg colonial history destination center.  What you may not realize is that Williamsburg was not the Rockefeller foundation’s first choice as a location.  Olde New Castle was approached before Williamsburg, but the City of New Castle turned down the foundation’s offer so that the residents could (still) continue to enjoy the city as it was. 

Olde New Castle is comparatively small in relation to the Williamsburg complex, but still has cobblestone streets that were laid in the 16th, 17th, or perhaps early 18th century, and buildings that date as far back as the first Dutch colonial settlers of the community.  Many of the city offices and businesses in operation in the old part of the city are in buildings that date back to the early settlement.  Visitors could go through the ‘Olde’ section of town in an afternoon, and might stop for a colonial style lunch or dinner at Jessop’s Tavern.  The ‘Olde’ portion of the city has been used as the set for several Hollywood movies depicting colonial city life.

Hagley Museum is also listed in the tourist website referenced above, and a tour through this complex offers a potentially interesting look at what life working at the DuPont Company’s first gunpowder mills was like.  Line-shaft driven equipment is still operable in the machine shop, and one of the earliest installations of Francis-type hydropower turbines in the United States was in this facility to power grinding mills.  This is easily another half-day visit, and the Hagley complex is about four miles southwest from Winterthur.   

Sites of significance near Winterthur include:

4 miles north of Winterthur:  Brandywine Battlefield National Monument (Pennsylvania)
This sprawling site is where George Washington led his troops in one of the important battles early in the American Revolution.  The site is also described in the tourist website above.

12 miles southwest of Winterthur:  the lesser known ‘Cooches Bridge Battlefield’ 
This was the location of the only Revolutionary War battle in Delaware and the first known appearance of the Stars & Stripes flag of the Revolution, later adopted in a slightly modified form as the United States flag.  The action achieved General Washington’s hope of slowing the progress of British troops marching north from Baltimore while he prepared for a battle in the Brandywine River valley.

8 miles south of Winterthur:  Wilmington is a financial and corporate legal center and busy shipping port on the Delaware River.  Wilmington is home to the Tall Ship ‘Kalmar Nyckel’, a replica of the vessel that brought Swedish colonists to establish the settlement that eventually became Wilmington.  Volunteers perform all maintenance and serve as crew for the ship.  Tours are available on a limited number of days when the ship is in port.

Winterthur is also some 40 miles southwest of Philadelphia, a city rich in colonial furniture making history – and the antiques trade is active in this city.  Sites to visit include The Philadelphia Fine Art Museum, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Benjamin Franklin’s former home.

To the north and west of Philadelphia there is a rich history of furniture making.  The Chester County Museum to the west has an interesting collection of furniture.  This museum was the site of a tour held in conjunction with the 2016 SAPFM MidYear Conference at Thaddeus Stevens College in Lancaster, PA.  Lancaster is located some 30 miles west of Philadelphia, and some 25 miles WNW of Winterthur.

 
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