Recently I spent some time with the young lady who was an intern for me and, as she was talking about her bleak job outlook, I found myself trying to strategize with her about her future—perhaps looking in the “mirror” in a different way, taking control and making her own opportunities.

She and her peers are so excited at this point in their lives and they have just accomplished a great feat—graduation! I would never want to shut them and their enthusiasm down with a curt, “Well, you know, NOBODY is hiring right now, have you thought about the food services industry?” So, I say to those of us who they turn to for advice, help them think outside the box. Don’t say you don’t know anyone who is hiring (that’s probably true in the curatorial field), but tell them to create a job by selling their knowledge to someone who does not usually think they need a person with this education helping them with their business.

Thinking outside the box, as it were, is the best way to come up with a job or business that will match their skills. Real Estate, local government, and Historic Preservation Societies are the first place one would think of that would need the skills of a young historian, especially if they are willing to piece together their jobs in a small “chunk” size that will be more affordable in today’s economy. For example, tell them to pitch to a real estate office that often has historic properties to sell, a service researching the information about what is available tax wise to someone who purchased this property. They could also add a history of the house for another fee—the trick is to keep the fees small and make money by volume. These days a simple, “You know you can get a tax break by buying this house,” does not cut it, people want to see a report or evidence that it can benefit them tax wise to purchase this home. A new graduate could charge a flat fee and work for many realtors. Or how about contacting a set designer or art director through the website, www.setdecorators.org and send a letter offering to do research for them for their next project that features historical interiors, architecture or material culture.

Deciding where their interest lies is a major component in this next piece of advice. The best way to find out their passion and gain valuable experience is to volunteer at a historic site near where they live and get to know the staff so that they will be the first in line when a job does come around. Suggesting that they hone their skills in grant research and writing is something else that is currently very needed and with few people schooled in the proper way to go about the process. They have just graduated with the skills to research and analyze historic properties so connecting with a local appraising office is a place they could give out their cards and sell their ideas.

To her credit she was very respectful and listened as I came up with two or three ideas that she could put into action immediately. I am sure I sounded like I was very naïve as I spun the ideas and tried to get her excited about their potential to, if not make a living wage, at least be something to keep her active and engaged in her quest to find the perfect fit for her.

I have been very lucky in my career and I think it is because I have always done what I wanted to for the most part. I was blessed with an optimistic outlook no matter what befell me. I forget that lots of people do not have an entrepreneur’s constitution, and to be successful you certainly need a strong one.

This being said, I have also learned that when you float an idea that seems “out there” you definitely are blessed to have someone listening to you who takes the idea and without prejudice helps you flesh out the pluses and minuses of the proposal. These people are few and far between and I have found that when you find someone with great patience and listening ear, hang on to them as a friend or contemporary…or marry them as I did.

I have no idea whether or not she has gone on and taken any of my advice. I do know, however, that she knows that she can always find a willing listener in me if she needs one.

I have many visitors to our site asking about this beautiful period . They will find design elements throughout their Victorian homes especially carved on the fireplace mantels that are expressly Aesthetic in origin and baffle the homeowner as to what inspired this design.

I thought you might like to learn a little about this period overall so I have taken the text on the period from my website,www.thehistoricinterior.com and placed it here on my blog. The text is by Judith Gura, a very talented writer and scholar who also wrote a must have book “The Abrams Guide to Historic Interiors” from which this text is attributed. Hope you enjoy and that this helps you find Aesthetic period details in your home.

The Aesthetic interior is beguiling in its exoticism, and almost dizzying in its mix of color, pattern, and decoration. It resists classification, mixing elements from diverse sources in idiosyncratic renderings according to the designer’s whim and client’s preference, but it invariably provides a surfeit of visual stimulation. It is either the subject of instant attraction, or immediate dislike.

Wallpaper is at the height of fashion for Aesthetic interiors, in coordinated patterns that enable designers to create intricate decorative effects. On walls divided into three sections—dado below, field or filling above, and frieze just below the ceiling—a different pattern and variation of color is applied to each area. The dado pattern is the most intense, the frieze the most elaborate, and the field the most understated, since it also serves as background for hanging paintings or prints. The frieze is often defined by a wood rail that serves also as a shelf for china display.

Colors, in wall covering, textiles, and carpets, lean toward deep, subtly shades, such as dull greens, browns, and blues, with citrine as a frequent accent. Often there are shimmery accents.

Window treatments probably have patterned fabrics, often in motifs that suggest the Asian influence, which is a common theme of this period.

In accessories, Japanese and other Eastern sources provide many of the forms as well as the decorative inspiration for striking ceramics and metalwork—the Aesthetic era produced many objects of exceptional charm and originality.

Chandeliers and lamps are as important, or more important, for their decorative value as for their efficiency as illumination. The concept of “art” furniture, rejecting the commercialism of most industrially made design, is an important contribution of the movement. Aesthetic furniture generally avoids the weightiness of most Victorian-era pieces, and its light-scaled forms reflect the influence of the Eastern aesthetic. The silhouettes of chests, exemplified by William Godwin’s Anglo-Japanese designs, may suggest Japanese cabinetry. Others might be painted or incised with images of stylized birds and foliage. Many items of furniture are painted or lacquered black or, later in the Aesthetic period, made of light-toned mahogany or satinwood. They are often carved with openwork motifs drawn from Oriental objects.

- text by Judith Gura, author “The Abrams Guide to Historic Interiors”

I ran across this blog while going thru my notes recently and after checking it out I was so impressed with the scholarship and information that I felt it was important to give everyone a chance to visit it and learn from the authors impressive knowledge base. I do warn you that you need to be prepared for getting lost in the wide breath of information on not only historic textiles but textiles in general. Enjoy!

The Textile Blog: Interior Textiles of the Mid-Nineteenth Century

I am really excited about the new restoration going on at Locust Grove in Louisville, Kentucky.

From the looks of the images on our Featured Museum page the work was beautifully done and the symposium on the weekend of June 26-27th sounds like it should not be missed. It is always a daunting task to a museum’s staff to undertake such a large project, and this one was handled by some of the best professionals and companies in the business.

If you have a chance, take the time to either attend the symposium, or visit this wonderful mansion.

I know I’m going to.

I want to draw your attention to the beautiful trio of articles in the latest Early American Life Magazine concerning the wonderful adobe homes in Santa Fe, N.M. In celebration of their 400 year old anniversary this year Santa Fe is holding many events to showcase these historic dwellings that are among the oldest in our nation.

Written by Jean Marie Andrews, Honoring His Ancestors”, Larry E. Johnson “Colonial Santa Fe” and Victor A. Walsh, “Preserving Adobe” these informative and very interesting articles do such a good job at shining a spotlight on these historic structures. Early American Life does a great service by giving us an opportunity to learn about a very important part of our American House History. I loved reading about these beautiful homes and their history. I also want to add that the articles are accompanied by very beautiful photographs taken by Peter Ogilvie, Ed Richardson, Larry E. Johnston and Melvin Sweet.

Seek out a copy of Early American Life and read these great articles you will be wanting to book your trip to Santa Fe to see for yourself how America truly is so diverse and beautiful in so many ways

The historic seacoast town of Marblehead, Massachusetts is privileged to have in its midst one of the finest late colonial homes in America. A flourishing seaport, colonial marblehead was about the tenth largest in Britain’s North American colonies just before the Revolution and the second largest town in Massachusetts. The downtown area includes nearly 300 houses built before 1775 – the largest concentration on this continent, along with Newport, RI – and nearly 800 built before 1840. The mansion built in 1766-68 for Colonel Jeremiah Lee, the most affluent merchant in the province at that time, was one of the largest and most elaborately decorated homes of its time in America, and still retains nearly all of its original structural elements and most of its original decorative finishes. These include intricate woodwork carving in the rococo style and a soaring central stair-hall lined with mahogany wainscoting that is unique in its use as an opulent wall treatment, and two sets of rare original mid-18th century wallpapers: a block-printed pattern with Chinese scenes (the only example of that type still on the walls of its original home) and a set of magnificent hand-painted English grissaille mural papers that were unusual at that time and are the only such wall treatments in the world surviving in place. (The other surviving set is one of only two others known from that time, both formerly in homes in Albany, NY; it is installed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing.) Emulating an aristocratic English mansion built of stone, all four facades of the Lee Mansion are faced with long wooden facing boards, 10” tall, with long beveled edges and vertical scores every two feet that visually simulated cut stone ashlar blocks. To further suggest the appearance and texture of stone, grains of sand in colors ranging from black to almost clear were thrown or ‘strewn’ onto the surface of the paint while still wet, creating a rough surface that would sparkle in the sunlight like cut stone. The grand residence was visited in 1789 by General George Washington during his inaugural tour of New England. Newly elected as the nation’s first President, the Revolutionary War leader came “out of [his] way” to Marblehead to thank the townspeople for their service and inordinate sacrifice during the war, which left the maritime town economically devastated, with failed businesses and nearly 500 widows. The Mansion was preserved because after 1775, no families owned it to make changes, and for a full century it was a bank and commercial office building before the Marblehead Historical Society purchased it in 1909. The Mansion comprises over 10,000 square feet of living space in 18 rooms. All but one are open to the public. They are filled with a museum-quality collection of 18th and early 19th-century decorative arts, paintings and artifacts with Marblehead history and connections. Visitors are captivated by the Mansion’s striking appearance, the magnificent painted wallpapers, the high-quality collection on display, and Col. Lee’s intriguing story.

The Lee Mansion is open June through October, Tuesday-Saturday. 10-4. For further information contact: www.marbleheadmuseum.org

Guest Blogger-  Former Curator Judy Anderson

Recently I had the opportunity to visit “Boscobel”, widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Federal interiors in the country. Boscobel was originally located in Montrose, New York, about fifteen miles south of the present site, with views overlooking the Hudson River at Haverstraw Bay. It was built by States Morris Dyckman (1755-1806), a descendant of one of the early Dutch families of New Amsterdam. As a Loyalist during the American Revolution, States became a clerk for the British Army’s Quartermaster Department in New York. He and his family returned to England to wait out the War and after receiving a pardon from the new American Govt. they arrived back in New York in 1804. He immediately started the work on his mansion and sadly he died before the foundation was finished. His widow carried on and “Boscobel” was finished in 1809. Although no architect has been identified for the building, it has long been considered to be an outstanding example of Federal domestic architecture in America. One can assume that States was influenced by what he had seen in England, particularly the designs of Robert Adam (1728-1792) and his contemporaries. It is possible that he had the architectural plans for his new house drawn in England since construction was started within six months of his return to the Hudson Valley in the summer of 1804. Boscobel is distinguished by its delicate neoclassical detailing on the exterior, as well as for a unique architectural feature on the front facade–the carved wooden swags of drapery with bowknots and tassels installed between the columns supporting the pediment above the second floor balcony. Several other architectural refinements are used to help convey a feeling of lightness and airiness that make the house seem more elegant and graceful than many of its contemporaries. About one-third of the front facade is glass. The three part windows used on the first and second stories are slightly recessed to accent the central pavilion. Recent technological advances in the manufacture of stronger crown glass enabled the builders to use larger panes of glass and much thinner glazing bars. Another architectural feature worth noting is the closely fitted matched boards on the front facade, in contrast to the overlapping clapboards used on the side and rear elevations. This provided for a smoother surface probably meant to simulate masonry rather than wood on the dress front of the house.

The house was almost lost in the 1950s when it was declared “excess” by the federal government and sold at auction to a demolition contractor for the sum of $35. In a dramatic, last-ditch effort led by Benjamin West Frazier, funds were raised to acquire the remaining portions of the structure, dismantle it, and move it piece-by-piece to its new home in Garrison, New York. It was stored in barns and other vacant buildings until a twenty-six acre tract of land with sweeping views of the Hudson River, West Point and Constitution Island came on the market in Garrison in 1956. An anonymous donation of $50,000 received in June 1956 allowed the newly incorporated Boscobel Restoration, Inc. to acquire the property and begin the restoration. The original anonymous donation of $50,000 received in 1956 for the purchase of the land came from Lila Acheson Wallace, who, with her husband DeWitt Wallace, had co-founded The Reader’s Digest. The Wallaces became Boscobel’s most prominent and generous patrons. But in addition to her financial backing, Mrs. Wallace served on the board of directors and took a strong personal interest in the restoration. She was particularly influential in the landscaping of the grounds and the furnishing and decorating of the interiors. In 1959, she brought in the Roslyn, Long Island, landscape architectural firm of Innocenti and Webel to provide an appropriate historic setting for the restored house. She also brought in William Kennedy and Benjamin Garber, the interior designers who decorated the offices for The Reader’s Digest, to furnish the house. Since both concerns worked for The Reader’s Digest Corporation and for Mrs. Wallace personally, they reported to her and her advisors as they proceeded with their plans. The intent of William Kennedy and Benjamin Garber was not to accurately furnish the interiors of Boscobel based upon historical research. Instead, they tried to create elegantly decorated rooms that complimented the beauty of the architecture. The items they selected represented the very best of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries to conform to the taste and standards of States Dyckman as established by his own purchases in London. Because States lived in England for such a long time, they also felt it would be appropriate to The intent of William Kennedy and Benjamin Garber was not to accurately furnish the interiors of Boscobel based upon historical research. Instead, they tried to create elegantly decorated rooms that complimented the beauty of the architecture. The items they selected represented the very best of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries to conform to the taste and standards of States Dyckman as established by his own purchases in London. Because States lived in England for such a long time, they also felt it would be appropriate to furnish the house mainly in eighteenth-century English and European antiques, which they acquired over several years both in America and abroad selecting and assembling appropriate personal and household effects for each room. By the mid-1970s, new information came to light about States Dyckman’s original furnishings that led to the decision to totally redo the interiors of the house so they were more historically accurate. Information found in the Dyckman family papers, States Dyckman’s recently discovered household inventory of 1806, and from examples of surviving furniture owned by the Dyckman family revealed that contrary to the Kennedy and Garber assemblage of mostly English furnishings, Boscobel was originally furnished with pieces made by New York cabinetmakers of the early nineteenth century. Berry B. Tracy, Curator-in-Charge of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was hired as a consultant to research the new interiors and oversee the installation. Mr. Tracy worked closely with Frederick W. Stanyer, executive director of Boscobel. The English pieces were replaced by an outstanding collection of Federal period furniture made mostly in New York City. The reproduction carpets, paint colors, wallpaper, fabrics and window treatments used were all based upon documented period examples. The objective of the reinterpretation was to restore the house to the way it would have looked while Elizabeth Dyckman lived in the house from 1808 until her death in 1823. When the house reopened to the public in June 1977, after six months of intense restoration work, Boscobel was featured in a cover article by Rita Reif in the Home Section of The New York Times on July 21, 1977. The headline read, “The Tour de Force Of Redecorating Boscobel.”

Today, Boscobel is considered to be one of the nation’s leading historic house museums. It features an important collection of decorative arts from the Federal period with high-style furniture by Duncan Phyfe and other recognized New York cabinetmakers of the day. Many of States Dyckman’s original purchases of English china, silver, glass and part of his library have also survived and are on exhibit in the mansion.

I was so fortunate to be given a tour by the acting curator Judith Pavelock, she was generous with her time and I was enthralled with the amazing history of this beautiful house.

Bosobel is, as all historic house museums, a challenge to fund and operate, from what I experienced, the Dyckeman’s would be so pleased with the stewardship of the staff. I urge you to visit and support this American treasure, it is so worth the effort and if you are a student American Decorative Arts it is a must.

much of the above text was taken from a history written by Charles T. Lyle.

www.boscobel.org

“A the symbolic center of the home, the kitchen gives meaning to family life. It is a place where parents nurture their children, families gather at breakfast and dinner, share chores, and discuss the world outside. Women especially see it as the space that connects them to past generations.”

“America’s Kitchen”, Nancy Carlisle and Melinda Talbot Nasrdinov

I visit many historic homes and museums and most of them have restored kitchens set up as they would have been, depicting whatever period and station in life of the family represented. As I look over the exhibit I often think about who the family was that lived in this house, what were they concerned with, how old and how many were their children, did they even have any children? What stories would they tell to us if we had the ability to hear the conversations around that kitchen table.

I think I feel this so personally because of my own history of growing up in two historic houses with great kitchens that were the center of life for our large family.

So many of our memories are centered in the kitchen—coming together to celebrate or simply being together around a convivial meal is the stuff that gets us through tough times. All families have their own styles, but the kitchen is where most family traditions begin. Whether it is a favorite requested meal your mom made for you on your birthday or when you get home after a really bad day the crockpot is there on the counter holding something ready for dinner—you hold on to the traditions that worked personally for you, and discard the rest.

I am from a family that does EVERYTHING around food. We use it to celebrate and comfort. Coming from a large family of seven, I think that because our mother had to come up with inexpensive, hearty meals that fed five children with leftovers my mother (we called her “Moo”) would cook with an eye toward something that we would eat with the least amount of fuss. It also would have to be reincarnated into something that could stretch to another meal or lunch for us. We lived in a very old (1780) house that had a huge hearth, and though it could probably still be used for a fire, had an electric range placed inside.

My earliest memories are seeing my mother stir something on the stove with another baby on her hip and no doubt one underfoot. Even at the age of 38 she had very gray hair, which she wore in a bun at the nape of her neck. Being a poor professor’s wife gave her nothing to spend on glamour, yet I don’t remember that she looked anything but beautiful as she bustled about our small house cleaning, doing the wash in the FREEZING root cellar with a wringer washer, or hanging the sheets out on the line. To this day, sheets that are devoid of the scents of added softeners —that just have the scent of the clean air are sooo sweet, and I much prefer them even though they are “scratchy.”

We had simple celebrations and our birthdays were centered on my parents putting penny candy in a brown bag and hanging it from the branches of our apple tree. We screeched and yelled in excitement as the birthday boy or girl got the first crack at the swinging bag with a cutoff broom stick.

Even when my father was lost in a car accident in the early ‘70s, the atmosphere about the large house (we moved to a very large house in Shepherdstown eight years earlier) was still much like a party instead of a wake. My dad had a great sense of humor and was very witty and the house murmured that day with his friends and students retelling many stories about him. The dining room had many beautiful stained glass windows, and I remember the look of the sun shining through them onto the large dining table gleaming with all the dishes the neighbors brought—all given in love and kindness in the tradition I grew up with.

Many more stories could be told of all the celebrations that my family has had over the years and the meals now are even more important to us as we gather without our beloved parents. Right before Moo died we were blessed to have her live with us and one evening her nurse wheeled her into the kitchen to sit and watch me make dinner. She loved to watch me cook, a pastime she missed very much, and she did not hesitate to let me know that I should “turn down the fire under the chicken” or add more seasonings to whatever I was cooking. This particular evening I remember (in retrospect it turned out it was right before she died ), she sat watching me move around the stove and suddenly she loudly called to me raising her glass with her nightly drink, and said, “Louise, do you know what the great thing about being terminal is?” Puzzled and a little horrified I responded “No, Moo what is it?” She threw back her head and laughed heartily saying, “The great thing about being terminal is that your green vegetable for the day can be the olive in your martini!” Her nurse slid out of her chair laughing and through my watering eyes Moo never looked more gorgeous.

She soon quietly died in her small little room filled with windows and sun and we still call our family room “Moo’s room,” but the kitchen is where I remember her the most and on a regular basis I wish that I could “channel” her grace and kindness that she showed to everyone she met, and her ability to make any leftover into a meal fit for kings or more importantly her beloved children.

As I have often mentioned, your historic house has had many memories formed within its walls. You really need to be aware that you have the opportunity to make memories with your children, friends and family. To this day, I cannot get myself to paint over the Doxology a friend painted for me in the kitchen after Moo died. My friend had performed a really profound act of kindness and comfort for my 45^th birthday by painting this around the ceiling of the eating space in my kitchen. She was inspired by hearing me say that I was reluctant to attend church because I could not seem to get through the offering without crying as I had such a vivid memory of my mother in church, and for some reason the opening bars of the Doxology always made her seem so close. So one day I came home to find this beautiful hymn painted around the perimeter of the kitchen eating area, and now everyday Moo is there at my table.

Make your own families memories in your kitchen. Now more than ever, our families need to connect in a space that binds them with memories and traditions that are part of their family’s customs and history.

I wanted to bring your attention to a great resource for those among you who are Victorian Period enthusiasts. The Victorian Society of America is an organization that promotes the understanding of the American Victorian Historical context through preservation, education, promotion and generally the enjoyment of the Victorian period.

This organization was founded as a sister organization to the British Victorian Society in 1966. Since then the society has grown to be THE word in all things Victorian in America.

On the organization’s website you will find a very large resource list, important books about the period, summer schools for the study of the Victorian Period, a list of all the chapters around the U.S., and actually more information than I can relate on this limited space.

I love this site, you should visit and oh, don’t forget to leave your calling card!

www.victoriansociety.org

There are many great things about this job but one of the best is finding wonderful artisans who are revitalizing the art of the past with talent and innovation. I am so proud to announce a new “Feature Artisan” to the site.

Thistledew Merchantile is a lovely site that sells the historic scissor art by Kim Frey. One of the 2009 artisans featured in the Directory of Early American Craftsman that is published by Early American Life magazine (another one of our favorites) Kim is a very talented addition to our growing list of American Craftsman.

Since 1990, the Freys’ artwork has been shown at local Art Leagues, in traveling exhibits with the Guild of American Papercutters, in special exhibits with Delaware State Museums, and in museum and gift shops across the country. Thistledew Merchantile can produce the “very thing” for your gift list and is a wonderful historical addition to any historic house museum’s gift shop.

The site features the following historic scissor art genres-

Scherenschnitte…

…a Pennsylvania German folk craft, literally meaning “scissors snipping.” Scherenschnitte was used to create Valentines, Christmas tree ornaments, cake stencils, artwork for the home, and shelf decorations.

Fraktur…

…an artistic form of important documents such as birth, baptismal, and wedding records. Fraktur were also given as rewards of merit for good students, house blessings, and bookplates.

Silhouettes…

…sometimes called “shades” or “shadows,” silhouettes were the common man’s portrait before modern photography was invented

The Freys live in Delaware with their daughter Katelyn, two goats, a whole bunch of chickens, and Oreo the cat. (Daughter Jordan, son-in-law Luke, and grandboys Jackson and Derik are staking a claim way out west!) Their artwork…and often the Freys themselves…can be seen in person at Hudson’s General Store, in Clarksville, Delaware

I urge you to take a moment and visit this site it is truly a new american treasure.

thistledewmercantile.com