Stenton - The Newsletter

"Wing Thing" underway at Stenton

The 18th century experience is alive and well at Stenton, although sometimes this has its drawbacks. Those of you who have ventured to Stenton during January know about the inadequate heating system and lack of insulation in the Service Wing, which serves as our visitor welcome area, staff offices, meeting rooms and educational space. For mid-summer visitors, the lack of air conditioning occasionally provides something akin to the experience of a colonial bake oven. There is little doubt that the lack of up to date mechanical systems makes Stenton a challenge

Thanks to a generous grant from the McLean Contributionship, however, a project is now underway to correct these problems, and to make our Service Wing an outstanding space for public, staff and volunteer use. The Facilities Use Study, or the "Wing Thing" as it is sometimes called at Stenton, is the first phase of a three phase project leading to restoration/adaptive reuse of the Service Wing at Stenton, allowing the site to make better use of the space available to improve its visitor services (visitor welcome and orientation area, gift shop, restroom, available catering facilities), education space, offices and storage.

The Stenton Service Wing currently includes a kitchen exhibit space, office/staff space, visitor services, and our education/meeting space. In addition, there is an apartment in the upper half story of the wing. The Stenton Wing was substantially investigated as part of an Historic Structures Report completed in 1982 by John Dickey and Reed Engle. Stenton has hired historical architects John Bowie Associates (JBA) to evaluate the Service Wing space usage, develop plans for better utilizing this space, and prepare construction documents for actual work. JBA Principal John Bowie, who began his career in the office of John Dickey and completed drawings for the Stenton HSR in 1982, said, "It is a treat to be able to return to work at Stenton, especially on such an important project that has the potential to shape Stenton’s future for many years to come."

In July, Bowie began a thorough investigation of the Wing to document its existing state of repair, to review its heating, air conditioning, electrical and plumbing systems, and to assess how visitors, staff and volunteers use the space. This has been followed by initial discussions outlining a range of possible schemes for the Wing. JBA has compiled a report on critical items that will require attention, such as the mechanical systems, as well as other key repairs. Additional analysis has gone into space flow and usage.

Several other meetings scheduled for this autumn will hope to identify a preferred scheme for use of the Wing, which will be presented in John Bowie Associate's final report. This will in turn lead to Phase 2 of the project, the preparation of architectural and engineering drawings that will set the stage for a substantial and important project for all those who visit and work at Stenton.

History Hunters wins award

It has certainly been a banner year for Stenton and the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program, the collaborative educational program developed by Stenton and its Historic Germantown Preserved partner sites Wyck, Cliveden of the National Trust, the Johnson House and the Germantown Historical Society. The success of the History Hunters program has received considerable recognition and interest from the museum and historic site community in recent months, as well as from the School District of Philadelphia. In June, the NSCDA/PA and Stenton, as lead organization for the project, won a prestigious "Award of Excellence" for History Hunters from the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical Organizations. The award was officially presented at the Federation's Annual Meeting in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

By the conclusion of the 2003-2004 school year, more than 1100 Philadelphia public school students from 17 schools had participated in History Hunters, representing a total of more that 4400 site visits. The program continues to expand, with more than 63 classes from 27 schools signed up to participate during the 2004-2005 school year. By June of next year, visitation totals for the program are expected to exceed 1600 students.

At Stenton, the first site visited by program participants, the bustle of school tour activity is already underway. This October saw the piloting of a new visit format at the site, the History Hunters Festival Day, a one day event structured around rotations of students between 8 different activity stations. Designed to address both this year’s increased program enrollment and plans for continued growth, the festival utilized the entire History Hunters guide corps as well as staff from the four History Hunters sites and volunteers, allowing Stenton to accommodate multiple schools at once. Stenton's festival pilot was a huge success, with more than 240 History Hunters "reporters" plus teachers and chaperones visiting the site in one day. The festival format will be piloted again this fall at Cliveden, with plans for testing at Wyck and Johnson House in the spring.

The program also received a letter of support from Paul Vallas, C.E.O. of the School District of Philadelphia, a valued and crucial endorsement confirming that the program is successfully serving the needs of the students of Philadelphia.

History Hunters goes on the road. . .

Stenton recently took History Hunters "on the road," presenting panels on collaborative education programs at the American Association for State and Local History's (AASLH) Annual Meeting and Conference in St. Louis, Missouri on October 2, as well as the annual conference of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, held in Philadelphia in mid-October. Through these opportunities, the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program is serving as a national model for effective collaborative educational programming.

Renewed Richard C. von Hess Generosity to Fund Collections Research

The Richard C. von Hess Foundation, which has been so unstinting in its support over the past few years, has once again awarded Stenton a major grant. The grant of $30,000 will support work on a Room Furnishings Study. The project's goal is to complete a document describing how rooms were used during the 1730 to 1839 period interpreted at Stenton, and outline the most appropriate furnishings scheme for the Stenton house. The document will include floor plans, a traffic flow diagram suggesting who used which spaces and in what ways, a census and timeline of who was living at Stenton when, and visual images.

Perhaps most importantly, the Room Furnishings Study will define and clarify our collecting and furnishing goals in line with the revised interpretation offered in the Interpretive Plan for Stenton (2003). The Room Furnishings Study will complement and reinforce the interpretive choices made for the house and kitchen. This may require attention to moving objects, acquiring objects, assessing the use of reproductions that can propel interpretation and offer some hands-on learning, and possibly deaccessioning objects which have no Logan provenance and do not contribute to the site’s interpretive goals.

The process will include additional research in cooperation with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and other institutions, consultation with specialists in architectural history, decorative arts, material culture and related fields, visits to identified historic sites to talk to staff members about their furnishings approaches, close work in the inventories and various Logan papers and discussions within the Stenton and NSCDA/PA community about how best to interpret the site. Critical decisions about the detailed furnishing of Stenton will be made as part of this process. As examples, such questions will include how to incorporate slaves and servants more fully into the interpretation, how to bring the rooms to life by illustrating their historical uses, whether and/or how extensively to use reproductions, and what furnishings arrangements best support the themes and stories we are trying to tell.

The end result will be a scholarly plan based on the most up to date research that defines how and why we furnish our rooms and spaces at Stenton, and that establishes clear objectives for honing our collection to achieve these ends. When used in combination with the Interpretive Plan for Stenton, the Room Furnishings Study will make Stenton not only the "most authentic of all Philadelphia's historic houses," but also one of the best and most accurately interpreted historic properties nationally.

Lil Chance Awarded

We are proud to announce that Lil Chance, long-time Gardens and Grounds Chair at Stenton, has been awarded the Region 5, Garden Club of America award.

The citation reads:
"Lil's lifelong interest in America's past and future is reflected in her valuable efforts to preserve and recognize the significance of its historic properties."

Congratulations, Lil.

We are proud to announce our new garden publication: "Stenton's Cultural Landscape" for sale at Stenton.

Women of Stenton

The Women of Stenton event in June proved a great success, with about 100 visitors exploring the lives of Deborah Norris Logan and Dinah, as well as the stewardship of the NSCDA/PA. Among the many highlights of the day was a book signing by Texas A&M Professor Susan Stabile, whose Memory’s Daughters provides a great deal of information about Deborah Logan's ways of memorializing the past.

Donation sets the stage for painting at Stenton

Our thanks go out to Regina Haley Pakradooni, President of Finnaren and Haley, Inc., who has generously donated all of the paint and primer required to paint the exterior of Stenton. We will have to find a special way to thank Regina for her quick work in getting the paint ready for the job and conveniently located for pickup. Stenton Director, Stephen Hague, and Curator, Laura Stutman, must be commended for choosing the correct color at a moment's notice in between History Hunters tours, meetings at Stenton, and an important museum conference. Lil Chance has arranged to have the fence altered and the undergrowth cleared to allow access to the back courtyard for the lift. Nina Schaefer is working on a possible donation of the lift. Stephen and John Bowie, Restoration Architect, have contracted with a carpenter to prepare some of the places badly in need of repair. Thanks to the groundwork laid by Stephen and Historic Structures Committee Chair, Jane Foster-Wilson, back in June, the encouragement of Stenton Financial Secretary, Elle Burgess, and the quick work of donors and volunteers, we are working with the city to undertake the painting. Many thanks to our colleagues in Philadelphia: Carlton Williams, Deputy Commissioner; Thomas Fox, Recreation Facilities Director; Frank Fabey, Supervisor of Skilled Trades; and Hedy Zarensky who makes it all happen. This is a wonderful example of how collaboration works!

– Sally Congdon
Vice President, Museum Properties