SPRING 2002
This
Glorious House is a glorious success!
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The 2002
Philadelphia Antiques Show loan exhibition “This Glorious
House STENTON” proved an outstanding success in April,
helping to attract over eight thousand visitors to the Show. With
an elegant backdrop design by SMRD Theatricals evoking images
of the Stenton entrance hall, the exhibition brought together
over fifty Logan family objects. The breadth of these outstanding
examples of 18th century American decorative arts swept away novice
and connoisseur alike, who were impressed to see several pieces
of James Logan's upholstered seating furniture together, books
from Logan's library reunited with an original bookcase from Stenton
after two hundred years, and the beautiful expanse of textile
that has come to be known as the Deborah Logan quilt.
Stenton
Curator Laura Stutman, who curated the exhibit, lectured at the
Show on Furnishing Stenton: Quaker Grandeur in Philadelphia, offering
a glimpse into the current thinking about how, in many ways, Stenton
was an extremely finely furnished house. The exhibition was a
unique opportunity to show off the remarkable collection held
by the NSCDA/PA and to combine this with objects from other institutional
and private collections. It drew people not only to the Antiques
Show but also out to Stenton itself, and visits have continued
from individuals who were introduced to the glories of Stenton
through the Show. As the centerpiece of the 2002 Antiques Show,
the exhibition was the highlight of over a year of planning for
Stenton and the NSCDA/PA.
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RECENT NEWS
Area Foundations help
Stenton to acquire Logan chairs
The NSCDA/PA announced that two Queen Anne style Philadelphia chairs
once belonging to James Logan were purchased on May 23rd at Sotheby's
in New York. The acquisition was a collaborative effort amongst the
Richard C. von Hess Foundation, the Dietrich American Foundation, several
private donors and the NSCDA/PA. Thanks to the Richard C. von Hess Foundation's
generosity, one chair will become part of Stenton's permanent collection,
while the other will be on long term loan from the Dietrich American
Foundation. Further information about the chairs will be forthcoming
in the next Friends of Stenton newsletter.
Garden Party Held May 9
May
9 dawned rainy and cold, but the afternoon cleared and we were able
to have a most enjoyable day at Stenton for the annual Garden Party.
The event was well attended by Dames and their friends and families,
Friends of Stenton, neighbors from the Logan section of Philadelphia
and many friends from the museum and antiques communities. The garden
was lovely for those brave souls who ventured through the wet grass.
Ann Johnson and her committee, notably Mary Ann Kubeck, put on a delicious
buffet. Vic Johnson, Jack Kubeck and Chris Kubeck, as well as Hughes
Cauffman, Jim Congdon, Jeff Shaver and James Shaver made sure we had
our favorite libations. Margaret Richardson and Nora Wetherill conducted
tours of the house that were so well attended that we plan to double
the number of tours next year.
Our afternoon was enriched by the performances of the Germantown Country
Dancers, a local troupe of about a dozen ladies and gentlemen who specialize
in colonial dance. They were dressed in authentic period costume and
interpreted the dances of English settlers to this area in the colonial
period. Many guests at the party were recruited to join in, and the
flute and fiddle music made a melodious backdrop for their performance.
We thank Madeline DiPasquale for decorating our windowsills with orange
blossoms and able assistance behind the scenes. We certainly enjoyed
having Jeff Storey entertain with his smooth jazz on the keyboards.
David Sanchez, our site manager, wrangled the car parking as well as
having spruced up all around. Director Stephen Hague, Curator Laura
Stutman and Education Coordinator Anne Burnett had a chance to relax
and enjoy their well deserved kudos for the our hugely successful exhibition
at the Philadelphia Antiques Show.
- Peggy
Shaver
Collections
In keeping with the excitement generated by Stenton's participation
in the Philadelphia Antiques Show, there have been several items of
good news related to Stenton's collections. Last autumn, thanks to a
bequest from Pamela DuPont Copeland, a matching high chest and dressing
table that had belonged to James Logan returned to Stenton. These figured
maple case pieces, which were highlights of the "This Glorious
House: STENTON" exhibition, originally stood in the Yellow
Lodging Room at Stenton. They appear on the 1752 inventory in the room
with yellow textiles and maple chairs as "1 Maple Chest of Drawers
and Table" worth seven pounds. The May 2002 issue of The Magazine
ANTIQUES features an article by decorative arts consultant Philip
Zimmerman on case furniture at Stenton and he discusses in detail these
two recent additions to our collection. Mrs. Copeland's generosity and
foresight have made an important contribution to how we view James Logan
and the early furnishing of Stenton.
At the December meeting
of the Stenton Committee, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Satterthwait made a special
donation to the NSCDA/PA of two letters associated with James Logan.
Both these documents are of great import for the insights that they
provide about Logan's character, interests and temperament. One of the
letters, written by Logan to Josiah Martin recounts Logan's displeasure
with Martin, a long-time friend and London book dealer. Martin, who
had helped Logan to build his tremendous library, is roundly chastised
for his poor translation of a passage in Greek, an indication to Logan
that Martin was not as scholarly as he pretended. The five page letter
offers ample proof of Logan's exacting intellectual standards, even
when dealing with close associates. The second letter, from Joseph Breintnall
to Logan, discusses Logan's library, a matter of tremendous importance
at Stenton. In his presentation of the letters, Mr. Satterthwait remarked,
"I want to say how much I admire you ladies and the work that you
have done." The Satterthwaits discovered only a year or two ago
that they had the letters, and the NSCDA/PA and Stenton warmly thanks
them for making such a generous gift to our collection.
HIP and PHC fund grants
to Stenton
Stenton was delighted to
receive word earlier this year of three grants that will fund two separate
projects at the site. Generous grants of $15,600 by the Pennsylvania
Humanities Council and $15,000 by the Heritage Investment Program will
support the development of an Interpretive Plan. The goals of this project
are to evaluate the main historic themes that we convey to the public
and to understand what visitors take away from their experiences at
the site. Working with a team of six consultants – ranging from
an interpretive specialist to a scholar of Native American history –
we will draw together all the current historic information about Stenton,
review this, and determine how we might teach people more effectively
about the fascinating and diverse history of Stenton and the Logan family.
We will also, thanks to
an award of $146,920 from the Heritage Investment Program, be creating
the History Hunters Youth Reporter program, an educational program for
students in grades 4 through 6. The program will introduce students
to Stenton and several other outstanding historic houses and museums
in Germantown, including Wyck, Cliveden, the Johnson House, and the
Germantown Historical Society. A team from these sites will be working
with teachers from the Philadelphia School District and consultants
to develop curriculum materials. Through the project, students will
play the role of investigative reporters and be asked to discover information
about each site. Following their visits they will be asked to write
a report, with the best pieces appearing in a special education supplement
to local or regional newspapers.
Stenton was one of only
two sites to receive two grants from the Heritage Investment Program,
a mark of considerable distinction. HIP is funded by the Pew Charitable
Trusts and administered by the Independence Visitor Center Corporation,
while the Pennsylvania Humanities Council is the state partner of the
National Endowment for the Humanities.
Busy Season Ahead for Education
It is an exciting time for
educational programming at Stenton. After a busy winter of planning,
we are looking forward to a number of new collaborations with community
groups, schools and other historic sites in the months ahead. This summer,
for example, Stenton will offer an activity program for neighborhood
children attending the Stenton Park Summer Camp. Working with the Stenton
Park Advisory Board and two community advocacy and improvement groups,
the Ad Hoc Committee for Logan and the Men of Logan, Inc., Stenton will
provide an enriching half-day program each week for campers enrolled
at the recreational facility adjoining our site.
Through the efforts of the
Ad Hoc Committee for Logan and Let’s Love Logan neighborhood beautification
campaign Sunoco Welcome America has also chosen Stenton as one of the
sites for its "Go Forth and Read" program during the July
4th weekend. This is a very exciting opportunity to work with the Welcome
America organization on such a worthwhile literacy project.
On Saturday, September 7th,
Stenton will be participating in the 2nd Annual Let’s Love Logan
Community Day, a community celebration and rally promoting neighborhood
pride and beautification. Among the special activities planned at Stenton
for the day are guided tours of the site, where visitors can meet 18th
century housekeeper "Dinah" as portrayed by a reenactor and
a talk entitled "African Practices of Colonial Pennsylvania Blacks,"
by Commonwealth Speaker Donald Scott scheduled for 2 p.m. Mr. Scott’s
presentation, free of charge and open to the public, is a program of
the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, supported in part by a grant from
the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
We are hard at work promoting
our school program to area public and private schools for the 2002-2003
school year. Arrangements for tours may be made by calling Stenton’s
Education Coordinator at (215) 329-7312.
Fresh Paint for Stenton's
Entry and Stair Hall
This
past winter, for about six weeks in January and part of February, conservators
and painters from the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust prepared
and painted the entry and stair hall at Stenton. A brighter yellow has
been applied to the wood paneling and doors. The walls have received
a fresh coat of simulated whitewash, and the brown trim looks like milk
chocolate. This project was first in what we hope will be a series of
maintenance and interpretive projects. Following the paint study completed
by Matthew Mosca in 2000, the new custom mixed color, fondly known as
"Stenton yellow," is much brighter than the ochre which was
believed to be the original color in 1982. Paint and finish analysis
is a vital and constantly changing field. Using scientific diagnostic
techniques conservators have become increasingly able to document historic
colors accurately. The newest technologies account for the fading of
color over time due to exposure to light, air and grime. Other historic
sites that have reinterpreted interior spaces with brighter and more
intense colors include Gunston Hall, Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg.
The new paint scheme is another way Stenton is attempting to portray
as accurate and authentic representation of 18th-century life as possible.
Many
Thanks. . .
Many thanks go out to members
of the Iglesia Emanuel Church of Middletown, New York for their tremendous
help in clearing out Stenton’s barn in March in preparation for
our open season.
How to join the Friends
of Stenton
Insert for Spring 2002 Newsletter
- Research Article- Stenton's
Cultural Landscape Part II
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Fall 2001
Spring, 2001
