Stenton - The Interpretive Plan

The following recommendations are based on discussion amongst and comments from Stenton staff, volunteers and consultants. They reflect current thinking about the new interpretive focus for Stenton and how that focus can be propelled forward. These include specific recommendations for the arrangement of Stenton exhibit rooms in the short, medium and long terms as well as suggestions for additional research that will provide the fullest possible interpretation and underpin the main themes outlined in this document.

Recommendations for

EXHIBIT SPACES

TOPICS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

INTERPRETIVE PROJECTS

TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS

FOR EXHIBIT SPACES

These recommendations relate directly to room furnishings in the mansion and other exhibit spaces. Short-term recommendations are those that can be made with a minimum of effort, are easily reversible, and are in keeping with the direction of the new interpretation. Medium and long term recommendations require further consideration or considerable effort and decisions related to those recommendations will be informed by additional research and the Furnishings Plan to be undertaken in future.

1. Short Term:

Display wampum belt

Put Indian redware bowl on exhibit in office

Change tour route to go directly into Yellow Lodging Room. Finish 2nd floor with White Lodging Room.

Move shell work shadowbox to Parlour to illustrate genteel female crafts and polite landscape

Furnish Parlour cupboard with silver

Remove spinning wheel from Small Adjoining Room

Move Sarah Logan portrait to Nursery

Move Yellow Lodging Room bed into corner

2. Medium Term:

Undertake a Furnishings Plan for Mansion and Kitchen

Create a Deborah Logan writing vignette in the Blue Lodging Room using documents, diaries, and ledgers

Display more copies of Logan letters to represent James Logan's voluminous use of expensive paper for his time.

Interpret Adjoining Room as a servant’s room

Obtain color reproduction of the Hannah Logan Account book for the Nursery

Acquire more books and display them on bookcase (consult conservator on weight issues) and throughout the house

Create a bathing room in space next to Yellow Lodging Room

Acquire man's shaving supplies, hair grooming accessories

Emphasize the use of pewter in the Dining Room, including possibly replacing china with pewter

Move rectangular tea table to Dining Room as pier table under a looking glass

Move Queen Anne chairs to Parlour

Move crutches to First Floor Lodging Room

Arrange a formal and accurate tea service display in Parlour

Focus Yellow Lodging Room interpretation on the James Logan period by, e.g. relocating chest on chest

3. Long Term:

Acquire appropriate maps and prints

Purchase Native American related reproductions for display in Office

Explore loan of PMA maple chairs and PMA/Loudoun chairs

Investigate Logan tea service loan from PMA

Investigate loans of Logan objects from HSP/Atwater Kent

Assess the feasibility of incorporating the basement into tour

TOPICS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Although there is always more research to be done related to historic house museums, several distinct research projects were suggested as part of the interpretive planning process. Each would be designed to support the revised interpretation and to contribute to the overall story of the site.

The Stenton Plantation: Slaves and Servants
Additional research into the indentured and hired servants and enslaved Africans who worked the Stenton plantation is central to further development of the site interpretation. This will include research into the Logan Papers and other sources to develop more information about the complex web of relationships at Stenton and those who peopled the Plantation. Our context for discussions of slavery and servitude will also be broadened to encompass the most up to date scholarship. Finally, the story of the servants will be extended from the kitchen into the mansion itself: not that they should not appear there, but that they should leave some trace everywhere else as well.
Stenton Census Study
Create a census of who was living in the house at particular junctures, with ages, family relationships, etc. as known. It was evident as part of the planning process that it was not always known what child was living in the house at given moments in time or just how many servants might be living in the house. A census would be a great help in "peopling" the house and figuring out to a certain extent how the house operated. The census could be for some general decades, or at the time of the wills; a couple of eras would provide a sense of any changes in how the house functioned.
The Dinah story
Related to the issues of slaves and servants who lived on the Stenton plantation, Dinah is an important figure who requires definition. The Dinah story has become an integral part of Stenton's interpretation, and is of great interest to the African-American schoolchildren who are a large part of the audience. From the standpoint of social history, however, there is a much more fascinating story to be told about Quakers, slaves, and Dinah's family than simply the legend of how she saved Stenton from the British in 1777. This is a story with a masculine component, dealing with Dinah's sickly husband and his attempts to find someone to buy him so that he could stay near his family, and the grandson who was free while his mother and grandmother remained slaves. The fact that Dinah was trusted enough to be left in sole charge of such a valuable property needs no embellishment of a tricky exchange with British soldiers. The present story can continue to be presented as a wonderful myth handed down and enlarged over time, although it is interesting for a more sophisticated audience to ponder why this story developed, particularly in the face of the ostensibly unQuakerly attitude toward slavery it projects.
James Logan and Native Americans
Review the published and manuscript minutes of councils and treaties in which Logan participated during his public career, compiling a list of objects exchanged in those meetings. This will suggest objects that might be replicated to represent the sort of diplomatic gifts known to have been kept (if only briefly) in the houses of provincial officials in British North America. In addition, survey the Logan papers, particularly correspondence and account books, during the periods in which Native American delegations are known to have stopped at Stenton. This may reveal hitherto unrecognized details about the experience of Native visits to Stenton.
The Architecture of Stenton: Public and Private Use of Space
It is important to continue to explore how Stenton functioned as both a private and very public house. Research should continue comparing Stenton to other similar houses, especially in how space was used. The flow of occupants through spaces might be better defined. For example, why was there a nursery at Stenton if in actuality the children slept on the third floor? Or, how was the grand second floor room used situationally as two bedchambers but also for important entertaining?
Logan's Library and 18th-Century Ideas
Assess Logan's books, as per the published description, to relate what he actually owned to the kinds of transatlantic concerns that were found in his own writings. What, for example, did he actually own in moral philosophy, on which he was still writing in his later years? How up-to-date was Logan on transatlantic discussions? Developing a better awareness of Logan's intellectual interests will help to link his reading and learning to wider Enlightenment thinking.
Action Statements File
Work should begin on compiling an action statements file, which would include important primary source quotations from letters, diaries, etc. that provide information about the Logan family and life at Stenton. These sources can be made available to offer flavor on tours, or might serve as the subject of the creation of specific vignettes

INTERPRETIVE PROJECTS

Stenton must examine a number of interpretive issues in order to make its revised interpretation as meaningful as possible. Inclusion of the interpretive themes will only happen if the interpretation and additional research can be conveyed in an interesting and coherent way. The following recommendations point the way toward effective implementation of the Interpretive Plan.

Guide Manuals and Guide Training Program
Stenton should develop a new Guides' Manual. It should reflect interpretive goals, eliminate extraneous information (if interesting in marginal way this material can still be made available at the site as "enrichment"), include stronger research than is currently apparent, and offer specific advice about guiding strategies and techniques. This manual should be part of a strong, energetic and well-designed guide training program that will help Stenton achieve excellent front-line presentation of the house to the public.
Furnishings Plan
A Furnishings Plan is needed to complement the interpretive choices made for the house and kitchen. This may require attention to moving objects (as already suggested in the memo that preceded our meeting), acquiring objects (most likely 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 interpretive goals, either for short or long-term (this must be done very cautiously, but still must be considered as part of the range of possibilities). Close work in the inventories and various Logan papers will contribute to the Furnishings Plan.
Landscape Interpretation
The interpretation of the landscape is a significant issue that requires further exploration. In time, Stenton may want to consider developing a landscape interpretation that could be done by a self-guided walking tour map of the site and/or landscape interpretive signage. In the meantime, the problem of interpreting the "absent" and ephemeral landscape at Stenton increasingly weighs toward the idea of using visual surrogates, and has the advantage of being both (relatively) easy and inexpensive. Reproductions of historic images can offer some of the missing context. Specific areas of the site and/or themes where landscape images might be used:

Entry Hall
- An image that gives a good visual sense of the original size of the Stenton property overlaid on a current map, but including key streets is crucial.
- A reproduction of the original Norris house, Fairhill (rather than the Colonial Revival print) as a comparison for the Stenton façade and landscape.
Colonial Revival Garden
- State of the property at the end of the nineteenth century, showing dilapidation
- Creation of the Colonial Revival Garden
- The preservation of Stenton by The NSCDA/PA
Barn:
- Views of the property showing agriculture and agricultural buildings
Greenhouse - Stenton in the nineteenth century:
- Stereopticon views and individual prints that show: hemlock allée, family graveyard, house in context, Wingohocking Creek, flower garden on southeast side of the house, rear of house in good repair, etc.

TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS

The interpretation of Stenton is not meant to be a static presentation and will continue to evolve over time. As more research becomes available and as more people experience the revised interpretation we will need to respond to these external forces in revising what we say about the site.

Sample Tour
The Staff will need to develop a sample tour that focuses on the interpretive themes. This should delineate logistics (route), timing, what to be certain to cover and what to eliminate and how to accomplish the tour in about 45 minutes. This will not be a rigid but instead a skeletal outline into which each interpreter can insert ideas, stories, some interactivity, and their own personalities to connect with people who are listening.
Visitor Surveys
It is imperative to know what interests the public, what they find memorable and special about Stenton, what is working with the tour and visit experience and what is not working so well. This step is crucial to improving the overall visitor experience at the site.
Learn From School Tours
Stenton is engaging in the design of some ambitious, thematically-driven school tours. The information, style of presentation, and choice of hands-on materials/activities can inform what happens with more general adult tours. One of the findings of a recent visitor survey about visitor learning was that the most effective level of general visitor assimilation of knowledge occurred when interpreters focused energy on the children in family groups. The presentation became livelier and engaged the children, and the adults listened because the style was lively and also because they felt some degree of responsibility for reinforcing the information by explaining it again to the children.

Back to Interpretive Plan

Back to Stenton's Main page

	The following recommendations are based on discussion amongst and comments from Stenton staff, volunteers and consultants. They reflect current thinking about the new interpretive focus for Stenton and how that focus can be propelled forward. These include specific recommendations for the arrangement of Stenton exhibit rooms in the short, medium and long terms as well as suggestions for additional research that will provide the fullest possible interpretation and underpin the main themes outlined in this document. Recommendations for EXHIBIT SPACES TOPICS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH INTERPRETIVE PROJECTS TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS FOR EXHIBIT SPACES These recommendations relate directly to room furnishings in the mansion and other exhibit spaces. Short-term recommendations are those that can be made with a minimum of effort, are easily reversible, and are in keeping with the direction of the new interpretation. Medium and long term recommendations require further consideration or considerable effort and decisions related to those recommendations will be informed by additional research and the Furnishings Plan to be undertaken in future. 1. Short Term: Display wampum belt Put Indian redware bowl on exhibit in office Change tour route to go directly into Yellow Lodging Room. Finish 2nd floor with White Lodging Room. Move shell work shadowbox to Parlour to illustrate genteel female crafts and polite landscape Furnish Parlour cupboard with silver Remove spinning wheel from Small Adjoining Room Move Sarah Logan portrait to Nursery Move Yellow Lodging Room bed into corner 2. Medium Term: Undertake a Furnishings Plan for Mansion and Kitchen Create a Deborah Logan writing vignette in the Blue Lodging Room using documents, diaries, and ledgers Display more copies of Logan letters to represent James Logan's voluminous use of expensive paper for his time. Interpret Adjoining Room as a servant’s room Obtain color reproduction of the Hannah Logan Account book for the Nursery Acquire more books and display them on bookcase (consult conservator on weight issues) and throughout the house Create a bathing room in space next to Yellow Lodging Room Acquire man's shaving supplies, hair grooming accessories Emphasize the use of pewter in the Dining Room, including possibly replacing china with pewter Move rectangular tea table to Dining Room as pier table under a looking glass Move Queen Anne chairs to Parlour Move crutches to First Floor Lodging Room Arrange a formal and accurate tea service display in Parlour Focus Yellow Lodging Room interpretation on the James Logan period by, e.g. relocating chest on chest 3. Long Term: Acquire appropriate maps and prints Purchase Native American related reproductions for display in Office Explore loan of PMA maple chairs and PMA/Loudoun chairs Investigate Logan tea service loan from PMA Investigate loans of Logan objects from HSP/Atwater Kent Assess the feasibility of incorporating the basement into tour TOPICS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH Although there is always more research to be done related to historic house museums, several distinct research projects were suggested as part of the interpretive planning process. Each would be designed to support the revised interpretation and to contribute to the overall story of the site. The Stenton Plantation: Slaves and Servants Additional research into the indentured and hired servants and enslaved Africans who worked the Stenton plantation is central to further development of the site interpretation. This will include research into the Logan Papers and other sources to develop more information about the complex web of relationships at Stenton and those who peopled the Plantation. Our context for discussions of slavery and servitude will also be broadened to encompass the most up to date scholarship. Finally, the story of the servants will be extended from the kitchen into the mansion itself: not that they should not appear there, but that they should leave some trace everywhere else as well. Stenton Census Study Create a census of who was living in the house at particular junctures, with ages, family relationships, etc. as known. It was evident as part of the planning process that it was not always known what child was living in the house at given moments in time or just how many servants might be living in the house. A census would be a great help in "peopling" the house and figuring out to a certain extent how the house operated. The census could be for some general decades, or at the time of the wills; a couple of eras would provide a sense of any changes in how the house functioned. The Dinah story Related to the issues of slaves and servants who lived on the Stenton plantation, Dinah is an important figure who requires definition. The Dinah story has become an integral part of Stenton's interpretation, and is of great interest to the African-American schoolchildren who are a large part of the audience. From the standpoint of social history, however, there is a much more fascinating story to be told about Quakers, slaves, and Dinah's family than simply the legend of how she saved Stenton from the British in 1777. This is a story with a masculine component, dealing with Dinah's sickly husband and his attempts to find someone to buy him so that he could stay near his family, and the grandson who was free while his mother and grandmother remained slaves. The fact that Dinah was trusted enough to be left in sole charge of such a valuable property needs no embellishment of a tricky exchange with British soldiers. The present story can continue to be presented as a wonderful myth handed down and enlarged over time, although it is interesting for a more sophisticated audience to ponder why this story developed, particularly in the face of the ostensibly unQuakerly attitude toward slavery it projects. James Logan and Native Americans Review the published and manuscript minutes of councils and treaties in which Logan participated during his public career, compiling a list of objects exchanged in those meetings. This will suggest objects that might be replicated to represent the sort of diplomatic gifts known to have been kept (if only briefly) in the houses of provincial officials in British North America. In addition, survey the Logan papers, particularly correspondence and account books, during the periods in which Native American delegations are known to have stopped at Stenton. This may reveal hitherto unrecognized details about the experience of Native visits to Stenton. The Architecture of Stenton: Public and Private Use of Space It is important to continue to explore how Stenton functioned as both a private and very public house. Research should continue comparing Stenton to other similar houses, especially in how space was used. The flow of occupants through spaces might be better defined. For example, why was there a nursery at Stenton if in actuality the children slept on the third floor? Or, how was the grand second floor room used situationally as two bedchambers but also for important entertaining? Logan's Library and 18th-Century Ideas Assess Logan's books, as per the published description, to relate what he actually owned to the kinds of transatlantic concerns that were found in his own writings. What, for example, did he actually own in moral philosophy, on which he was still writing in his later years? How up-to-date was Logan on transatlantic discussions? Developing a better awareness of Logan's intellectual interests will help to link his reading and learning to wider Enlightenment thinking. Action Statements File Work should begin on compiling an action statements file, which would include important primary source quotations from letters, diaries, etc. that provide information about the Logan family and life at Stenton. These sources can be made available to offer flavor on tours, or might serve as the subject of the creation of specific vignettes







	INTERPRETIVE PROJECTS Stenton must examine a number of interpretive issues in order to make its revised interpretation as meaningful as possible. Inclusion of the interpretive themes will only happen if the interpretation and additional research can be conveyed in an interesting and coherent way. The following recommendations point the way toward effective implementation of the Interpretive Plan. Guide Manuals and Guide Training Program Stenton should develop a new Guides' Manual. It should reflect interpretive goals, eliminate extraneous information (if interesting in marginal way this material can still be made available at the site as "enrichment"), include stronger research than is currently apparent, and offer specific advice about guiding strategies and techniques. This manual should be part of a strong, energetic and well-designed guide training program that will help Stenton achieve excellent front-line presentation of the house to the public. Furnishings Plan A Furnishings Plan is needed to complement the interpretive choices made for the house and kitchen. This may require attention to moving objects (as already suggested in the memo that preceded our meeting), acquiring objects (most likely 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 interpretive goals, either for short or long-term (this must be done very cautiously, but still must be considered as part of the range of possibilities). Close work in the inventories and various Logan papers will contribute to the Furnishings Plan. Landscape Interpretation The interpretation of the landscape is a significant issue that requires further exploration. In time, Stenton may want to consider developing a landscape interpretation that could be done by a self-guided walking tour map of the site and/or landscape interpretive signage. In the meantime, the problem of interpreting the "absent" and ephemeral landscape at Stenton increasingly weighs toward the idea of using visual surrogates, and has the advantage of being both (relatively) easy and inexpensive. Reproductions of historic images can offer some of the missing context. Specific areas of the site and/or themes where landscape images might be used: Entry Hall An image that gives a good visual sense of the original size of the Stenton property overlaid on a current map, but including key streets is crucial. A reproduction of the original Norris house, Fairhill (rather than the Colonial Revival print) as a comparison for the Stenton façade and landscape. Colonial Revival Garden State of the property at the end of the nineteenth century, showing dilapidation Creation of the Colonial Revival Garden The preservation of Stenton by The NSCDA/PA Barn: Views of the property showing agriculture and agricultural buildings Greenhouse - Stenton in the nineteenth century: Stereopticon views and individual prints that show: hemlock allée, family graveyard, house in context, Wingohocking Creek, flower garden on southeast side of the house, rear of house in good repair, etc. TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS The interpretation of Stenton is not meant to be a static presentation and will continue to evolve over time. As more research becomes available and as more people experience the revised interpretation we will need to respond to these external forces in revising what we say about the site. Sample Tour The Staff will need to develop a sample tour that focuses on the interpretive themes. This should delineate logistics (route), timing, what to be certain to cover and what to eliminate and how to accomplish the tour in about 45 minutes. This will not be a rigid but instead a skeletal outline into which each interpreter can insert ideas, stories, some interactivity, and their own personalities to connect with people who are listening. Visitor Surveys It is imperative to know what interests the public, what they find memorable and special about Stenton, what is working with the tour and visit experience and what is not working so well. This step is crucial to improving the overall visitor experience at the site. Learn From School Tours Stenton is engaging in the design of some ambitious, thematically-driven school tours. The information, style of presentation, and choice of hands-on materials/activities can inform what happens with more general adult tours. One of the findings of a recent visitor survey about visitor learning was that the most effective level of general visitor assimilation of knowledge occurred when interpreters focused energy on the children in family groups. The presentation became livelier and engaged the children, and the adults listened because the style was lively and also because they felt some degree of responsibility for reinforcing the information by explaining it again to the children. Back to Interpretive Plan Back to Stenton's Main page
	© 2007, Stenton