The story
Founded by Henry Francis du Pont in 1951.1
Estate
The property where Winterthur sits was purchased by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (E. I. du Pont) between 1810 and 1818 and was used for farming and sheep-raising. In 1837, E. I. du Pont's heirs sold 445 acres (180 ha) of the land to E. I. du Pont's business partner from France, Jacques Antoine Bidermann (1790–1865) and his wife Evelina Gabrielle du Pont (1796–1863) for the purpose of establishing their estate. Evelina was the second daughter of E. I. Du Pont's seven children. Between 1839 and 1842, the couple built a 12-room Greek revival manor house on the property and named their estate Winterthur after Bidermann's ancestral home in Winterthur, Switzerland. The Bidermanns added expansive gardens, livestock, and pastures.
After Bidermann's death, the property passed to his son, James Irénée, who then sold it to his uncle, Henry du Pont. Henry purchased the property for his son, Henry Algernon du Pont. Henry Algernon and his wife, (Mary) Pauline, settled at Winterthur in 1876 and enlarged the estate's existing home. Upon his father's 1889 death, Henry Algernon officially inherited the property and converted its main home to a French-style manor house. Between 1885 and 1925, Henry Algernon and Pauline added 900 acres (360 ha) to the property, which included pastures for Holstein cattle. After Pauline's 1902 death and the election of Henry Algernon to Congress, their son, Henry Francis (H. F.) du Pont, took over management of the estate.
H. F. married Ruth Wales in 1916. In 1923, the couple traveled to Vermont to study the cattle-breeding operation of William Seward Webb. During the trip, they visited the home of Webb's daughter-in-law, Electra Havemeyer Webb, a collector of American decorative arts. H. F. later stated that this was when he became interested in collecting American antiques. During the same trip, the du Ponts also visited interior decorator Henry Davis Sleeper. Sleeper's home was decorated with American antiques and interiors taken from other homes. This, too, inspired H.F. to start his own collection of Americana.
Henry Algernon died at the end of 1926, and Henry Francis du Pont officially inherited Winterthur in 1927. At the time, the estate consisted of 90 buildings and more than 2,600 acres (1,100 ha). H. F. and Ruth renovated Winterthur's manor, tripling its size. They outfitted the home with architectural elements salvaged from 17th, 18th, and 19th century American homes in the region, including wood interior paneling from the Grahame House, Belle Isle, and Mordington. Rooms in the home were themed by time period.
Museum
Winterthur has been called the "largest and richest museum of American furniture and decorative arts in the world." It was formerly known as Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum and as the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate. H. F. established the main mansion as a public museum for American decorative arts in 1951 and moved to a smaller house on the estate. By 1959, the museum had been expanded to accommodate a library, lecture halls, and additional period rooms. By the time of his death in 1969, H. F. had amassed a collection of between 50,000 and 70,000 objects. This includes rare silver from Marquand and Co.
The museum comprises several buildings. In 1969, a large building that houses the library and conservation facilities was dedicated in honor of H. F.'s sister, a noted historic preservationist, and named the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Research Building. A pavilion building, separate from the main house, was built in the 1960s to welcome growing crowds. The visitor center consisted of a cafeteria and museum shop along with an adjacent parking lot. In 1992, additional galleries opened in a new building adjacent to the main house. The galleries host special rotating and permanent exhibits.
In 1987, Winterthur assistant curator Phillip H. Curtis was sentenced to a 7-year suspended prison sentence for stealing museum artifacts (ceramics, candlesticks, and other American decorative arts) worth $75,000. Curtis sold the stolen items to art dealers to fund his lavish lifestyle. In 1991, John Quentin Feller, a professor at the University of Scranton and authority on Chinese export ceramics, attempted to steal a Chinese serving platter from Winterthur, part of a series of thefts of 100 objects from 8 museums over 18 years. Feller was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
Directors
Winterthur Museum has been led by eleven executive directors since its founding: Joseph Downs (1951–1954), Charles Franklin Montgomery (1954–1961), Edgar Preston Richardson (1962–1966), Charles van Ravenswaay (1966–1976), James Morton Smith (1976–1984), Thomas Ashley Graves Jr. (1985–1992), Dwight Lanmon (1992–1999), Leslie Greene Bowman (1999–2008), David Roselle (2008–2018), Carol Cadou (2018–2021), and Chris Strand (2021–present). The current Charles F. Montgomery Director and CEO of Winterthur is Chris Strand, who previously served as Winterthur's Brown Harrington Director of Garden and Estate and as interim CEO in the months following Cadou's departure.
From Wikipedia’s article on Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5