A Summer Internship in Seattle

 by Rebecca Migdal, Lois F. McNeil Fellow, Winterthur Program in American Material Culture

During Summer 2012, I interned in collections at the Henry Art Gallery, the contemporary art museum at the University of Washington in Seattle. The Henry has focused on bringing contemporary art, artists, and art historians to Seattle and stimulating the UW’s scholarship and programs since the gallery’s founding in 1927. The Henry shares its diverse collection through permanent and rotating exhibitions, as well as the Reed Collection Study Center.

During my internship I focused on learning proper methods for handling, storage, and management of costume and textiles in the Henry’s collection. Over the course of six weeks, I worked with a team of interns from the UW and Cornish College of the Arts on an inventory and re-housing project of the boxed garments. It was an opportunity to refresh and improve my textile handling skills, including dressing and lighting textiles on mannequins for photographic documentation.

Hands-on access also developed my visual vocabulary for late 19th and early 20th century clothing, the various issues with their conditions, their storage requirements, and other special needs. Throughout the internship, I contributed to other collections management functions, too. I helped research selections from the historic dress collection so we could more precisely date costume pieces. I also learned about the Mimsy XG database and the preparation and organization of digital images for both internal and external use. Learning a little about the Henry’s methods for condition reporting, storing flat textiles, and its accession process was also a focus during the summer.

Under the guidance of Judy Sourakli, Curator of Collections, I was also exposed to the history of collections management and conservation at the Henry. She helped me learn about and understand the various challenges to the collection, including budgeting issues, space, and scheduling. She shared some of the innovative adaptations the Henry has made for storing and displaying three-dimensional collections objects (including trays, hat stands, and shoe forms) and some of the goals for continuing to protect the objects better and make them more accessible.

While it seems unlikely that future University of Delaware students will intern at the Henry, I felt it was an excellent site for getting hands-on museum experience and building on my Winterthur training.

Images: Woman’s Day Dress, c. 1903 - 1904
Gift of Marguerite Putnam Acc. # 77.8-75, t1 & t2
Courtesy of the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle. 
Explore more of the Henry's collections here.

Historypin Project at the Hagley Museum and Library

This blog post was originally posted on the Hagley Museum and Library blog, and can be viewed here.

We are surrounded by historic buildings and structures. We work in them, shop in them, and eat in them. With Historypin, you can now know your everyday buildings’ histories, and be part of their documentation. Historypin is a user-generated global archive of photographs taken in the past and present. The goal of the Historypin project, created by WeAreWhatWeDo, is to connect groups of people within a community and bridge age gaps through a shared history.

This summer, I selected more than 250 images from the Hagley Digital Archive to add to Historypin. In the selection process, I first focused on images from the Gentieu Collection of Brandywine River Valley Images, choosing images from 1880-1920 taken by photographer and former DuPont Company employee Pierre Gentieu. I was interested in forming a snapshot of what it would have been like to work in the DuPont Company black powder yards in the late 1800s, and I particularly wanted to find photos of the structures that no longer stand. But photographs of structures on the grounds did not tell the full story, so I expanded my search beyond the Gentieu Collection to include churches, schools, taverns, shops, and even other nearby mills and industries. This gave me a fuller understanding of the community of workers on the Brandywine in northern Delaware at the height of the American Industrial Revolution.

The main feature of Historypin is the map. Photographs are pinned to the map using the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of the location they were taken. The map shows the location of the photographs in time, so it is possible to narrow down the years of the photographs visible on the map using a timeline slider.  Some photographs that were taken from the street can be overlaid on Google street view. Since most of the photographs are on the Hagley Museum grounds, I was only able to do a street view overlay for 17 of the images. Here are a few examples: Alexis I. DuPont School, Wilmington Train Station, Washington Avenue and Concord Street Solgas Truck Accident, and Rockland Bridge.

Another important part of Historypin is the story behind the photograph. I did a lot of my research in the Hagley Digital Archives, pulling stories from the photograph descriptions and captions written by the photographer. I also gathered stories by going outside (I am a big proponent of experiencing history outdoors). I had taken a tour of Hagley before, but with the historic photographs in mind, I looked at the grounds with new interest, walking every inch of the property I could access. I drove downstream from Hagley to see for myself Breck’s Mill, Walker’s Mill, and the former covered bridge at Rising Sun Lane (I even got one of my carpool buddies to jump out of the car and take a photograph of the plaque on the new steel bridge). As I gathered more stories, I found that the stories for other photographs changed with the new perspective I gained. And by venturing outdoors to find the history, I was able to easier pin the photographs on the map in an area that is entirely tree-covered from an aerial view today (but was not when the DuPont Company black powder mills were running).

After pinning the photographs to the map with their stories, I dove into the other features of Historypin: collections and tours. I made two collections: one called The Industrial Brandywine in Delaware, and another titled On the Grounds of the Hagley Museum and Library. Having taken Hagley’s Powder Yard Trail self-guided tour, which is written in walking order for guests, I wanted to create a tour on Historypin that explained black powder-making in the order of the process. In the Historypin tour, Making Black Powder in the DuPont Company Powder Yards, putting the steps in order of the process helped me better understand what a day in the Hagley Yard might be like. I next made a tour of the photographs of fires and explosions in the DuPont Company black powder yards, which I found to be both fascinating and terrifying. These images definitely changed the way I looked at the peaceful, beautiful Hagley grounds I worked in every day. Next, I created a tour of Life of a Worker in the DuPont Company Black Powder Yards, which expands beyond the grounds of the Hagley Museum and contains many images of buildings that no longer stand. Lastly, I created an Industrial Brandywine in Delaware tour that begins at the northern-most dam on the Brandywine in Delaware, and follows the creek downstream until it empties into the Christina River.

There are many excellent channels on Historypin from which to pull inspiration. There are channels by institutions, such as the Smithsonian, and by individuals, such as Steve Clifford. Some channels have appealing designs, such as Bath in Time. To get ideas about what types of tours you can create with your own photographs, check out these tours: Washington Slept Here from the Connecticut State Library, The 1968 Democratic National Convention that includes a sound file from the U.S. National Archives, Lost Louisville from University of Louisville Photographic Archives, and Earthquake and Fire from San Francisco MTA Archives. To think about collections in a non-traditional way, check out the Women in the Military collection from the U.S. National Archives, or The Snow Collection created by Historypin using photos from many different channels. If you are interested in doing a local project and getting your community involved, take a look at Reading’s History local project, or if you just want to get involved as an individual, consider taking a modern photograph, or a repeat such as this one of a photograph from San Francisco MTA Archives.

Historypin is not only a website, but an App for mobile devices, so it is easy to get involved.

With the App, you can explore pins near you, post your own photos, and explore other collections.

The Hagley Museum and Library Historypin channel will continue to be added to; I have only created a launching pad for the project. I encourage visitors of the museum and people in the Wilmington area to get involved, too: take a tour, take a modern replica of a photograph, or create your own channel and post your own photos of the Brandywine area.

Free Lecture!

The Delaware Humanities Forum cordially invites you to attend the 2011 Joseph P. del Tufo Annual Lecture.

"Where do Religious Voices Belong In Public Conversations On Same-Sex Marriage?"

Dr. Mark D. Jordan, Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School

Thursday, October 6, 2011
6:00 p.m.
First & Central Church
1101 N. Market Street
Wilmington, DE

For additional details, click here.

Hooray for Rodney Square!

Rodney Square, the heart of Wilmington's downtown, is being added to the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of places in the United States deemed worthy of preservation. Also included are the Du Pont and Nemours buildings, the Wilmington Public Library, the City and County building, and the former Post Office, now part of the Wilmington Trust Center. Several of the people that I've been working with while creating the walking tour of Market Street have been trying to get Rodney Square recognized in this way for years. Their hard work has finally paid off. Congratulations to all!

Here's a bit of historical background on the development of Rodney Square.

In 1902 the Du Pont Company's president, Eugene du Pont, died. The remaining family members were going to sell the firm, but were challenged by Alfred I. du Pont, who bought the company with his cousins T. Coleman and Pierre S. du Pont. These younger men initiated a period of modernization, reorganization, and consolidation. No longer a family business that could operate out of the small office on the Hagley property, the Du Pont Company needed more office space for its increased numbers of management personnel. Wilmington became the best choice for the site of the new headquarters, satisfying Pierre and Alfred's desire to keep the company close to the Brandywine as well as Coleman's insistence on an urban setting. In 1904 the Company bought land on the high ground at the corner of 10th and Market streets for their new building.

The twelve-story Du Pont Building provided the impetus for creating a monumental heart for the city of Wilmington. The initial structure housed 549 employees, while the 200-room Du Pont Hotel, added in 1912, featured a grand ballroom, theatre, and restaurant. The county courthouse, built in the 1880s, looked small and out-dated when compared to the modern office building across the street. John K. Raskob, Pierre S. du Pont's assistant, led the effort to tear down this building and build a grander city-county building on King Street. He was driven by a desire to bring the City Beautiful Movement to Wilmington, in the hope that a well-designed civic landscape would impress visiting businessmen. In time, the Wilmington Public Library and the Wilmington Post Office buildings would complete the square, creating an anchor for the city's downtown area.


Want to learn more? Read about the nomination on Delaware Online.

This is why I don't live in California...

Like many other East Coasters, I experienced my first earthquake on Tuesday afternoon. Despite the fact that it caused minimal damage and no serious injuries, it was still a bit of a scare. I was in the DHF office on the tenth floor of the Community Services Building in Wilmington when everything started to shake. At first I thought that there was just a big truck going by on the street. When the shaking continued, however, we all got rather nervous. Following the tremor, my coworkers and I decided to exit the building (using the stairs, of course). Virtually everyone else seemed to have the same idea, although we were not officially evacuated. We waited for a while in Rodney Square, until we decided it was probably safe to return to the office. Upon checking my email, I received a helpful (if belated) message on "What to Do During an Earthquake." Well, now I know.


Apparently, the last time the East Coast experienced an earthquake of this magnitude was in 1944. At that time, the Dravo Corporation on Wilmington's riverfront was busy building vessels for the U.S. Navy. A great image of the shipyard in full swing is available through the Hagley Digital Archives. You can still see a few of the whirly cranes at Dravo Plaza, which is now used as a gathering place for concerts and other events.


Not too much else to report on my internship. I continue to compile information on Wilmington's industrial history...although I have to admit I'm a bit distracted by reports of hurricane Irene, which should hit this area on Sunday. Thunderstorms and earthquakes and hurricanes, oh my!

From Wilmington to Washington

Did you know that the site of the University & Whist Club in Wilmington, Delaware was once considered as a location for our nation's capital? While serving in Congress, Dr. James Tilton, a Revolutionary War hero who became the first Surgeon General of the United States Army, proposed that the capital be built at Bellevue, the property of his friend Bancroft Woodcock located to the northwest of the small town of Wilmington. Centrally located, the site's elevation provided impressive views of Philadelphia, Maryland, and New Jersey. It's interesting to think of what might have been, had the Virginians not been successful in building the capital on the Potomac.

Yesterday I visited Washington, D.C. with my coworkers at the Delaware Humanities Forum. While in the city we toured the Supreme Court, the U.S. Capitol, and the Library of Congress. The highlight of the day was meeting Jim Leach, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, at the organization's headquarters in the Old Post Office. He very kindly invited us into his office and chatted with us for a few minutes. The Old Post Office is the third highest building in the city, after the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. I really enjoyed seeing the magnificent views of the D.C. area from the clock tower.

Here are some photos from our trip. Enjoy!

Top to Bottom: Supreme Court, U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress, Old Post Office, View of U.S. Capitol from Old Post Office Tower (all images taken by Anne Reilly)

A Pear of an Experience; Thanks to everyone at the NAA!

Unfortunately, this is my last 'Hello!' from the Newark Arts Alliance!


For this last post, I wanted to start with a shot of one of the pieces from our newest (and current until September 10) show--Deborah Arnold's Quite a Pear. Above is a work entitled, "Pages from a Pear Diary: First Draft." Out of the entire summer (excepting the Member's Show of course!), this is my most favorite exhibit. Why, you ask?

1. It features a food.
2. It FEATURES A FOOD!!

How serendipitous that this is the last show I will enjoy as an intern! Perhaps my most favorite piece, however, is more of a metaphor than literal:


This one is entitled, "Pear Party Garden Dress" and as you can see, was created around a McCall pattern for a pear-shaped dress. I was enchanted when I first saw it. If only I didn't have a live on a graduate student's budget, I would have already bought so many pieces from the NAA! Every single show touts works that I end up adoring daily when I go in.

In other news, Friday was the day of the opening for Deb's show. Guess what she brought for refreshments?! That's right, a completely peary menu!

Below are some shots from the table of delicious goodies (and to the right is a shot of a work called, "Red Bartletts"):










There was pear upside-down cake, pears over brie, dried pears and gouda, hot milk sponge cake with pears in champagne, mango/pear salsa, pear chutney over cream cheese--you name it, if it had pears, it was on that table! Everything was delicious and the table was beautiful. I really enjoyed talking with the members and Deborah about her show. Here are some shots showing the crowd enjoying (both literally and figuratively) the "ripe metaphors of pears":























Over the summer, I have to say that I've learned more about grantwriting and how non-profits are organized than I ever thought I would. I am sad that today is my last day--it was a truly wonderful experience. Although I'm not at liberty to say right now, it seems that Terry and the board of the Newark Arts Alliance has made some arrangements for me to stick around and be involved. I shall update the blog one last time when I find out for sure what their plans are.

For now, here's a tally of all the grants I either wrote, edited, or assisted in researching this summer:

The Lenfest Foundation, Chichester duPont Foundation, The Brandywiners, Gannett Foundation, The Christmas Shop, Delaware Supermarkets, Inc. and Chipotle are all grantmakers for which I mailed in applications--that is, their goals match our needs most aptly. What this list doesn't communicate, however, was the time and effort put into researching (and some writing before I learned that they really wouldn't fit our needs) around 50 or so other foundations that do NOT provide funds for our organization. Lesson learned: researching and grants is no joke but if you can learn how to spot funders and how to write effectively using rhetoric, it can be a very fulfilling job.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Terry, Carol, the board of the NAA and the members for allowing me to have such a fantastic experience at this wonderful organization. If nothing else, you'll surely see me around taking some classes--if there's one thing this place has done, it is inspire my artistic side!! :)

P.S. Check out THIS link to see a clip from WHYY (I'm the one doing the tie-dye in the video) about our Camp Imagine!!!!