Curator on the Move

Yesterday I made a trip up to Washington, DC with Loreen Finklestein, a conservator in private practice who has worked on projects related to John Marshall, Dolley Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and other early American notables to visit with Matthew Hoffstedt, the Associate Curator of the Supreme Court.

We discussed possibilities for collaboration between the Court staff, APVA staff, and private conservators and exhibit designers to ensure the preservation of the John Marshall robes as far into the future as possible. The robes are in critical condition, and a unique exhibition/storage solution is in the works, although it will take time to work out the details and raise funds for this nationally significant project.

In the photo, Loreen and Matt stand in front of a display case at the Supreme Court featuring the chair in which John Marshall sat as Chief Justice. The chair is still used today as each chief justice is sworn in.

We also met with Kathleen Shurtleff, Assistant Director of the Supreme Court Historical Society. The Historically Society has been very supportive of the project and Kathleen brought along a check to help support the conservation! Many thanks to Matt, Kathleen, and Loreen for a great and very productive day.

A Friendly Reminder

A friendly reminder from your humble editrix to please remember to add labels to your posts. The label box is directly below the main text box for each entry. When you write something in the box, it shows up at the bottom of the post (I labeled this post "curatorial"). Clicking on that word will take you to a page that shows all posts with that label (so clicking on "curatorial" below will take you to a page with all of my posts).

This step just takes a second and will help us better use the blog in the future.

Please label all site related posts with the name of the site: John Marshall House, Bacons Castle, Scotchtown, Mary Washington House, Smithfield Plantation, Cape Henry Lighthouse, Historic Jamestowne, etc.

Please label departmental posts with your department name: curatorial, retail, restoration, revolving fund, etc.

Add any other descriptive labels that you would like.

Consistency matters. Try to use the same names whenever you label something!

Thanks!

Butler's Pantry Up and Running at JMH

After two years of planning, the newly installed butler's pantry at the John Marshall House is officially open to the public!

Here's a sneak preview tour, but be sure to stop by the house and see the finished project.

This room is interpreted as a Butler's Pantry. We don't know exactly how it was used in Marshall's day, but we do know that it was probably a service space, based on the very simple wallfinishing (white wash and simple trim, compared to the papers, paints, and grained trim in the rest of the first floor) and location within the house. It certainly would have been a convenient place for Robin Spurlock, the Marshall family's enslaved butler, to have performed some of his daily work, right in the heart of the house and near the outbuildings and cellar.

The room is set up right now as if Spurlock is polishing brass candlesticks and preparing them for use throughout the house. The shelves store frequently needed household items, such as extra canton for use at daily meals and extra wine glasses. Less frequently used items are on the top shelves. A coal scuttle is on the floor, ready to refill the grates throughout the house.

The items in the room are a mixture of period pieces from our collection and new reproductions. I'll provide a full list later, but the short version is that the glassware, redware, and tin are all reproductions; the other ceramics, brass, and copper scuttle are all original.