March 30–April 11, 2025

Applications open January 1, 2025.

Winterthur Institute is a two-week immersive experience intended for emerging professionals in the care of collections, students, and scholars of decorative arts made or used in America.

Participants will be part of a select cohort that studies each day through experience. The program includes lectures, hands-on workshops, research opportunities, and access to the specialists, gardens, and historic architecture of Winterthur.

The focus is engagement with Winterthur’s expansive collection, which presents the opportunity for participants to:

  • closely look at objects;
  • understand style;
  • analyze an object’s relationship to time; and
  • connect to the lives of the makers, owners, and stewards.

Additionally, all participants will have badged access to the Winterthur Library and archives to complete a required research project.

Upon completion of Winterthur Institute, participants will have gained:

  • historical knowledge of the decorative arts, as well as techniques of analysis that define the relationship of an object to its time;
  • competencies in object handling and preservation best practices that benefit collections-care skill sets;
  • an understanding of “sense of place” while studying collections in the former du Pont historic home and estate;
  • connection to the Winterthur Institute learning community past and present that nurtures creative growth and career leadership;
  • greater insights into object materiality;
  •  increased knowledge of best practice in museum stewardship;.
  • 60 hours of professional development in key skills and knowledge for cultural heritage competency.

For more information on how Winterthur Institute aligns with your professional goals, please call 302.888.4894 or email ContinuingEducation@winterthur.org.

Applications and information about Winterthur Institute 2025 will be available on January 1, 2025.

Scholarship opportunities and travel stipends are available.

Winterthur Institute 2025 is supported by The Decorative Arts Trust, Learning Times LLC, and Winterthur Institute alumni.

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