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Scientific Research & Analysis Laboratory

Winterthur’s state-of-the-art Scientific Research & Analysis Laboratory is a research and teaching facility housed in the Department of Conservation. Scientific analysis of objects is carried out to answer questions about their condition, technology of manufacture, and history. Answers to these questions are critical for formulating appropriate conservation treatments. 

One of only 18 similar museum labs in the country, the SRAL is equipped with instruments for materials characterization, with a focus on elemental and molecular analysis of cultural heritage materials. The laboratory also has portable equipment that can be used for scientific investigations in the Winterthur Museum and other heritage collections. Many types of analysis can be done non-destructively without taking a sample. In other cases, technology has advanced so that only a tiny sample is necessary.

The laboratory employs two conservation scientists who work closely with Winterthur curators and conservators, academic staff at the University of Delaware, Winterthur research fellows, research students, and students in the University of Delaware doctoral Program in Preservation Studies, the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, and Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. Amazing volunteers with extensive backgrounds in science aid in the work of the lab. The lab staff also teaches concepts about the interface of art and science to museum visitors of all ages. 

Conservation Clinic

Learn more about the condition, care, and recommended treatment for your antique!

As part of its mission of public service, the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation offers advice without charge at monthly Conservation Clinics.

Faculty, students, and Winterthur staff share their knowledge about caring for paintings, textiles, works of art on paper, books and archival documents, photographic materials, furniture, and decorative, archaeological, and ethnographic objects, works of art and archival material with collectors, curators, owners, caretakers, and scholars. Each appointment lasts 30 minutes.

Individuals and groups can schedule a one-hour tour of the Conservation Department on selected Wednesdays during the academic year. To reserve a space for you or your group or for more information, please call Visitor Services at 302.888.4600 x7029.

Research Guides

Guide to the Downs Collection and Winterthur Archives

The online book Guide to the Winterthur Library: The Joseph Downs Collection and the Winterthur Archives provides detailed information about holdings in the Downs Collection and in the Winterthur Archives, as well as a comprehensive index of names, places, and subjects.

Download Formats:

Zipped series of PDFs
HTML

Guide to the Maxine Waldron Collection of Children’s Books and Paper Toys

Link to the Guide

Research Area Guides

Advertising
Arts and Crafts Movement
Botanical Illustration
Collectors and Collecting
Colonial Revival
Curators’ Papers
DuPont Family Papers
Garden History and Design
Jewelry
Textile Production

Object of the Month: Grecian Couch

The maker of this Grecian couch, from 1805–1815, is unknown. From Salem, Massachusetts, it is displayed in the McIntire Bedroom.

“My favorite object, from a purely aesthetic point of view, is the couch in McIntire Bedroom,” says Amanda Hinckle, assistant director of major gifts. “It’s an 1805–1815 Grecian couch from Salem, Massachusetts. One end scrolls outward, while the other scrolls in, and the S-scrolled legs make the piece feel sumptuous. The carving along the crest and front seat rails with grapevines, laurel leaves, cornucopias, roses, and ears of wheat is truly beautiful. The gold silk lampas is warm and it shines in the daytime. When I enter its home in the McIntire bedroom, my eye is immediately drawn to it. I fantasize about reclining on this couch—though I absolutely would never do it!”

Grecian couch

1805–1815

Unknown maker

1957.0912

The John and Carolyn Grossman Collection

A world-class collection of about 250,000 items, The John and Carolyn Grossman Collection of ephemera visually documents life in America from 1820 to 1920.

Ephemera describes printed materials that were never meant to last. It includes greeting cards, product labels, tickets, calendars, invitations, paper dolls, and more. The Grossman Collection features the finest examples of such beautiful and intricate pieces of paper.

Of particular interest are materials that document chromolithography, the first form of commercial color printing. From about 1840 to the 1930s, vibrant colors appeared on a vast array of materials, from paper “scrap” used for making scrapbooks to cigar box labels.

Among the treasures of the collection are the first commercially produced Christmas card, commissioned by English artist, designer, and author Sir Henry Cole in 1843; its accompanying printer’s proof in red ink; and an early American Christmas card from around 1850. In addition, John Grossman saved the archive of the George Schlegel Lithographic Company, a 19th and 20th century New York City business that specialized in cigar box label printing.

Objects Conservation

Winterthur objects conservators Lauren Fair (left) and Lara Kaplan (right) examining objects in the museum collection.

The Objects Conservation Lab is responsible for the care of more than 47,000 objects at Winterthur, including collection items in the house, galleries, and storage spaces, as well as exterior architectural elements and sculptures in the gardens and on the grounds. Objects vary in form, function, and complexity, from taxidermy birds to fully operational historic automobiles and everything in between.

Objects can be made of inorganic materials such as ceramics, glass, stone, and metal or they can be organic in nature, consisting of leather, ivory, bone, shell, horn, tortoiseshell, hair, feathers, plant materials, or plastic. Objects are often composite in construction, featuring several material types. 

As diverse as the materials can be, the multilayered stories and values of an object can be even more so. What to one person may be a decorative basket displayed on a mantel may to another be the only surviving example of a rich cultural weaving tradition. Whenever possible, conservators seek input from various stakeholders to help guide treatment and preservation decisions in order to preserve both the tangible and intangible aspects of objects.    

Image (left): Tin-glazed earthenware posset pot with missing spout, c. 1676, Winterthur Museum 2016.0034.015. Image (right): Lauren Fair performs annual maintenance to one of the iron lily sculptures in the Sundial Garden. 

Transformations Shows Winterthur’s Contemporary Side

A second round of installations at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library reinforces how its vast collections inspire the makers and creators of today. Maker-Creator Fellows watercolor painter Rob Finn and ceramicist Heather Oassandon join four other former Maker-Creator Fellows in Transformations: Contemporary Artists at Winterthur, which features lively, often surprising responses to the traditional forms and objects in the museum, library, and garden collections.

“Transformations is a way of looking at how the collections remain relevant and how objects from the past inspire important conversations today,” says Kim Collison, curator of exhibitions at Winterthur. Through its Maker-Creator Fellowship program, Winterthur invites artists, writers, filmmakers, horticulturalists, craftspeople, and other creative professionals to immerse themselves in Winterthur’s collections. Work resulting from these fellowships can now be seen in the Winterthur galleries and gardens.

Ongoing through 2024, projects featured in Transformations will change periodically. The first cycle of Transformations features works by artists who have reflected on nature at Winterthur. Transformations coincides with the new exhibition Outside In: Nature-Inspired Design at Winterthur, which shows the powerful connection between nature and the decorative arts. Several of the featured artists have created works that invite visitors to consider the human impact on the environment. The newest featured artists are:

Rob Finn, watercolor painter

Finn’s art is an investigation into the character of trees that shows how climate, geology, and human society affect the morphology of each species. A Maker-Creator Fellow at Winterthur in 2020–2021, Finn studied the grounds and created dozens of tree portraits. His watercolor tree portraits show a modern sensibility in landscape painting by focusing on individual arboreal models rather than the grand or expansive perspectives that have historically dominated the genre. Finn’s Browns Meadow Tree, which celebrates a 300-year-old white oak tree lost to a hurricane and tornado in August 2020, is featured in the entryway to the first-floor galleries.

Heather Ossandon, ceramicist

Having observed the techniques and traditions of classically functioning ceramic communities around the world, Ossandon spotlights time-honored practices in the creation of everyday objects that are vehicles in the conversation about art and its social applications. On a table in the Society of Winterthur Fellows Gallery, Ossandon’s ceramic still life. Still Life with Fruit, examines the connection between the landscape and the food prepared for the many tables of the people who once lived and worked at Winterthur. Ossandon was a Maker-Creator Fellow in 2018.

ABOUT WINTERTHUR MUSEUM, GARDEN & LIBRARY

Winterthur—known worldwide for its preeminent collection of American decorative arts, naturalistic garden, and research library for the study of American art and material culture—offers a variety of tours, exhibitions, programs, and activities throughout the year. Admission includes the Winterthur garden, galleries, and a museum tour (by reservation).

Winterthur, located on Route 52, six miles northwest of Wilmington, Delaware, and five miles south of U.S. Route 1, is closed on Mondays (except during Yuletide), Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Museum hours are 10:00 am–5:00 pm, Tuesday–Sunday. $20 for adults; $18 for students and seniors; $6 for ages 2–11. Memberships are available for free and discounted admission. Winterthur is committed to accessible programming for all. For information, including special services, call 800.448.3883, or visit winterthur.org. Winterthur is closed seasonally from early January through late February.

Winterthur follows state and national protocols for the health and safety of all visitors and staff. For the latest information, visit winterthur.org/faq.

Contact: Mark Nardone
Mnardone@winterthur.org
302.888.4803 O 302.500.2559 M

View the PDF press release online.

In Memoriam: Beloved Curator, Educator, and Friend Linda Eaton

Over more than 30 years at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Linda Eatons’s contributions to her workplace and the field of textile arts and history have been numerous and invaluable. Her impact and influence are immeasurable.

Linda was recognized around the world for her leadership in the field of interdisciplinary textile scholarship. A specialist in textile conservation as well as textile history, she advanced technical and scientific knowledge of textiles broadly. At Winterthur, Linda oversaw the acquisition, interpretation, care, and exhibition of the museum’s textile collections, which includes nearly 20,000 furnishings, articles of clothing, rugs, quilts, and needlework.

Sadly, Linda passed on August 18, 2021, after a courageous battle against a long-term illness.

“Linda was one of those rare individuals who could speak with authority on detailed and technical matters one moment and in the next could sweep you away with her profound appreciation for the artistry and craft of an item,” said Chris Strand, the interim CEO of Winterthur. “She shared this gift through her teaching, her mentoring of staff and students, and the creation of our most popular and engaging exhibitions. All of us will miss her passion and her friendship.”

Linda has shared her knowledge and expertise through teaching hundreds of graduate students in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. She inspired future curators by widely sharing her enthusiasm with everyone from kindergartners and her graduate students to serious quilters, stitchers, designers, embroiderers, and general audiences. Hundreds of loyal followers attended her regular needlework conferences at Winterthur.

Linda curated popular and scholarly exhibitions about embroidery such as Quilts in a Material World; Needles and Haystacks: Pastoral Imagery in American Needlework; With Cunning Needle: Four Centuries of Embroidery; The Diligent Needle: Instrument of Profit, Pleasure, and Ornament; and Embroidery: The Language of Art, as well as Betsy Ross: The Life Behind the Legend, co-curated with Dr. Marla Miller. Linda curated the popular Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes, and she was an instrumental partner in one of Winterthur’s most memorable exhibitions, Costuming THE CROWN in 2019, the only exhibition of costumes from the popular Netflix series.

Her publications include Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection (2007), and Printed Textiles: British and American Cottons and Linens, 1700–1850 (2014), a revision of Florence Montgomery’s seminal 1970 book. Linda’s latest publication, Erica Wilson: A Life in Stitches, co-authored with Anne Hilker, was released in December 2020.

“Linda must hold the record for number of scholarly publications and exhibitions emanating from Winterthur,” said Tom Savage, the former director of external affairs at Winterthur and a longtime friend. “Her Quilts in a Material World book and exhibition placed Winterthur’s extraordinary collection in a global context. There was nothing parochial about her approach. She knew the wide world of textiles internationally and brought that vast knowledge to the study of the most minute topic. Her update of Florence Montgomery’s Printed Textiles gave this landmark work new life as the publication of record on the topic. Two generations of scholars benefitted from her tutelage at Winterthur as conservator, then curator of textiles and McGraw director of collections, and her star pupils now head noted collections of textiles.”

Linda’s students and mentees care for renowned collections at such institutions as the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Museum Tongarewa, as well as Winterthur. Linda was also a founding board member of the North American Textile Conservation Conference and a member of the board of Textile Society of America.

“Linda arrived in 1990 as the head of textile conservation and was initially my supervisor,” said Joy Gardiner, head of Conservation for Winterthur. “She quickly proved an excellent mentor to me and so many others, and she became a long-term good friend for my family—a wonderful presence and influence in our daughter’s life. Linda was a textilian to her core and a staunch—one might even say fierce—advocate for the objects made from fibers and the people who created them. In her generous sharing of this advocacy in teaching, publications, workshops and exhibitions, she fostered an expanded appreciation of the medium at Winterthur and well beyond. Her influence will be long lasting.”

Outside the museum and the classroom, Linda served as the volunteer president of the Arden Craft Museum Board, which preserves the unique history of three communities known collectively as The Ardens. Linda’s leadership helped to transform the museum into a center of the villages that offers year-round programs and attracts researchers from around the country.

Linda trained at the Textile Conservation Centre and the Courtauld Institute of Art before working for the National Museums of Scotland. Linda arrived at Winterthur in 1991 as a textile conservator. She became curator of textiles in 2000 and was promoted to director of museum collections and senior curator of textiles in 2009. Linda was named the John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections and Senior Curator of Textiles in 2012. She retired in December 2020. An endowed curator of textiles position was recently created in her name.

Though the Winterthur community is saddened by Linda’s passing, we honor her legacy in our daily work and continue to celebrate her accomplishments and influence on the field. Others who wish to honor Linda may make a donation to the Linda Eaton Curator of Textiles endowment at https://my.winterthur.org/donate/i/lecurator.

View the Press Release online.