This new installation invites visitors, community members, artists, scholars, and advisors to join us in new conversations about America’s cultural heritage. Objects in these galleries document makers and consumers, bearing witness to people, encounters, and entanglements in American communities and illustrating a global story that crosses gender, racial, cultural, social, and geographic boundaries. As we consider Winterthur’s collection through new lenses, we travel beyond the borders of narratives previously told, exploring communities that have gone unacknowledged, and mapping new directions for inquiry and conversation.
If you intend to give stocks or mutual funds, or you would like to make a contribution through a wire transfer, please contact the Philanthropy Office at contributions@winterthur.org or 302.888.4673 for Winterthur’s account information. Please let us know before you initiate a gift so we can promptly thank you for your generous donation.
Make a gift through your Retirement Account
If you are 70 ½ or older, you can donate directly to Winterthur from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) through a Qualified Charitable Distribution. This type of donation can help you meet the required minimum distributions from traditional IRAs and can come with some tax advantages. To make this type of contribution, contact your IRA custodian and ask to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution. You may need to provide the following information about Winterthur:
Legal Name: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc.
Address: 5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 19735
Tax ID#: 51-0066038
If you have questions or need additional information from Winterthur, please contact the Philanthropy Office at contributions@winterthur.org or 302.888.4673.
Gifts of Objects
Winterthur’s decorative and fine art holdings continue to grow through the donation of objects. Your gift can improve and evolve our museum rooms and galleries over time and can be used by the curatorial staff as teaching tools in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. Gifts are tax deductible at their appraised value. If you would like to donate an object to Winterthur, please contact the Museum Collections Division at 302.888.4775 or museumcollections@winterthur.org.
Step out on the virtual dance floor and enjoy this celebration of social dancing in America from the early 1700s through the mid-1900s. Using the 2006 Winterthur Galleries show as a springboard, this online exhibition features additional library and museum objects.
Experience the treasures of Winterthur Library in this virtual exhibition based on the 2004 Galleries show. Books, manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and printed ephemera, supplemented with museum objects, document the library’s evolution from a du Pont family collection into a world-renowned repository and its role in decorative arts scholarship.
Upcycled!, a multi-year project at Winterthur, launched in the fall of 2021 with a community-driven art project developed in partnership with Winterthur’s neighboring communities and institutional partners. The resulting project was installed at Winterthur and one other site within the Wilmington and/or greater New Castle County area.
Winterthur is embarking on this exciting project as we invite our community members, visitors, staff, artists, scholars and students to participate in reimagining our vibrant future as an active and engaged cultural heritage site within our region and in the broader world. Upcycling is traditionally defined as creating an object of greater value from a discarded object of lesser value. Winterthur will explore upcycling in a broader context and will include categories such as: assembled, transformed, recycled, altered, repaired, and preserved.
Winterthur’s semi-rural location on the former estate of Henry Francis du Pont offers researchers serene surroundings.
Two renovated estate residences—the Visiting Scholars Residence (VSR) and Foulsham House—offer fellows spacious accommodations.
Creating an Intellectually Safe and Supportive Environment
The Winterthur Research Fellowship Program is dedicated to creating a safe and socially-just environment for our fellows. This includes, but is not limited to: engaging in actions to support BIPOC scholars, creating a harassment-free environment, acknowledging and actively combatting systemic racism and inequality inherent in cultural heritage and academia, and fostering an environment that welcomes sustained and sustainable efforts to support robust scholarly and professional discourse. We welcome engagement with all topics, practiced with respect and care, in service of these goals.
Ethics Policy
Fellows, like our staff and volunteers, are expected to act with integrity and in accordance with rigorous ethical principles. Failure to comply with Winterthur’s code of ethics or research misconduct policy may result in termination of the fellowship and disqualification from future fellowship funding.
Housing
All in all, the fellowship was exactly what I was hoping for, and more. The possibility of on-site housing was excellent, the landscape around is beautiful, and it was a pleasure to walk to the museum and library in the mornings. I only wished I had more time…
Lars Preisser, artist, Maker-Creator Fellow, 2020-21
The Research Fellowship Program offers on-site housing for fellows on a space-available basis (current rate: $600/month or $60/night, utilities included). Rental payments are billed separately and not deducted from the fellowship stipend. Overnight guests can be accommodated by pre-arrangement and subject to a supplemental housing fee. Prior to arrival, fellows are required to sign a housing agreement.
Fellows are welcome to inquire about on-site family accommodation and other short-term housing opportunities in the area. While we know that pets are family, too, we cannot accommodate pets in our on-site housing.
Two renovated estate residences—the Visiting Scholars Residence (VSR) or Foulsham House—offer fellows spacious accommodations and amenities, including:
3-4 private, air-conditioned bedrooms with 1-2.5 shared baths
a large kitchen and dining space outfitted with utensils and supplies
a furnished common area
use of a washer and dryer
wireless internet
complimentary bicycles, a grill, and other amenities.
Both buildings are within walking distance of the museum and library, but complimentary bikes are also available for this commute.
Please inquire to Chase Markee, Academic Affairs Administrator, (cmarkee@winterthur.org) with any questions about booking accommodation.
Getting Here & Getting Around
Winterthur is located about 25 miles from Philadelphia and its airport, and is accessible by Amtrak, regional rail, and local public transportation from Wilmington (about 7 miles away). Wilmington Train Station also houses four major rental car agencies. Uber, Lyft, and taxis operate in our area as well. A car is best for getting around outside of the property independently, but carpools and ride services can be arranged. Fellows receive a welcome packet that includes addresses and navigation to local amenities, like grocery stores and shopping centers. Numerous coffee shops and restaurants are located within a few miles of Winterthur’s property.
Research Fellowship Offices and Use of the Library
All research fellows receive dedicated office space for the duration of their residency. These offices are in the heart of Winterthur’s Academic Programs Department in the Louise DuPont Crowninshield (Research) Building just upstairs from the Winterthur Library.
Fellows are given badged status during their time at Winterthur and have access to their offices beyond business hours. Office amenities include a desk, wireless internet, free printing and scanning capabilities, private space for taking calls or meetings, and use of the furnished staff lounge and kitchen.
Fellowship privileges include:
Access to Winterthur Library’s circulating collections and comfortable research space
Borrowing privileges (for residencies longer than 2 weeks)
Interlibrary loan requests and downloading digital collection images (free)
Access to a photocopier and an overhead book scanner
Use of 3 computer stations
Use of in-house collection databases and numerous research databases available through the institution’s academic affiliation with the University of Delaware’s graduate programs, all free of charge.
Please review the Library’s current hours and procedures for making appointments to view rare books and other special collections materials.
Additional Amenities at Winterthur
Winterthur’s 1,000 acres of gardens and naturalistic landscape offer fellows daily opportunities to be in nature while they are in residence. With hundreds of miles of trails, fellows can enjoy walking, running, relaxation, and picnics in our green spaces from dawn to dusk.
Winterthur’s Pavilion Café in the Visitors Center offers lunch options and light fare on days when the museum is open to the public. Fellows receive a staff discount when presenting their badge.
A post office operates Monday through Friday. Express packages and mail can be sent and received here.
Fellows are also afforded complementary admission to museum and garden tours and programming. Special arrangements may be made for fellows to attend Winterthur conferences and symposia at discounted rates. The Winterthur badge also provides some discounts and reciprocal admission at regional sites.
Highlighting objects from the Winterthur collection, this exhibition invites visitors to engage with stories that celebrate Black women and confront racial and gender stereotypes. These objects highlight the creativity, ingenuity, and complex lives of their creators. Phillis Wheatley, Rachel Ann Lee, Lavinia Craig Casper, and Freda de Knight excelled in their roles as writers, mothers, daughters, chefs, homeowners, entrepreneurs, and students. Yet, each of these women challenged anti-black stereotypes that permeated their worlds and their lives. Who were these women? What were the prevailing stereotypes they each faced? How are cultural institutions and artists confronting these representations today? Museum collections, like those at Winterthur, offer opportunities to honor Black women and to honestly address objects that reinforce negative representations.
Uncorked! presents a fascinating and incredibly broad range of wine-related materials—from wineglasses and cellarettes to song sheets and paintings—and, in total, includes more than 300 objects from the Winterthur collections and promised gifts.
Selections from Winterthur’s superb collection of painted and decorated early American tinware are on display in our galleries (May 2013 – January 2014) and now are online for the first time. This pocket-sized exhibition highlights the origins of this specialized craft as well as artistic techniques for decorating and practices still in use today.
Erica Wilson (1928-2011) was arguably the most successful embroidery designer, teacher, and entrepreneur in America during the second half of the 20th century. Her highly successful business included books, kits, a television program, and retail shops. Erica’s presence as the expert on all things needlework was larger than life, and her embroidery designs were well suited to the sensibilities of the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.
Erica Wilson: A Life in Stitches delves into the life and work of the “Julia Child of needlework.” Wilson’s successful 1970s television program that taught needlework was one component of business ventures that included embroidery kits, books, newspaper and magazine columns, public appearances, and a store bearing her name on New York’s Madison Avenue.
The exhibition is the first to look closely at Wilson’s extraordinary career and life and to document an extensive collection of her work—from the colors, textures, and looks of homes and clothing in the 1960s and 70s, adorned with charming and sometimes outrageous needlework, to the 1980s and 90s, when Wilson used new media to reach younger embroiderers. Drawing on an extensive collection of items donated to Winterthur Museum and borrowed from Wilson’s family, the exhibition features an eclectic range of Wilson’s more contemporary designs, including her bargello go-go boots and embellished clothing. Erica Wilson celebrates her love of craft, her success as an entrepreneur, and her work that continues to inspire makers of today.
