Reunion Weekend and Conference
"Educated at Winterthur: A Half Century of Achievement"
September 21-22, 2001

The Winterthur Programs, '51 to '01: Are We There Yet?
by Charles F. Hummel (WPEAC '55)
(as presented on September 21, 2001)

(page 6) V. Achievement Much of Winterthur's national and international reputation as a museum of the first rank in the United States is owed to the accomplishments of its Fellows. In 1974, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of WPEAC, Charles Montgomery stated, "In the past we sometimes wondered if we could afford the expense of producing you. Surely you have cost millions, but what a bargain." As of September of this year, 401 Fellows have graduated from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, and 236 have received their degrees from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. By including graduate-level education as part of its mission, Winterthur's trustees have assisted with the provision of trained professionals to museums, historical societies, colleges, libraries, and historic houses in the United States and abroad, not to mention staffing of Winterthur itself. Using data from 1999, the last complete directory of Fellows, the following statistics underscore the success of these programs: Museums, historical societies, and historic houses employ 255 WPEAC graduates in positions ranging from director or president to curatorial assistants or interns. Thirty-one are employed in the commercial art world of art galleries, auction houses, dealers, and with furniture or insurance companies. Twenty-nine earn a living as consultants. Twenty are university professors from assistant to full professor levels. Twelve are Ph.D. candidates. Nine work at preservation agencies or societies. Six are librarians or archivists. Four are publishers or editors and four others are lawyers. Three function as trustees of art or history organizations, two are in the medical profession, and one each work as a restoration architect, stockbroker, or executive director of a garden. Twenty-one are retired or not active and 15 are, sadly, deceased. Close to two-thirds then, of WPEAC's graduates staff institutions defined as a museum. They serve 113 different institutions located in thirty of the United States, as well as England and New Zealand. Of WUDPAC's 236 graduates, 120 are employed in museums, libraries, or gardens in positions ranging from chief or full conservators, to advanced interns or post-graduate Fellows. They serve fifty-four institutions located in 29 states and Canada, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, the Netherlands, and Norway. Sixty-seven are engaged as private conservators operating their own practices or as partners or employees in private practice. Seventeen are employed as conservators in regional centers. Eighty-six percent, therefore, are doing work for which they were trained. Eleven are employed in universities of which one graduate, Deborah Hess Norris, is Director of WUDPAC. Two former Fellows are deceased. On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the first class to graduate from the WPEAC, Eleanor Southworth, Class of 1985, organized an exhibition for the Morris Library of the University entitled "3 Decades of Innovative Scholarship." That exhibition featured the exhibitions, publications, and tradition of museum service represented by WPEAC graduates. Now we can speak of five decades of innovative scholarship and service from three graduate programs.

"Sold... to the woman whose husband just shot himself."     "3 Decades of Innovative Scholarship," exhibit at UD, 1984-85   "3 Decades of Innovative Scholarship," exhibit at UD, 1984-85

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