Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

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

Keynote Address

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

Most of you know the theme that Stanley Kubrick used for his film, 2001, to forecast the impact of computers and robots on life in the twenty-first century. That theme was part of the late nineteenth century tone-poem, Also Sprach Zarathustra, by Richard Strauss; his homage to the sixth century B.C. religious reformer and prophet, Zoroaster.

In January, 1952, when the Board of Trustees of the Winterthur Corporation took the unprecedented step to acknowledge the creation of a graduate training program, jointly sponsored with the University of Delaware, they joined a group of prophets, who in 1951 forecast the positive impact that such a program would have on Winterthur, the University, the study of American art, and training for careers in museums.

Charles Montgomery, Mac Fleming, John Sweeney, and Wayne Craven have provided recollections of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. Their accounts and the Winterthur Archives, have been invaluable in putting together this keynote address. But it has been said that those who survive the longest get to create history.

Mr. du Pont, Mr. Copeland,
and Gov. Caleb Boggs, 1955

What follows, therefore, the beginnings, achievements, and needs of the graduate programs co-sponsored by Winterthur and the University, represent a very personal perspective.

I. WPEAC
Henry Francis du Pont's enthusiasm for opening Winterthur to the public is well known. His strong support and encouragement for establishing the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture deserves to be better known. With Mr. du Pont's blessing, Charles Montgomery and Dr. John Perkins, President of the University of Delaware, met early in 1951 to discuss the idea of a graduate program to train students. President Perkins then invited members of his staff and faculty from the History, English, and Art departments to a meeting to comment on program organization and curriculum. Also approached was Dr. Charles Odegaard, Director, National Council of Learned Societies, who made suggestions on academic organization that were incorporated into the program.

Discussions were carried on throughout the first half of 1951 reaching agreement on the goal of the program: the study of American civilization in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries through an analysis of . . . historic events, literature and philosophy, the visual arts--architecture, painting, sculpture--and the decorative and utilitarian arts.

Commencement, 195?

Mr. and Mrs. du Pont,
Mr. and Mrs. Copeland, and
Charles Montgomery, 1955

In mid July 1951, Lammot du Pont Copeland, chairman of the Winterthur Corporation's Finance Committee, informed the Board of Directors that Charles Montgomery had been engaged in discussions with the University about beginning a co-sponsored graduate training program. On July 30, 1951, the Committee on Graduate Studies at the University approved the Program followed by the University's Board of Trustees on December 8, 1951.

By the time that Winterthur's Board met on January 18, 1952, the momentum for the Program was such that their minutes only record a report from Charles Montgomery on progress toward the Program's start and no formal motion of approval. The Board's approbation was signified, however, by appointment of a Fellowship Committee, chaired by Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland with Ruth Ellen Lord, Henry Belin du Pont, George Edmonds, and John Marshall Phillips as members.

Winterthur Fellows, class of 1954

Neither Winterthur nor the University had the resources necessary to launch this major new venture. The Museum had only opened to the public on October 31, 1951, and the University had no graduate programs in the arts, only in the sciences.

Further:

The libraries of both institutions were inadequate, lacking holdings necessary in art history, social and cultural history, the American arts, and fine and decorative arts in general. Winterthur's library was the personal library of Henry Francis du Pont, now called the Memorial Library, on the sixth floor of the Museum. There was no librarian on Winterthur's staff. Helen Belknap was not hired as Winterthur's first librarian until mid September 1952, after the Program had begun.

Students with
Helen Belknap, 1965

No inventory or card catalogue system for Winterthur's collections were in existence.

The staff at Winterthur was limited--to say that it was small would be to exaggerate its size.

There was no lecture hall, auditorium, or classroom. A classroom was set-up in the space now occupied by the Billiard Room on the seventh floor of the Museum. Talks and lectures were held in the playroom of the Mt. Cuba home of Mr. and Mrs. Copeland from 1952 through 1963, at the Wilmington YMCA at Washington and Eleventh Streets, or occasionally in the Pavilion.

There was no permanent funding for Fellowship stipends.

Conventional wisdom said, "delay." Indeed, Joseph Downs, Curator of Winterthur, indicated to Charles Montgomery in May 1952 that "considering our very limited" resources, it would be wiser to delay initiation of the Program. But the beginning of the Program was in motion, and the enthusiasm of Charles Montgomery and Henry Francis du Pont buried conventional wisdom.

Immediately after Board approval for the new graduate program in January 1952, Mr. du Pont wrote to Mr. Copeland thanking him for giving five Fellowships to the Program and stated, "I have never had any doubt that the Museum itself would be a success but to have the educational side in connection with it has given me the real thrill. I think it assures the continuation of the Museum for all time in the way I should like it to be." Active in contacting friends for Fellowship support, Mr. du Pont's enthusiasm and penchant for direct action applied even where his sister, Louise Crowninshield, was concerned. Instructing Charles Montgomery from his home in Florida, Mr. du Pont urged him to "Get Louise's check before she goes to Spain in May."

Notices had been sent to universities announcing the new Program in mid February 1952. The Rockefeller Foundation had just made a three-year grant of $75,000 to the University, and the Avalon Foundation had provided additional funds to help the University launch the Program. Those funds provided released time to University of Delaware faculty to develop and teach specialized seminars and encouraged faculty research. The funds were also to increase the teaching staff of certain departments and improve University library holdings in the fields of decorative arts, architecture, and American civilization.

Billiard Room

Antiques Clinic at the
Wilmington YMCA, 1955

The du Ponts with
Charles Montgomery and
Dorothy Greer at the
Pavilion

H. F. du Pont, 1969

Louise du Pont
Crowninshield

continue

	Most of you know the theme that Stanley Kubrick used for his film, 2001, to forecast the impact of computers and robots on life in the twenty-first century. That theme was part of the late nineteenth century tone-poem, Also Sprach Zarathustra, by Richard Strauss; his homage to the sixth century B.C. religious reformer and prophet, Zoroaster.
	In January, 1952, when the Board of Trustees of the Winterthur Corporation took the unprecedented step to acknowledge the creation of a graduate training program, jointly sponsored with the University of Delaware, they joined a group of prophets, who in 1951 forecast the positive impact that such a program would have on Winterthur, the University, the study of American art, and training for careers in museums. Charles Montgomery, Mac Fleming, John Sweeney, and Wayne Craven have provided recollections of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. Their accounts and the Winterthur Archives, have been invaluable in putting together this keynote address. But it has been said that those who survive the longest get to create history.	Mr. du Pont, Mr. Copeland, and Gov. Caleb Boggs, 1955
	What follows, therefore, the beginnings, achievements, and needs of the graduate programs co-sponsored by Winterthur and the University, represent a very personal perspective. I. WPEAC Henry Francis du Pont's enthusiasm for opening Winterthur to the public is well known. His strong support and encouragement for establishing the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture deserves to be better known. With Mr. du Pont's blessing, Charles Montgomery and Dr. John Perkins, President of the University of Delaware, met early in 1951 to discuss the idea of a graduate program to train students. President Perkins then invited members of his staff and faculty from the History, English, and Art departments to a meeting to comment on program organization and curriculum. Also approached was Dr. Charles Odegaard, Director, National Council of Learned Societies, who made suggestions on academic organization that were incorporated into the program. Discussions were carried on throughout the first half of 1951 reaching agreement on the goal of the program: the study of American civilization in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries through an analysis of . . . historic events, literature and philosophy, the visual arts--architecture, painting, sculpture--and the decorative and utilitarian arts.	Commencement, 195? Mr. and Mrs. du Pont, Mr. and Mrs. Copeland, and Charles Montgomery, 1955
	In mid July 1951, Lammot du Pont Copeland, chairman of the Winterthur Corporation's Finance Committee, informed the Board of Directors that Charles Montgomery had been engaged in discussions with the University about beginning a co-sponsored graduate training program. On July 30, 1951, the Committee on Graduate Studies at the University approved the Program followed by the University's Board of Trustees on December 8, 1951. By the time that Winterthur's Board met on January 18, 1952, the momentum for the Program was such that their minutes only record a report from Charles Montgomery on progress toward the Program's start and no formal motion of approval. The Board's approbation was signified, however, by appointment of a Fellowship Committee, chaired by Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland with Ruth Ellen Lord, Henry Belin du Pont, George Edmonds, and John Marshall Phillips as members.	Winterthur Fellows, class of 1954
	Neither Winterthur nor the University had the resources necessary to launch this major new venture. The Museum had only opened to the public on October 31, 1951, and the University had no graduate programs in the arts, only in the sciences. Further: The libraries of both institutions were inadequate, lacking holdings necessary in art history, social and cultural history, the American arts, and fine and decorative arts in general. Winterthur's library was the personal library of Henry Francis du Pont, now called the Memorial Library, on the sixth floor of the Museum. There was no librarian on Winterthur's staff. Helen Belknap was not hired as Winterthur's first librarian until mid September 1952, after the Program had begun.	Students with Helen Belknap, 1965
	No inventory or card catalogue system for Winterthur's collections were in existence. The staff at Winterthur was limited--to say that it was small would be to exaggerate its size. There was no lecture hall, auditorium, or classroom. A classroom was set-up in the space now occupied by the Billiard Room on the seventh floor of the Museum. Talks and lectures were held in the playroom of the Mt. Cuba home of Mr. and Mrs. Copeland from 1952 through 1963, at the Wilmington YMCA at Washington and Eleventh Streets, or occasionally in the Pavilion. There was no permanent funding for Fellowship stipends. Conventional wisdom said, "delay." Indeed, Joseph Downs, Curator of Winterthur, indicated to Charles Montgomery in May 1952 that "considering our very limited" resources, it would be wiser to delay initiation of the Program. But the beginning of the Program was in motion, and the enthusiasm of Charles Montgomery and Henry Francis du Pont buried conventional wisdom. Immediately after Board approval for the new graduate program in January 1952, Mr. du Pont wrote to Mr. Copeland thanking him for giving five Fellowships to the Program and stated, "I have never had any doubt that the Museum itself would be a success but to have the educational side in connection with it has given me the real thrill. I think it assures the continuation of the Museum for all time in the way I should like it to be." Active in contacting friends for Fellowship support, Mr. du Pont's enthusiasm and penchant for direct action applied even where his sister, Louise Crowninshield, was concerned. Instructing Charles Montgomery from his home in Florida, Mr. du Pont urged him to "Get Louise's check before she goes to Spain in May." Notices had been sent to universities announcing the new Program in mid February 1952. The Rockefeller Foundation had just made a three-year grant of $75,000 to the University, and the Avalon Foundation had provided additional funds to help the University launch the Program. Those funds provided released time to University of Delaware faculty to develop and teach specialized seminars and encouraged faculty research. The funds were also to increase the teaching staff of certain departments and improve University library holdings in the fields of decorative arts, architecture, and American civilization.	Billiard Room Antiques Clinic at the Wilmington YMCA, 1955 The du Ponts with Charles Montgomery and Dorothy Greer at the Pavilion H. F. du Pont, 1969
		Louise du Pont Crowninshield