Provenance: Objects as Sources of History

“Exploring Colonial Revival: Prentis and Stencil Houses”

Tour and Presentation by Adriene Katz

Chittenden South and Chittenden East Supervisory Unions

History Camp 2014, Cambridge, MA

Provenance: Objects as Sources of

History

Who am I?

• Studied Art History during

undergraduate years and

received a Master’s in

Museum Studies

• Have been involved in the

museum field for ten years,

most recently worked for

the Shelburne Museum in

Vermont

• Love researching

Decorative Arts, Furniture,

Material Culture, and

Architecture

• Exploring being a teacher

for Social Studies, for the

secondary level (7th-12th

grades), and using material

culture in the classroom

High chest with Japanning, 1720-1750, Boston, MA, Shelburne Museum, VT

In 2013, Shelburne Museum adds a two-building tour for visitors:

“Exploring the Colonial Revival: Prentis and Stencil Houses”

Prentis House and Stencil House on Museum Map Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont

“Exploring the Colonial Revival” Tour

“Saltbox” of and inside Prentis House

Cape Cod, Stencil House

Prentis House, c. 1773, Shelburne, VT

In the mid-1950s, Katherine Prentis Murphy decorated the house with objects from her Candlelight Farm, Westbrook, CT. Faux marble floor painted in 2000.

By the request of museum founder Electra Havemeyer Webb, the house moved from Hadley, MA, to Shelburne Museum in 1955.

Stencil House, c. 1804, Shelburne, VT

From the advice of Henry Francis du Pont, Electra displayed some painted furniture.

Electra Havemeyer Webb sought the sour milk stencils in the house, for the museum. She had the house moved to grounds in 1953.

Exploring History Through Objects in Prentis House and Stencil House

Clock Jack, English, Prentis House

Cradle, French Canadian, Prentis House

Chair, American?, Stencil House

Interior decoration in 1950s > inspired from 1920s period rooms > New England colonial kitchen in the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia

Blue curtains, remade in 2000, thought to be inspired by the 18th c.textiles at the Metropolitan Museum, Prentis House

Brown Pearl Hall, 1704, Period Room,MFA Boston

Image of the Centennial Exposition taken from “Wallace Nutting and the Invention of the Old America”

Not only can objects reveal cultural and museum values, but also, happenings

over time.

Prentis House in Colonial Homes magazine, 1983

To explore the cultural and aesthetic values of a culture or an individual. Also: a museum’s values.

To learn about movements and/or events in history.

To share, and to story tell, happenings in history.

Objects can be utilized as a (re)source

Any questions?

Contact information:@appleandthebee &

adriene.katz at gmail.com

Tiny furniture on view in the American Wing, MFA Boston