Allie Alvis on Weird and Wonderful Treasures in the Winterthur Library

Sponsored by The Caxton Club

December Midday Program

A recent Caxton Club program unfolded like an English country house mystery: The Case of the Poison Pigments, in which the Winterthur Library played a vital detecting role. New to Inspector Winterthur?

Well, imagine a 175-room house nestled into a remarkable thousand-acre estate. It was brought to life by H.F. du Pont, whose vision was for “a bastion of decorative arts connoisseurship in America.”

The formal garden encompasses sixty acres. Ninety thousand objects populate the museum. And the library? It features a stunning collection of more than a million items relating to American decorative art. The library offers a premier assortment of materials relating to American decorative art in a global and social context. It illuminates the lives of everyday Americans through a range of materials, including ephemera, pattern books, trade catalogs, and so much more.

No private plane waiting to jet you to Delaware? No worries. Annie Alvis, Curator of Special Collections at the Winterthur will come to us, with a fast paced, lavishly illuminated talk that reveals the history, highlights, and wonderfully weird treasures of the Winterthur Library.

A Smithsonian Library veteran, Alvis has earned degrees in book history and information management at two different universities in Scotland … where they quickly realized that they weren’t in Kansas anymore.

You can enjoy this program from the comfort of your very own Zoom Room. Or … you can gather with other Caxtonians at the Union League Club for a showing on a big screen with a plenty loud sound system. Then you can adjourn to a great big room with a really high ceiling and pillars and a working (but not really) fireplace for a lavish holiday buffet. As you navigate the tables groaning with delectable delights, you can engage your luncheon companions about the proper pronunciation of Winterthur and maybe hear from carolers (whose wide Dickensian skirts do not conceal those startling children from the end of … well, you know.)

Register today! https://caxtonclub.org/event-5903258?CalendarViewType=1&SelectedDate=12/12/2024

Zoom presentation is free and open to all.

Zoom begins at 12:00PM CT/1:00 PM ET. Preregistration required via website.