Winterthur Museum

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library is one of the foremost cultural institutions in the Brandywine Valley and the United States, situated in the community of Winterthur in northern New Castle County. Located in northern Delaware, it is the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America since 1640. The museum and estate lie approximately 6 miles (10 km) north of Wilmington on Delaware Route 52, situated on 979 acres near Brandywine Creek, with 60 acres of naturalistic gardens. Originally a private family estate belonging to the du Pont family, the property was opened to the public as a museum in 1951 and has since grown into a complex cultural campus encompassing historic mansion rooms, sweeping gardens, a major independent research library, and acclaimed graduate academic programs jointly offered with the University of Delaware.

History and Origins

The property where Winterthur sits was purchased by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (E. I. du Pont) between 1810 and 1818 and was used for farming and sheep-raising. In 1837, E. I. du Pont's heirs sold 445 acres of the land to E. I. du Pont's business partner from France, Jacques Antoine Bidermann (1790–1865) and his wife Evelina Gabrielle du Pont (1796–1863) for the purpose of establishing their estate. Between 1839 and 1842, the couple built a 12-room Greek revival manor house on the property and named their estate Winterthur after Bidermann's ancestral home in Winterthur, Switzerland.

The name Winterthur is pronounced "winter tour" and means "winter's door." It is also the name of the small Swiss hometown of the family of Jacques Antoine Bidermann, who married into the du Pont family.

Over the following decades the property passed through successive generations of the du Pont family, and the original 12-room house was considerably expanded. The son of Antoine Bidermann sold the estate to his uncle, who gave it to his son Colonel Henry Algernon du Pont, who added to the home and purchased more property to add to the grounds. Henry Francis du Pont was born at Winterthur in 1880. He was the only one of six children of industrialist Henry Algernon and Pauline du Pont to survive. His family's wealth was amassed largely through his grandfather's gunpowder plant, which performed extremely well during the War of 1812.

During a trip to Vermont to visit a farm, H. F. became enamored with American antiques and tripled the size of the mansion so it could accommodate his burgeoning collection, in which rooms were organized according to time periods from 1640 to 1840 and sometimes entirely removed and replicated from homes that were being demolished. H. F. established the main mansion as a public museum for American decorative arts in 1951 and moved to a smaller house on the estate. By 1959, the museum had been expanded to accommodate a library, lecture halls, and additional period rooms. By the time of his death in 1969, H. F. had amassed a collection of between 50,000 and 70,000 objects.

The museum was formerly known as the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum and later as the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate before adopting its current name.

The Mansion and Collections

Winterthur is the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America since 1640. The collection is displayed in the magnificent 175-room house, much as it was when the family of founder Henry Francis du Pont called it home. The museum has been called the "largest and richest museum of American furniture and decorative arts in the world."

The museum limits its collections to American domestic architecture, furniture, metalware, textiles, paintings, prints, and other objects made in the period from 1640 to 1840. The museum displays much of its collection in some 175 period rooms, each complete to the last detail. Among the most notable individual works in the collection are significant paintings and prints documenting early American history. Among the collection of more than 450 paintings are Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain, an unfinished work by Benjamin West painted 1783–1784, and a portrait by John Trumbull of General George Washington standing beside his horse, Blueskin, that was given by the artist to Martha Washington. The museum also holds more than four thousand prints and maps related to Colonial-era America.

In addition to the period rooms of the house, dedicated gallery spaces display permanent and changing exhibitions developed by distinguished curators as well as guest curators invited from external institutions. Important exhibitions in recent years include Jacqueline Kennedy and H.F. du Pont: From Winterthur to White House (May 2022–January 2023), about the partnership between the First Lady and H. F. in restoring the White House interiors, and Ann Lowe: American Couturier (September 2023–January 2024), on the Black fashion designer who worked for some of the most prominent mid-century figures.

In 1969, a large building that houses the library and conservation facilities was dedicated in honor of H. F.'s sister, a noted historic preservationist, and named the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Research Building.

The Garden and Estate

Nestled in the rolling hills of the Brandywine Valley, Winterthur is a historic estate on par with some of the most famous estates in the country, encompassing a mansion featuring stunning interiors, a magnificent 60-acre naturalistic garden, and an unrivaled collection of American decorative arts, all set on 1,000 gorgeous acres.

The 60-acre garden, designed by du Pont, is among America's best, with magnificent plantings and massive displays of color throughout the year. Du Pont applied a careful aesthetic philosophy to every corner of the grounds. Du Pont selected specimens for color and harmony in his plantings, and the garden architecture is designed with care to ensure views in every direction are pleasing to the eye.

The grounds include a Quarry Garden, Sundial Garden, Pinetum, Azalea Woods, Peony Garden, and an Enchanted Woods designed to delight children. Children will enjoy the Enchanted Woods and the hands-on experience of the Touch-It Room.

The gardens and landscape surrounding the museum are an artistic composition arranged to capture a significant period in the history of American horticulture. This landscape is a significant cultural artifact, and its plants, architecture, and decorative objects are preserved and managed as a collection.

Winterthur is also 1,000 acres of protected meadows, woodlands, ponds, and waterways. In 2002, Winterthur donated a conservation easement on its acreage to the Brandywine Conservation Trust, ensuring that the land would never be developed.

In 1991, Winterthur began offering paid internships for aspiring horticulturists and stewards of natural lands, who can reside temporarily on the estate.

The Research Library

One of the nation's most esteemed independent research libraries and two graduate degree programs make Winterthur an important center for the study of American art and culture in a global context. The Winterthur Library includes more than 87,000 volumes and approximately 500,000 manuscripts and images, mostly related to American history, decorative arts, and architecture.

The Winterthur library contains four major collections: Printed Books and Periodicals, the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, a Visual Resources Collection of photographs, and the Winterthur Archives. The library is valuable to individuals conducting scholarly research on many topics. Fellows research consumer culture, design history, decorative arts, landscape architecture and design, and social and cultural history, among other topics. Like much of the property, the library is open to the public.

The origins of the library stretch back deep into the du Pont family's history. The library's origins go back to Pierre Samuel du Pont, the family patriarch, who collected 8,000 books before his death in 1817. Ensuing generations of the family continued to grow the collection, with Henry Francis du Pont avidly acquiring rare books for display, particularly 17th-century and 18th-century books with old binding. By the 1940s, H. F. was building a scholarly research collection as part of his plan to transform Winterthur into a museum and teaching institution.

Frank Sommer, the first library director, and museum curator Charles F. Montgomery intensified collection development ahead of the 1952 launch of Winterthur's first graduate program, in partnership with the University of Delaware. In 1969, the library moved from the main museum to the Crowninshield Research Building, which also houses extensive conservation, research, and education facilities.

Winterthur offers residential, short-term, and remote fellowships, including postdoctoral, dissertation, and artist fellowships, to support researchers using the collections.

Academic Programs

Winterthur and the University of Delaware jointly founded and continue to offer two master's degree programs in American material culture (established in 1952 by museum director Charles F. Montgomery) and art conservation (established in 1974).

The Winterthur Program in American Material Culture (WPAMC) is a two-year program. It was established in 1952, soon after the museum opened. The Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) was created in 1974. This is a three-year master's-level program and one of only five graduate conservation programs in North America.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has funded the program since 1974. Alumni include artists, curators, and scholars such as Wendell Garrett, Lorraine Waxman Pearce, Jessica Nicoll, Margaret Honda, Debra Hess Norris, and Charles L. Venable.

Winterthur, in partnership with the University of Delaware, sponsors the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and the Winterthur/UD Program in Arts Conservation. These programs are recognized for their excellence, which is due in part to the students' invaluable access to Winterthur staff, laboratories, and collections.

Leadership and Administration

Winterthur Museum has been led by eleven executive directors since its founding: Joseph Downs (1951–1954), Charles Franklin Montgomery (1954–1961), Edgar Preston Richardson (1962–1966), Charles van Ravenswaay (1966–1976), James Morton Smith (1976–1984), Thomas Ashley Graves Jr. (1985–1992), Dwight Lanmon (1992–1999), Leslie Greene Bowman (1999–2008), David Roselle (2008–2018), Carol Cadou (2018–2021), and Chris Strand (2021–present). The current Charles F. Montgomery Director and CEO of Winterthur is Chris Strand, who previously served as Winterthur's Brown Harrington Director of Garden and Estate and as interim CEO in the months following Cadou's departure.

Chandler Farm, a Federal-style historic house on the Winterthur grounds, is used as the home for the director and chief executive of Winterthur.