A Robin’s View of Putting the Garden to Bed

Bird’s Eye View of Flower Garden from Scaffold Perch, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

From a bird’s eye view at 11:45 Saturday morning in the Read House garden three women walked the pathways below chattering away like bluejays while one made periodic notes.

They were preparing, it seemed, for a day spent putting the flower garden to bed for the winter, but also looking forward to the late winter and pruning in the park and kitchen garden sections. At noon the women disappeared into the basement of the big house to fortify their willing volunteers with soup and cake and discuss the hidden meanings of flowers and future steps for the Read House garden.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

By 2:00 the Delaware Historical Society volunteers and organizers returned to the garden and much to this bird’s chagrin began to cut back all the perennials in the flower beds and even dig out the dahlia bulbs in the center boxwood basket. Only the canna lilies still in bloom were left alone. What’s a bird to do for food?

Leaves from the trees on the property are being gathered in the park section of the garden and will soon be spread atop the flower beds to insulate the perennials over the winter—lucky plants!

In the back section of the garden a group of men trimmed limbs from a few trees. From what I could see in my perch in the mulberry tree, some bottom limbs were trimmed back from the lilac bushes below. One of the “bluejays” helped a man determine where to cut a dead limb out of one of the old quinces, and the fig tree was trimmed back below the sheltering brick wall beside it.

Luckily my habitat in the tree and shrub-filled park and kitchen garden sections was not altered too much this time around. There will be some berries to eat if I decide to winter over. But I know they’ll be back to target the shrubs and trees in the late winter. Hopefully they’ll take pity on this poor bird!

Until next year…
The Robin (with help from Michele)

A Whale of Tale!

Lucy the Whale, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

Wow – we’re busy this week. Two blog posts in one day! (Sometimes that seems that we have so much to write about while other weeks….well….)

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

This week I’ve super busy getting ready for Fall Fest. It’s a free city family event that takes place along Market Street – the 400 through the 800 blocks. There will be a lot going on and we’re excited about participating.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Our theme this year is water and water safety. It all relates back to the exhibit at the Delaware History Musuem, Whales, Weirs, and Waterfowl. I’ve spend my week making bean bag tosses, duck ponds, and fishing games. However, I think (if I do say so myself) that the best part of Fall Fest is going to be Lucy the Giant Whale!

I found out about Lucy through a Twitter friend who tweeted out the website of where to order instructions. (She’s part of the curriculum materials developed by Whale Net at Wheelock College. http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/LucyPage.html and the Mingan Island Cetacean Study) I thought she was awesome and asked if we could make her for Fall Fest. (After all – the first part of our exhibit title is Whales).

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

I ordered the instructions (MICS was so good about sending them to me ASAP). I bought the materials over the weekend and we began constructing Lucy on Tuesday. Now – I have to say – in my line of work at the Delaware Historical Society, I don’t often have the opportunity to learn about whales or use the metric system. I’m ashamed to say this BUT…the first two hours of my whale building adventure consisted of trying to re-learn the metric system. (I did know it once upon a time…maybe in 7th grade science.) It also took some head scratching to decipher (and remember) Dorsal Side, Ventral Side, peduncle, flukes, anterior side (head), and posterior side (okay…I knew what that was)!

With a lot of help (five people helping me out) and a lot of jokes along the way – like lots of Jonah and the Whale/Jonas brothers quips (trust me they all related after being at whale building for 5 hours strait), jokes about being able to “add giant” whale to our resumes, and one guide asking if my master’s in history prepare me for this – we managed to build our giant whale. We only had two slight mishaps along the way (like building the head incorrectly the first time and having Lucy “pop” when we first tried to inflate her.) Now that she’s done. I have to say this…SHE’S AWESOME! She’s huge to look at from the outside (I really never knew that whales were that big), but the best part is when you go inside. Yes – you can really go inside!!!

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

I wouldn’t have been able to do it without help so I’m very grateful for everyone who put to good use their out of practice crawling muscles, risked slipping on giant sheets of plastic, unrolled piece after piece of tape, and stayed late with me to finish her up. These pictures simply don’t do her justice so I hope you’ll come out on Saturday (it’s supposed to be a beautiful day) for the Fall Fest. It’s from 11:00-4:00. Lucy the whale will be in the 500 block of Market St. at the Delaware Historical Society.

Now – onto making duck calls out of plastic straws!

Until 11:45 Next,
Andrea

Fall Fest Preparations

Chris and Curtis Ready to Play Duck Hunt, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

The staff and volunteers of the Delaware Historical Society are busy this week preparing for the City of Wilmington’s Fall Fest this Saturday. Yesterday the Howard School of Technology Service Learning students, Chris and Curtis helped paint boxes for a bean bag toss. They also tried the nerf “duck shoot.” We made the game pretty difficult, Curtis succeeded after 12 attempts- can you beat that? The object is to shoot through the holes next to the sitting ducks. We just didn’t have the heart to shoot a duck! We are soft, animal loving people through and through! Hey- is that so bad?

Here are Curtis and Chris posing with the nerf guns- they loved the game we’re pretty sure you will too!

We’re also trying to construct Lucy, a 55’ long whale. Wish us luck- as Saturday draws near- we need your good wishes and Lucy’s cooperation. It’s hard to birth a 55’ whale- full grown and

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

made of plastic. Come down to the Society this Saturday- we’ll have live animals (not plastic, we promise) from the Brandywine Zoo, a table from the Delaware Natural History Museum, and many other attractions including Newfoundland dogs and rescue dogs. All that- and our smiling faces. We hope you’ll join us. It’s free!

For more about the City’s programs, check this out: http://www.downtownwilmington.com/Events/Downtown-Fall-Fest

Until next time,
Ellen

Pot Luck, Train Trips and Social Media…

Yesterday at 11:45  I pulled up to the Shipley Street side of the Delaware Historical Society to run in with my pot luck item for our staff lunch and to pick up my parking pass.  Our parking lot is occupied with scaffolding as the museum building (which sits next to the parking lot) is getting a partial new roof.  So, the staff is now scattered among a few parking lots in the neighborhood.  I was off the last part of last week and in these times of paying for parking, we do our best to share our spots.  My pass was used by a volunteer on Friday so I needed to get it back.

The library is open from 1:00-9:00pm on Mondays, except for once a month when the entire Society staff gathers at 12:00 for an all-staff meeting/lunch.  We regularly schedule pot-luck lunches as we have a fair number of good cooks and it is always nice to cook for others.  Any crankiness I might feel about having to head into work an hour early, (I covet my Monday morning free time) is usually quickly dispelled as our pot luck gatherings are usually relaxed and enjoyable meals and today’s lunch was just that.  Vegetarian chili, dips and cheeses with crackers, bean and corn salad, tomato pie, potato salad, carrot cake and cookies to give you a hint…yummm.

At the lunch meetings, the different staff teams take turns updating the rest of the staff about upcoming programs/projects/etc.  Today we heard from the development, marketing and membership team.  Greg Coin, the head of the team is always percolating all sorts of things, so it is good to hear from him.  He brought us up to date about upcoming partnerships/promotions and programs relating to the railroad exhibit- the major exhibit scheduled for next year.  He then turned the meeting over to our social networking guru, Andrea, who presented a spiffy powerpoint presentation about Web 2.0 and social networking.  We at the Society have been on the blogging/twittering/flickring gig for almost a year, leaning heavily on Andrea the whole way, but most of the staff is just now working to get up to speed.  It was a great presentation and a few more of the staff now more fully understand the potential for the Society in utilizing/participating in the wave of interactive web activity.  Picture in your head a bunch of history-professionals, all over the age of 40 except one (there are more young ones- they happened not to be in attendance)with puzzled looks on their faces- trying to pretend we “get it!”

Every generation puts its stamp on the world.  The “gen y’s” have certainly made their mark already and it is dizzying to see all the potential that is out there for those who wish to participate.  But how do we get the word about the Society out to people who would want to know, especially if they don’t have a clue that they would like to know about our collections and our work?!!!  We’ve been grateful for a few pats-on-the-back along the way from you all- telling us you’ve read “Making History 11:45”  Today I learned from my parents who live nearly 1000 miles from Delaware and are in their 70s that occasionally they check in to see what’s happening!  Pretty cool!  Let us know what you like, want more of, would like to see.  We’re all ears (or should I say computer screens!!).  It’s been fun sharing some of the things that fill our days with you.

I’ve been working on a book project and ran across a broadside that I thought you’d like to see.  It was posted in Delaware City about 150 years ago and was encouraging citizens of the town to visit the traveling photographer to have their portrait taken.  Who knew then that photography wasn’t just a passing fad?!

I’ll be in touch-

Ellen

Historic Windows Workshop a Success!

 

Carpenter Displays Cast Iron Sash Weight, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

Twenty people, fifteen chairs, three tool benches, a video camera with tripod, and two monumental window sashes all in the space of one third of the Read House front parlor could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Fortunately, like our preservation project, our October 24 historic windows workshop was a well-choreographed success!

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

While two project carpenters demonstrated the removal of our south elevation front parlor window sashes, as well as various window components, the project manager talked through the process for an audience of fifteen. Both the project manager and the carpentry foreman provided suggestions for techniques and tools that minimize breakage of parts that must be removed to access the sashes and their counterbalancing weights. In addition, the project restoration architect provided helpful context about the Read House windows and window preservation, as well as fielding questions from the do-it-yourselfers in the audience.

Located within a National Historic Landmark district with seventeenth through early twentieth century homes extending for blocks around the Read House, we decided before applying for the Save America’s Treasures grant that we wanted to involve our neighbors in our preservation process. Therefore, we included in our grant application our ideas to keep our followers informed through frequent blog posts and preservation workshops. Much to our delight we have been able to partner with the New Castle Historical Society in our preservation programming as scheduled preservation work has also taken place at their Dutch and Amstel House museums.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Our preservation programs this year have included creating a historic home maintenance plan and a behind-the-scenes look at chimney and hearth restoration in the Amstel House kitchen. We hope to follow our latest window workshop with a session on storm windows at the Amstel House.

Until next time…
Michele

Exploring our Photographs

Driving Excursion ca, 1910, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

On days like today – I can safely say that I have the greatest job in the world! Where else would I be able to explore an absolutely outstanding photograph collection for images from the turn of the century? On days like today, I feel so lucky!

I was looking for images from the turn of the century because we recently formed a teacher advisory committee to give us input and advise on our education programs. (These teachers are a GREAT bunch! I’m very excited to work with them.) One thing they are going to do – is create lesson plans that relate to our educational offerings so we can distribute them via our teacher education list. We (the education staff at DHS) put together a sample lesson plan to give the teachers an example of what we’d like to see. The lesson plan is about using primary sources, specifically historic images, in the classroom. It was my job to find images to go along with the lesson!

Like I said – I’m lucky. I picked the turn of the 20th century because we have a brand new childhood program for this time period so I thought it would be nice to have a correlating lesson. I was in heaven searching through our photograph collection and I found some real treasures. (Below are some of my favorites.) I hope that these images will captivate children to explore history and this time period.

One of the activities in our historic image lesson plan is to draw a picture or describe what happens next.  I’m a hopeless romantic so my favorite of the bunch is the first in the post.  I think that this happy, smiling couple rides off into the sunset and live happily ever after! What do you think happens next for any of these pictures?  I’d love to hear from you!

Until 11:45 Next, Andrea

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Ah Nor’easters…need I elaborate?

Shiny New Copper Gutter, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Despite rain, wind, and cold temperatures another busy week has passed at the Read House. Roofers joined the flurry of activity on site this week. They have begun installing new gutters and replacing flashing on all roof elevations. Meanwhile the masons have continued to remove and replace old window caulk on the back buildings of the house. Early in the week the carpenters concentrated their attention on repairs to the west elevation dormer window molding and detail. During the latter two rainy days they turned their attention inside and investigated areas of wood deterioration in one of our third floor north-facing window frames.

The third floor, however, is not the only area where we face wood deterioration. Overall, the old growth wood used to construct the Read House windows is in good condition, but on all elevations wood that has endured prolonged moisture and weathering has deteriorated. This is true on the interior as well as the exterior, where water has infiltrated or bricks have retained moisture over extended periods of time. Such was the case for the header of the third floor window and the lintel of a first floor window in the Laird dining room. These wood members located above Read House windows are very important because they carry the load of the brick above them so that a window can be located below. If unrepaired, their eventual failure could cause damage to the window below as well as the wall and structural elements above.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

Repair to the third floor window header is straightforward. The carpenters have removed the window casing and also a portion of plaster above the casing to expose the window frame, fully investigate deterioration, and repair with steel reinforcement. The first floor Laird dining room window, however, is framed by fragile hand-painted wallpaper. Carpenters, masons, and architects have thus spent a week attempting to devise a plan to carry the load of at least four wythes (a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness) of brick while they examine and reinforce the lintel. Their calculations have included the possibility of removing a section of brick several feet wide, which could be more disruptive than accessing the lintel from the interior.

Thus, we are currently in the process of contacting a conservator to examine the wallpaper and offer an opinion regarding approaching the lintel repair project from the inside. Preservation of multiple materials in close proximity often provides challenges! In the meantime, much of the glassware has been removed from the room and the china cabinet closest to the window encased in a plywood box to protect these important collections pieces. Check back with us to see how we deal with this and other preservation challenges.

Until next time…

Michele

All Aboard for the Whistle Stop Tour!

Image via Wikipedia

It’s 11:45 and I just got off the telephone with the last piece of the promotional puzzle we’ve been working on for six weeks.  We’re calling it “All Aboard Delaware in 2010.”

In May of 2010, our Delaware History Museum will be opening an exhibition featuring the history of Delaware’s railroad industry – everything from the rail and wheel makers to the conductors and engineers.  It’s a great idea BUT how are we going to get people to see it?  Sure, people like to learn about trains, but they like to see and ride trains a lot more.

Our PR coordinator, MaryLynn, and I put our heads together.  First, we contact the Wilmington & Western Railroad – a tourist railroad in the suburbs that takes visitors through Delaware’s beautiful Chateau Country – then the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, where they display more than 100 historic rail cars and railroad memorabilia.  The three institutions each agree to offer $2 discounts as part of the All Aboard program and to jointly promote each other’s venues.  We call it “The Whistle Stop Trail” (is that cute or what?)!  And to encourage travelers to visit all three attractions on The Whistle Stop Trail, the names of people who visit all three will be entered into a drawing to win great prizes every week.  BUT what kind of prizes?  Better put our heads together again.

How about two free Amtrak tickets?  Great idea! Our next call is to the regional Amtrak community relations guy.  He’s interested, BUT “what does Amtrak get out of it?”  By now our heads are getting pretty bruised, but we put them together one more time. What if we put a discount package together to encourage visitors to come to Wilmington on Amtrak for The Whistle Stop Trail?  We’ve got some great hotels and they love the idea, BUT if visitors come to Wilmington by train, how are they going to get to the hotels that aren’t in walking distance – not to mention the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania that’s 44 miles away?  Wilmington only has 21 taxis – that’s seven per eight hour shift!  Once more, heads come together.

Hertz and Budget have offices near Amtrak station but they never return calls.  However, we’re nothing if not “enterprising” – Enterprise Rent-a-Car that is!  Sure enough MaryLynn visits one of the local offices and gets an immediate “buy in.”  BUT, they wonder, how are we going to get the word out to prospective visitors outside of Wilmington?  Ok heads – well you know the drill.  Let’s bring our regional convention and bureau on board as a partner and piggyback on their promotions.  A ten minute call at 11:05 am and we’ve got a 9th partner and the final piece of the  puzzle.  Now, onto our next exhibition…quilts.  HEADS!….

-Greg (Chief of Development)

Whistle While You Work….

Facade Cornice after paint stripping, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

A couple of weeks have passed since my last post, but our preservation project has been advancing full steam ahead! The carpenters have removed all of the window sashes in the main block period rooms except one in our front parlor that will be removed during a historic windows demonstration workshop on October 24. The carpenters have placed plexiglass in most of the bottom sashes of these rooms for added light in the rooms. The sash removal has kept me, our collections manager, and a new intern from the University of Delaware busy moving small to mid-sized collections pieces in and out of rooms to avoid dust deposits and construction traffic. Larger collections furniture remained in the rooms, carefully covered and buffered to protect it.

Carpenters have also collected samples of exterior window moldings so that matching cutters can be fabricated for necessary repairs. Of course in accordance with preservation standards, we will save as much original fabric as possible. Although most of the molding repairs will be made in the carpentry shop, some small repairs are being handled on site.

Meanwhile, the masons have almost completed brick repointing and cleaning on all elevations except the façade. We have found it extremely difficult to approve a satisfactory mortar sample for the façade repointing. Historically, George Read II would have placed primary importance and emphasis on the uniform and stylish appearance of the façade, which was most visible to the public. The current façade masonry, however, bears the evidence of many different repointing episodes in the form of different mortar colors, consistencies, and tooling, during the house’s history. We are currently considering 100% repointing of the façade instead of patch repointing to create the desired appearance that was of the utmost importance to Read and his home’s architectural style. Check back to see what we decide.

In other façade news, the painters finished stripping and priming the façade cornice. We discovered that several feet at the southern end of the cornice were replaced and will check to see if that occurred during the 1970s exterior restoration. While inspecting the cornice during a recent construction meeting, the restoration architects, construction manager, and I also engaged in a conversation that demonstrates the range of preservation philosophies that can make a project such as this challenging. The top portions of several circular decorative ornaments on the cornice have been lost as the effects of time and weather have taken their toll. The suggestions among the group of how to deal with the loss of ornament varied from on a continuum from no replacement of material to replacement of deteriorated portions. Complicating the decision-making process was the inability without deeper inspection to determine whether the ornate cornice was carved of one piece of wood or comprised of various attached pieces. This will be an ongoing conversation as the cornice is further investigated.

Image by Delaware Historical Society via Flickr

The week also culminated in a return visit from archaeologists to test the ground layers where footers for a new brick ADA compliant ramp will be placed at our back door. This time the archaeologists dug a shovel test pit below the brick terrace added by the Lairds in the early twentieth century. The first layer they encountered was sand, as anticipated. Below this they found a layer of coal and slag used as fill. Below this was another layer of sand, and approximately three feet down, well below the depth where the footers will be dug, they encountered the familiar clay soil of New Castle. Because they found fill in this shovel test pit as well as the first, it seems that the area was disturbed by owners sometime in the twentieth century at the depth required for the ramp footers. Thus, the area will not require full excavation prior to placement of the ramp, and the ramp will protect potentially undisturbed layers of soil at lower levels.

-Michele

Excitement on Market Street!

The Queen 1, originally uploaded by Delaware Historical Society.

We had some excitement on Market St. this morning for the groundbreaking of the Queen Theatre – the building right next door to the Delaware History Museum.

To put the groundbreaking into historical perspective – it’s not a new building. In fact, there has been something at 500 Market since the 1800s (if not before!)

However, the groundbreaking was the start a restoration project that will restore the Queen to a performing arts venue called World Cafe Live (there is another World Cafe Live in Philadelphia) and a place to broadcast live with WXPN. In case you can’t tell – I’m excited that there will be such a vibrant musical community right next door to the Delaware History Museum and across the street from our library!!!

The Queen truly is a gem along Market Street (one of my absolute favorite buildings!) It also has an interesting history.

Indian Queen Hotel, 1850

It was the Indian Queen Hotel in the mid 1800s.

Clayton House Hotel, 1893

In 1873 the building (as we know it today) opened as the Clayton House hotel. This was an elegant hotel and the second largest building in Wilmington. It had 105 guest rooms, sitting rooms, and parlors. By 1878 it became the first hotel in Delaware to have a passenger elevator and hundreds of people came just to rid up and down. The hotel entrance has two banks and there were stores at the bottom on the King Street side. It closed as the hotel in the early 1900s.

1899

The building reopened in 1916 as the Queen Theatre. It was a movie palace. Vaudeville shows were also performed there regularly.

Queen Theatre, 1940s

It remained open as a movie theater but declined in popularity after World War II. It closed in 1959 and it’s been vacant ever since.

So…you can understand why we’re so excited to have such a great space being restored!!! The ground breaking was complete with live musicians, crowds in attendance, and excitement about the project. For more information you can visit the web site of the Light up The Queen Foundation: http://www.lightupthequeen.org They have some FABULOUS images of the inside!!!!

Until 11:45 Next, Andrea

Some other shots of The Queen Today and Images from the Groundbreaking Celebration: