Join the Newport Restoration Foundation and its Whitehorne House Museum for a series of online discussions that explore why Americans routinely seek inspiration from the material culture and personalities of British, colonial America. In other words, “Why do we return to the Colonial Revival?”
Beginning at 7:00 pm, every Wednesday night in July, we will host a variety of scholars, artisans, and museum professionals to discuss the profound impact 18th century aesthetics and history had and continue have on American culture.
July 7th 7:00 pm Discussion: Creating Antiques
Briann Greenfield, Ph.D., the Director of Preservation and Access at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the author of Out of the Attic: Antiques in 20th Century New England, and Erica Lome, Ph.D., historian and the Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Associate at the Concord Museum will discuss the ways in which a group of early 20th century immigrants helped create the American antique business, spurring interest in 18th-century American furniture and other material culture.
July 14th 7:00 pm Discussion: Reviving Colonial Furniture
Steven Brown, a former member of the cabinet and furniture making faculty for 21 years at the North Bennet St. School in Boston, and Mickey Callahan, the co- founder and past president of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers will discuss why they find inspiration and excitement in recreating the forms and styles of 18th-century American furniture.
July 21st 7:00 pm Discussion: Comparative Revivals
Dennis Carr, the Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, Elizabeth Humphrey, former Curatorial Assistant and Manager of Student Programs at Bowdoin College Museum of Art and PhD student, Art History, University of Delaware, and Lydia Mattice Brandt, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History at the University of South Carolina, will compare a variety of aesthetic revivals in American life, and consider their significance, from Southern California’s famed Mission Revival, to the Moorish Revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the 20th and 21st century revivals of Colonial Southern architecture and material culture.
July 28th 7:00 pm Discussion: Revivals in Practice
Ruth Taylor, the Executive Director of the Newport Historical Society, and Reginald Richard, an actor in the Washington, D.C. area and an interpreter at George Washington’s Mt. Vernon will join NRF staff to discuss the practical realities and challenges of interpreting 18th-century American life.
RSVP required – please respond to Dr. Erik Greenberg by Friday, July 2nd at erik@newportrestoration.org to receive free access to the online discussions.
