Spring at Victoria Mansion | |
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Victoria Mansion is open for the season May 1 - October 31.
Tickets are now available on our website.
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In this newsletter:
- National Textiles Day in Review
- 2023 Annual Report Now Available
- Upcoming Programs & Events
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National Textiles Day in Review | Detail of one of the original Parlor floral drops, ca.1860.
Photo by Gail Dodge. | |
Thank you to everyone who joined us for opening weekend, and our Celebration of National Textiles Day! We were pleased to present a limited exhibition of original textiles in the rooms for which they were designed, and welcomed hundreds of visitors for regular tours, the First Friday Art Walk on May 3rd, and our preview reception for Members.
At the Preview Reception, our Members had the opportunity to learn from special guests including textile historian Jacqueline Field, who was instrumental in researching and designing the re-created Stair Hall carpet, furniture conservator and restorer Melissa Debbs-McDougald, who restored and reupholstered the Dining Room chairs, and Victoria Mansion staff members including Conservator Siobhan Lindsay, Textile Conservation Technician Vivian Cunningham, and Executive Director Tim Brosnihan.
With over 90% of the original collection, the largest "missing pieces" of the Mansion are the window treatments and other textiles. Fortunately, we have several samples of curtain panels and valances, tassels, passementerie, carpet fragments and more that provide a road map for us as we seek out the best ways to create reproductions.
We hope to provide more opportunities to exhibit samples from our textile collection in the future. Stay tuned!
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Melissa Debbs-McDougald shares her process for reupholstering the Dining Room chairs during the Members' Preview Reception on May 2, 2024. A non-original Herter chair from a similar commission was exhibited with its horsehair seat exposed to demonstrate stages of the restoration process. | |  |
Textile Conservation Technician Vivian Cunningham displays elements of the Turkish Smoking Room tassels and tie-backs, including a disassembled tassel that assisted in the replication of the room's textiles in 2009. | | |
Conservator Siobhan Lindsay discusses Parlor conservation next to an exhibit of original silk tulip drops and festoons at the Members' Preview Reception. | | |
Executive Director Tim Brosnihan discusses Reception Room window treatments and the efforts to replicate the room's textiles at the Members' Preview Reception. | | |
Jacqueline Field discusses her carpet pattern designs in the rear Stair Hall during the Members' Preview Reception. Her sketch and gouache paintings are displayed on easels behind her. | | |
A curtain panel and tassels on display in the Red Bedroom. The vibrant reds of the textiles offer a glimpse into the room's palette in the 1860s. | | |
Original Turkish Smoking Room fabric exhibited outside the room. The Turkish Smoking Room is the only room in the Mansion for which we have thus far been able to fully re-create window treatments and upholstery. | | |
The monture and a tassel from the Library's window treatments exhibited on the Library desk. The deep green color of the Library's tassels is similar to that of the Green Bedroom's - however, the Library's tassels had black silk mixed in with the green. | | |
Silk tulip drops from the Parlor passementerie, which were exhibited along with tiebacks, festoons, and a sample of the curtain fabric for our Celebration of National Textiles Day. | | |
Guests examine samples of curtain fabric and tassels from the Sitting Room. The golden color of the fabrics was originally echoed in the painted decoration, which has not yet been conserved or restored. | | |
Want to help us ensure the safe cleaning and housing of our original textiles, and our efforts to replicate them in the Mansion's rooms? Consider a gift to our Annual Fund! A gift of any size helps us preserve and maintain elements of the Mansion like our textile collection for generations to come. | |
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Our 2023-2024 Annual Report is now available! Click here to read a PDF online. (Members, if you have not received your Annual Report in the mail yet, please give us a call at (207) 772-4841.) Beautifully arranged by our graphic designer, Gina Platt, the Annual Report includes nearly 30 pages of photographs, articles, and reports.
Highlights from the Annual Report include:
- Preservation Trades Training
- Collections Acquisitions
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Research Updates, including new research for both the Unwilling Architects Initiative and Backstairs Lives Initiative
- Events in Review
- Branding Refresh
- Conservation of the Stair Hall, including first and second floor initiatives, and the completion of the grain-painted wainscoting restoration
Coinciding with the publication of the Annual Report, our 81st Annual Meeting was held at the Cumberland Club on April 24th for our Members and Board of Trustees. This year's speaker was architectural historian Scott Hanson, author of Restoring Your Historic House, who presented "The Final Flourish - Victoria Mansion's Missing Window Treatments." His presentation put the Mansion's window treatments in context with upper-class interior design tastes at their height in the mid-19th century, and provided the perfect prelude to our Celebration of National Textiles Day.
Thank you to all of our supporters, partners, volunteers, staff, Board of Trustees and community for helping to make our 2023-2024 Fiscal Year a success! Stay tuned to our website, newsletter, Facebook and Instagram pages for more projects throughout 2024.
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Scott Hanson presents "The Final Flourish - Victoria Mansion's Missing Window Treatments" at the 81st Annual Meeting on April 24, 2024. | |
Upcoming Programs & Events | |
Read on to learn about some of the events we have in the works for spring & summer 2024! Keep an eye on our Events page for tickets and more information about upcoming programs. | | |
The Reception Room in natural light during an open shutters tour. | |
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Our calendar of Member events kicked off on May 2nd with a preview reception for our Celebration of National Textiles Day, and we have many other events on the horizon.
Upcoming Member events include:
May 23rd: Basement to Tower Tour
June 6th: Backstairs Lives Tour
August 15th: Open Shutters Tour
With a calendar of exciting opportunities in the works, now is a great time to join as a member! Memberships start at $50 (or $30 for educators and university students). Members also receive free admission for tours during both the regular and holiday seasons, discounts on ticketed events, and more.
Learn more about our Membership program and join any time on our website.
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May 24th: Free Admission for Victorias and Alberts in Honor of Queen Victoria's Birthday | | |
Silk print of Franz Xavier Winterhalter's 1846 portrait of the Royal Family, on view in Victoria Mansion's Library hall. | |
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Queen Victoria's 205th birthday is coming up on Friday, May 24th! While the Queen never visited the Mansion during her lifetime, she became its namesake when siblings William and Clara Holmes saved the house from possible demolition and reopened it as a museum in 1941.
Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, co-designed their summer home, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, which helped to popularize the Italianate style in which Henry Austin designed Victoria Mansion. An 1848 painting of Osborne House hangs in the Library hall of Victoria Mansion - a gift from Buckingham Palace in 1944.
Continuing our tradition of the past several years, we are offering FREE admission to anyone named Victoria or Albert on May 24th. Stop into the Carriage House or call us to book a ticket in advance: (207) 772-4841.
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The crowd begins to gather for Brownstone Brews & Bites on the Mansion lawn, July 2023. | |
Celebrating our 18-year partnership with Allagash Brewing, our summer fundraiser Brownstone Brews & Bites returns to the Mansion lawn this summer!
Featuring Allagash beer, Cellardoor wine, Green Bee soda, music by the Pete Kilpatrick Band, and food from Cheese Louise and other local providers, this annual fundraiser helps support our ongoing historic preservation projects, with a special eye on preserving the Mansion's iconic brownstone exterior. Special thanks to event sponsor Bird & Co!
More information will be available soon.
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Actor Andrew Harris greets the Bizarre Victorian Bazaar crowd in character as Charles Dickens, October 2023. | |
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Our Bizarre Victorian Bazaar returns to the Mansion lawn on Saturday, October 5th! This one-day fair kicks off the Halloween season with an educational (and entertaining!) take on Victorian folklore, camera trickery, Spiritualism, and more.
Keep an eye on our Events webpage, and our Facebook and Instagram pages in the coming weeks. A full schedule of events will be available onsite on the day of the event, and a preliminary schedule of events will be available closer to the event date. Tickets will likely go on sale in September. Stay tuned!
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We are looking for docents to join us in 2024!
For more information or to sign up, please email Stacia Hanscom, Director of Education & Public Programs at shanscom@victoriamansion.org.
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Help us start the fiscal year off strong with a donation to our Annual Fund!
Keeping the arts alive in our communities helps foster connections while enhancing our quality of life. Victoria Mansion is simultaneously a museum of art, architecture, and the decorative arts, as well as a site rich in social, economic, and political history, offering multiple pathways to connect to the issues of the day. As a nonprofit organization, Victoria Mansion depends on contributions from our community near and far to ensure the preservation of this National Historic Landmark for generations to come.
When you give to Victoria Mansion’s Annual Fund, your contribution directly supports the myriad efforts to conserve, maintain, restore, and share this National Historic Landmark with the public, from historic preservation to educational programming and beyond.
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Members enjoy year-round free admission, discounts in the Museum Shop, and invitations to exclusive events. Become a member today to assist in our conservation efforts and receive the first news about upcoming Victoria Mansion events and programs. | |
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The Staff of Victoria Mansion
Timothy Brosnihan, Executive Director
Ann O'Hagan, Director of Development
Stacia Hanscom, Director of Education & Public Programs
Siobhan Lindsay, Conservator
Brittany Cook, Development & Communications Coordinator
Molly Kingsbury, Museum Shop Buyer & Merchandiser
Sue Flaherty, Visitor Services Coordinator
Michelle Josephson, Senior Site Manager
Sarah Coughlin, Scheduling Coordinator
Jean Piekart, Site Manager
Elena Popov Savchenko, Museum Housekeeper
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