Spring at Victoria Mansion |
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Victoria Mansion is now open for our 2023 regular season!
Masks (face coverings) are encouraged.
Please note that our ticket pricing and structures have changed.
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In this newsletter:
- Annual Meeting Recap - Annual Report Now Available
- Docent Research Committee Wrap-Up
- Upcoming Events & Programs
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Victoria Mansion Annual Meeting Recap
Annual Report Now Available!
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On April 26th, Victoria Mansion members, trustees, and staff gathered for the organization's 80th Annual Meeting, where we shared updates from our 2022-23 fiscal year and discussed some of the projects we have on the horizon. Ivan Myjer of Building & Monument Conservation in Arlington, MA presented the evening's program, focusing on historic preservation in the digital age. Thank you to Ivan and to all who attended! We are looking forward to the continuing and new projects lined up for the coming fiscal year.
At the meeting, attendees received our Annual Report, covering collections acquisitions, research initiatives, programs, preservation initiatives, and many other projects that have been going on over the past two years at Victoria Mansion.
The report is now available to read on our website. Click here to read up on the latest projects at Victoria Mansion. Members were mailed physical copies of the report earlier this month - if you are a member and have not yet received your annual report, please reach out to let us know.
We hope to see you for a tour or event in 2023! Stay tuned for more as preservation and research initiatives continue throughout the year.
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Docent Research Committee Wrap-Up |
Close-up detail of the fireplace in the Parlor, taken by docent John Aden
as part of his research into Victoria Mansion's unique Carrara marble fireplace carvings.
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During our prolonged closure to the public in 2020 through early 2021, many of our docents spearheaded a new Research Committee in order to stay connected to each other and to the Mansion from a distance. Since our reopening in summer 2021, the Committee has continued to meet during our off-season of January through April, and we've just wrapped up the third year of research.
Docents on the Committee select topics relevant to Victoria Mansion, to the families and domestic staff who occupied and ran the house, to 19th- and early 20th-century history, and other topics ranging from architecture to plaster moldings to hotels.
This year saw a variety of topics in both social history and the decorative arts, including:
- The Morses' china service;
- Marble fireplace carving and an inventory of the Mansion's Carrara marble fireplaces;
- J.R. Libby's community involvement in organizations outside the department store;
- The Calderwood Papers, documenting mid-20th century Mansion activities as a museum;
- Minutes of the Victoria Society, first stewards of Victoria Mansion as a museum;
- Possible plasterers who worked at Victoria Mansion or for Gustave Herter;
- Palatial homes in Portland and a review of Italianate homes designed by Charles Alexander and Henry Austin;
- The Rossini Society, of which Libby daughters were a part;
- Libby involvement in the Temperance movement;
- And ongoing research relating to our Backstairs Lives Initiative, documenting histories of the domestic staff who worked for the Morse and Libby families, or as caretakers for the house during the museum era.
Victoria Mansion has a wealth of stories to tell, and through the Docent Research Committee we are finding just how much more there is to learn as we seek to interpret the house and its occupants and contents within the greater context of Portland and the United States in the 19th century.
Stay tuned for new information, articles, and programs as we begin the work of synthesizing our docents' research efforts into new interpretive materials. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time and expertise in these ongoing research endeavors!
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Upcoming Programs & Events |
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Keep an eye on our Events page for tickets and more information about upcoming programs. |
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Queen Victoria's 204th Birthday
is May 24th!
Every year, we celebrate our museum's namesake by offering free admission to anyone named Victoria or Albert throughout the day on May 24th, Queen Victoria's birthday.
Though Queen Victoria herself never visited the house in Portland that would later become a museum named in her honor, you can see a piece of Victoria and Albert's history in the Library Hall: a painting of Osborne House, their Italianate summer home on the Isle of Wight, which originally hung in Buckingham Palace and was given to Victoria Mansion by King George VI, Victoria's grandson, in the mid-1940s.
If you are a Victoria or Albert and would like to reserve your free May 24th tickets in advance, please give us a call at (207) 772-4841. We hope to see you!
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Collaboration between Maine Historical Society, Greater Portland Landmarks, the Fifth Maine Museum, Osher Map Library &
Victoria Mansion
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We are looking forward to summer - and to Portland Explorers summer camp! We haven't been able to host a summer camp since 2018, and this year we're pleased to partner with Maine Historical Society, Greater Portland Landmarks, Osher Map Library and the Fifth Maine Museum on this week-long camp for students ages 9-12.
Go behind the scenes and learn from experts at five of Portland's top museums, get a glimpse of life in long-ago Portland through exciting activities and special field trips, work with artists, museum curators, historians, educators and volunteer docents, and explore photography, cooking, arts and crafts, and even spooky cemetery symbols!
Portland Explorers camp runs from August 7-11, 2023. Cost is $250/members (of any of the partner museums) and $300/general public. Space is limited - register at the link below!
Questions about Portland Explorers? Contact Staci Hanscom, Victoria Mansion Director of Education & Public Programs, at shanscom@victoriamansion.org or (207) 772-4841 ext. 104.
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Save the Date!
Brownstone Brews & Bites: Brought to You by Allagash
Friday, July 14th | 5:30pm-8:30pm
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Victoria Mansion's annual summer fundraiser with Allagash Brewing returns in July!
It just hasn't felt like summer without our annual beer tasting on the lawn with Allagash Brewing these past few years - we're excited to bring this well-loved event back this year (with a new name) for the first time since 2019. Our partnership with Allagash Brewing began in 2005 and has been going strong ever since. Victoria Ale, which premiered in 2006, has now retired, but we'll have plenty of Allagash beer samples on the lawn, along with good food, good music, and good company as we raise money for Victoria Mansion's preservation and educational activities. Attendees will also get the chance to tour the first floor of the Mansion to check out the progress of our ongoing Stair Hall conservation project.
Thank you to our additional beverage sponsors, Cellardoor Winery and Green Bee! Cellardoor will be providing samples of a few of their local Maine wines, and Green Bee will be providing samples of their non-alcoholic honey-based sodas.
Thank you to the Pink Waffle, one of our food sponsors this year, and to Bird & Co. for their sponsorship of the event.
We're also pleased to be welcoming back the Pete Kilpatrick Band to the Mansion, who will be playing live throughout the evening!
This popular event tends to sell out - keep your eye on our Facebook, Instagram, newsletter and Events page for when tickets become available.
Tickets are $48/general public and $40/Victoria Mansion members. Become a member today and save on tickets to all Mansion events! |
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Support the Victoria Mansion Annual Fund! |
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Victoria Mansion relies on the support of our community near and far to help us realize our mission to conserve, maintain, and restore this one-of-a-kind property and share its history with the public. Our mission is put into practice every day, with preservation often happening in the public eye. Ongoing research initiatives help us better represent the Mansion within the context of its period to scholars, students, and our everyday visitors.
Support from our community helps us fund the much-needed care this historic structure requires, allowing us to consult with some of New England's top experts in historic preservation, as well as to bring our history curriculum, A Century of Change, to Maine classrooms at no cost to schools.
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When you give to the Annual Fund, 100% of your gift goes directly to support Victoria Mansion, making the greatest possible impact on our educational and curatorial programs, restoration initiatives, and ongoing maintenance—all while allowing us to move the Mansion’s top priorities forward. |
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We are looking for docents and part-time paid guides to join us for 2023!
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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
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Stay Connected!
Follow Victoria Mansion on Facebook and Instagram:
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