December 2023/January 2024 | |
Thank You for a Great 2023! | |
Victoria Mansion is closed for the season and will re-open on May 1, 2024. | |
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In this newsletter:
- "Colors of the Season" Recap & Event Highlights
- Backstairs Lives Initiative Update: Katherine Cullinane
- Conservation Update
- Upcoming Public Programs & Events
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"Colors of the Season" Recap | |
Thank you to everyone who visited Victoria Mansion during our holiday season, which ran from November 24, 2023 - January 7, 2024. Our designers pulled out all the stops to transform the Mansion with installations inspired by this year's theme, "Colors of the Season."
To our generous and talented designers, THANK YOU for another successful year! Plans are already underway for our 2024 holiday season.
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Colors of the Season gallery, in alphabetical order by room name: | |
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Dining Room
Designer: Clipper Merchant Tea
(Melinda Thomas & Natasha Hudnor)
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Ell Porch
Designer: Victoria Mansion Docent Committee
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Reception Room
Designer: Emerald City
(Danny R. Hatt, Don Chouinard &
Marcedas Hatt-O'Toole)
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Sitting Room
Designer: Sarah Coughlin Fine Art
(Sarah Coughlin, Kay Murchie & Kerry Smith)
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Stair Hall
Designers: Bob Parker & Charles Powell
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Backstairs Lives Initiative Update: Katherine Cullinane | |
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Before 2023 ended, we were pleased to welcome descendants of Katherine Cullinane's family to the Mansion. Katherine (1883-1965) was born near Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in 1903. She settled in Portland, where she worked for several local families, including the Libby family, who employed her as a maid between 1924 and 1928. Katherine was friends with fellow domestic servant Sabina Grady, also from the Tuam area, who worked for the Libbys as a maid/second girl from 1916-1923. They were both active in community events through nearby St. Dominic's Church, today home of the Maine Irish Heritage Center.
Katherine never married or had children, but was close with her extended family and friends. We were pleased to meet her niece Cathyellen, and welcome her, along with her son James and granddaughter Bernadette, to Victoria Mansion on December 28th. Cathyellen knew her Aunt Katherine when she was a child, and shared some of her recollections with head Backstairs Lives Initiative researcher Michelle Josephson during her family's visit.
Thank you for sharing your memories and visiting the Mansion with your family, Cathyellen!
For more information about the domestic staff of Victoria Mansion, please visit our Backstairs Lives Initiative webpage.
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Katherine Cullinane's niece Cathyellen visits Victoria Mansion's Girls Room with her son James and granddaughter Bernadette. Cathyellen is holding a photo of Katherine from her naturalization papers.
This photo is shared courtesy of Cathyellen and her family.
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"Colors of the Season" Event Highlights | |
During the holiday season, Victoria Mansion hosts a handful of public events. This year's events included annual favorites Night of the Nutcracker with Portland Ballet, and a Charles Dickens program with actor Andrew Harris - his 2023 performance, for the 180th anniversary of A Christmas Carol, was titled Mr. Dickens and His Carol. We also debuted a new program for our youngest visitors: the Ruffi Stuffie Sleepover! Named for our friendly feline volunteer, Ruffi the Museum Cat, children and their caregivers brought their stuffed animals for a story time (with guest reader and friend of the Mansion Kim Block), then left the stuffed animals for a "sleepover" in the museum, with photos of their activities being shared with their families the next day.
After a three-year hiatus, we were pleased to see the return of our holiday gala, this year styled as the Colors of the Season Gala. Guests enjoyed a champagne toast at Victoria Mansion and mingled in the decorated rooms before gathering at the Cumberland Club for drinks, bites, and music by Goldenwood Ensembles. The Gala was a festive fundraising event, helping us support pivotal ongoing projects at the Mansion, from historic preservation to educational initiatives and beyond. Thank you to everyone who made this year's Gala such a success!
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Portland Ballet brings scenes from A Victorian Nutcracker to Victoria Mansion's Stair Hall. | |
Portland Ballet brings the Waltz of the Flowers from A Victorian Nutcracker to Victoria Mansion's Stair Hall. | |
Kim Block reads with the assistance of a young visitor for the Ruffi Stuffie Sleepover on December 13, 2023. | |
Children's stuffed animals await pick-up from the Ruffi Stuffie Sleepover, named after our feline volunteer, Ruffi the Museum Cat (stuffed animal Ruffi stand-in is first stair, second from right). | |
Andrew Harris as Charles Dickens presents Mr. Dickens and His Carol on December 2, 2023. | |
Andrew Harris as Charles Dickens presents Mr. Dickens and His Carol on December 2, 2023. | |
Board President Drew Oestreicher (on stairs, left) and Executive Director Tim Brosnihan (on stairs, right) lead a champagne toast to kick off the Colors of the Season Gala on December 6, 2023. | |
Colors of the Season Gala attendees view the holiday installations in the Reception Room (designed by Emerald City). | |
Krysia Tripp (flautist) and Dennis Smith (guitarist) provide music during the Colors of the Season Gala at the Cumberland Club. | |
Colors of the Season Gala attendees enjoy drinks, bites, and conversation at the Cumberland Club. | |
In November, we were pleased to welcome Chris Stavroudis, a nationally respected paintings conservator and conservation science expert, for a consultation to develop a safe and effective cleaning regimen for the painted decoration on the second floor Stair Hall. Conservation of the first floor was ongoing throughout 2023, with the Parlor side of the hall reaching completion by early fall. Working with long-time Mansion collaborators Gianfranco Pocobene Studio, Chris conducted a series of test cleanings on the Stair Hall landing, and made recommendations for how best to proceed with conservation. | |
Chris Stavroudis mixes cleaning agents for tests on the Stair Hall landing, November 2023. | |  |
Chris (center) with paintings conservators Corrine Long (left) and Gianfranco Pocobene of Gianfraco Pocobene Studio. | | |
Textile conservation technician Vivian Cunningham has been working with Victoria Mansion conservator Siobhan Lindsay to clean and properly store textiles from the Mansion's original collection. These have ranged from Turkish Smoking Room curtain panels to Red Bedroom textiles to Parlor tassels and beyond. The original trunk room for the Mansion was converted in the 2010s into a climate-controlled textile storage space; Vivian's work will help to keep these textiles in stable condition for future research and reference as we begin to explore options for window treatment restoration in the Reception Room and Parlor. | |
Vivian Cunningham cleans a panel of fabric from the Turkish Smoking Room. Samples like this panel were used as reference for the recreation of the Turkish Smoking Room upholstery and window treatments in the mid-2000s. | | |
The back side of the Turkish Smoking Room panel is likely woven of a silk and cotton blend, with additional fleece reinforcement between the backing and the decorative front design. | | |
Original textiles from the Red Bedroom, stored in acid-free boxes and awaiting conservation. Once cleaned, the textiles will be carefully housed and stored in our climate-controlled storage room on the third floor. | | |
The Red Bedroom has not yet been conserved, and the painted decoration on the walls has likely faded over time. However, the textiles in our collection (possibly from the room's bedcurtains) show the vibrant hues of red that would have adorned the space. | | |
Stay tuned for more news about ongoing conservation and restoration projects! | |
Upcoming Public Programs & Events | |
Keep an eye on our Events page for tickets and more information about upcoming programs. | | |
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Victoria Mansion is pleased to once again be taking part in the Portland History Docents program. This year's course begins on Thursday, February 15th.
If you want to learn more about Portland's historic sites and share your passion for history with the public, the Portland History Docents program is a great way to connect with others and engage directly with staff and other volunteers at eleven sites of historic significance in the Portland area.
To learn more about how to join this year's eleven-week course or to enroll, please visit PortlandHistoryDocents.org.
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OLLI Workshop & Spring Course | |
Director of Education & Public Programs Staci Hanscom (on stairs, left) and Senior Site Manager Michelle Josephson (on stairs, right) lead their OLLI program "Beyond the Morses: The People of Victoria Mansion" in September 2023. | |
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In 2023, Victoria Mansion offered its first workshops with the Osher Life-Long Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Southern Maine (USM). Mansion staff have offered two workshops through OLLI thus far: one focusing on the architecture in Victoria Mansion's neighborhood, and one focusing on the Libby family, the Mansion's second owners, and the domestic servants who lived and worked at Victoria Mansion (presented with the Maine Irish Heritage Center). A one-day workshop focusing on the Classical mythology in the Mansion will be presented virtually on January 19th, and Mansion staff and volunteers will present an eight-week course in Spring 2024 focusing on myriad topics relating to Victorian life, art, and architecture through the lens of Victoria Mansion. Registration is not yet open for the Spring course, but we will post updates to our social media (Facebook and Instagram) when registration goes live.
OLLI presents courses in the liberal arts and sciences for community members ages 50 and over. For more information about the program and how to enroll (or how to be an instructor), please visit USM's OLLI website.
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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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We have currently reached over 60% of our 2023-24 Annual Fund goal - help us reach our goal of $55,000 with a gift of any size by March 31, 2024. 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. | |
Above: Paintings conservator Corrine Long of Gianfranco Pocobene Studio cleans a section of the west side of the first floor Stair Hall, March 2023. | |
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As conservation of the decoratively painted surfaces on the first floor of the Mansion's Stair Hall continues apace with breathtaking results, we have been setting our sights on continuing this project onto the second floor of the hall. Following a series of tests and consultations, we were fortunate to receive a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services*, and we need our community's support to help us continue this important work. A gift of any size to our Stair Hall Matching Fund brings us closer to our goal of $148,043 to match the generous funding from this grant.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-253203-OMS-23.
*The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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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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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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