AFA 20th Anniversary

20th Anniversary 108 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com In 1962, at the age of twenty-four, after the death of his father, Richard Jr. dropped out of Columbia Business School and entered the family business. He presided over its expansion and high-water mark, and eventually steered its sale. The company, Dietrich Corporation, owned Luden’s, as well as other holdings such as Nan Dusken Department store on Philadelphia’s Main Line. Richard served as president of the corporation, with his two brothers, Daniel and William, serving as vice presidents until the family sold Luden’s to Hershey Corporation in 1986. All the while, history and collecting and the development of cultural institutions were Richard’s parallel passions. In the early 1960s, Dietrich moved into Arkadia, in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, a 1721 house that had been extended over many years and would serve as a major inspiration for Richard’s collecting (Fig. 3). Dietrich bought antiques thinking that he was a steward of the pieces. He felt an obligation to preserve history and to see that these pieces be studied in order to benefit scholars and to help tell the story of American history. Initially, he considered creating a museum, but ultimately decided there were enough museums dotting the cultural landscape. He established the Dietrich American Foundation with an objective to help institutions and expand public education about history through material culture by gifting or loaning material to institutions with “holes” in their collections or to complement existing strengths. A closely linked passion for Richard was the preservation of farmland and open space, especially in his beloved Chester County, where he helped provide early and ongoing support to local land trusts and preservation efforts. In the mid 1960s Fig. 4: Platter and plate from a dinner service, with the emblem of the Society of the Cincinnati, made for George and Martha Washington of Virginia by an unknown maker. Chinese export, 1784-1785. Hard-paste porcelain with overglaze enamel and gilt decoration. Platter: H. 10½, W. 83⁄16 in; Plate: D. 9¾ in. The first objects acquired for the Dietrich American Foundation in 1963 were this platter and plate from the dinner service owned by George Washington, with the emblem of the Society of the Cincinnati. The order for the service was placed on the first voyage to China by an American ship. Washington used pieces from the 302- piece dinner service in the first Presidential homes in New York and Philadelphia, and later at Mount Vernon. Dietrich owned nineteen pieces of this service, along with examples of other services decorated with the emblem of the Society of the Cincinnati.