Washington Winter Show 2025

42 This page is sponsored in honor of Ellen Clark by the Board of Directors by Ellen McCallister Clark E very collector of antiques— private or institutional—is a preservationist. To collect, one must not only have a passion and appreciation for the objects in focus, but also a curiosity and knowledge of the history and background of each piece and how it fits into the collection as a whole. Collectors have a responsibility to care for and house the items in their collections according to the best possible standards and to seek out appropriate conservation treatment as needed to assure the preservation of their treasures for the illumination and enjoyment of generations to come. The 2025 loan exhibition, Preservation Pioneers, takes its inspiration from this year’s WashingtonWinter Show theme, “Preserving the Future of our Past”—a most fitting motto as we mark the seventieth anniversary of this great and storiedWashington institution. The exhibition brings together treasures from seven of the mid-Atlantic’s most illustrious historic places—Stratford Hall, Gunston Hall, Mount Vernon, Tudor Place, Winterthur, Anderson House, An antique is a primarily handcrafted object of rarity and beauty that, by means of its associated provenance and its agedness…has the capacity to generate and preserve for us the image of a world now past. — Leon Rosenstein, Antiques: The History of an Ide a (Cornell, 2009) PRESERVATION PIONEERS LESSONS FROM SEVEN HISTORIC HOUSES Fig. 1: Sewing purse or “housewife” attributed to Hannah Ludwell Lee, 18th-century. Collection of Stratford Hall, gift of Cornelia Lee Post Niver. This sewing purse was selected in 2019 to be part of the Virginia Association of Museums’ “Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts Program.” It won the People’s Choice Award, and the funds awarded from the Virginia Association of Museums were used toward its conservation. Photograph by Tiffany Scott