Washington Winter Show 2025

52 This page is sponsored by Mrs. William J. Curtin and Mrs. Dynes L. Leitch A s you explore the beauty and unique pieces on offer at the 2025 Show, attend Show events, and learn more about the charities we support, you may wonder about the Show’s history and how it all began. Like many marvelous new endeavors, it began with a “lightbulb moment” and a clear idea and vision. In 1955, Martha Lemon (Mrs. James Hanson Lemon) accompanied her husband to New York on a business trip and attended the Antiques Show at the Armory, which benefited the East Side House Settlement (as it does today). Mrs. Lemon came home brimming with excitement about the idea of doing something similar in Washington to benefit The Thrift Shop Charities. The Thrift Shop, located on 14th Street, NW, was run by volunteers with proceeds benefiting programs in the city for improving children’s health. Liz Dunn (Mrs. Richard Price Dunn) served as Thrift Shop Charities Chairman and Martha Lemon was First Vice President. The two were close friends, and Martha knew that, while the Shop’s profits made a difference in the community, the Thrift Shop Charities board was always searching for new ways to raise funds. The Thrift Shop board met on the first Monday of every month at The Sulgrave Club. Before the very next meeting, Martha told her friend Liz how inspired she had been after visiting the New York show, saying, “It’s a great idea for a benefit.” She also said that perhaps they should not say anything quite yet, until they were sure how they would execute the idea. Mrs. Dunn could not contain her enthusiasm, though, opening the meeting with, “Mrs. Lemon has a wonderful idea!” It was then that the Washington Antiques Show (nowWashington Winter Show) was born. The vision of our co-founders, Mrs. Richard P. Dunn and Mrs. James H. Lemon, still guides us today. Mrs. Dunn asked a favorite dealer in Maine for advice on finding a show manager and was referred to Mr. GreshamWilson, who was running a small show in Baltimore. Liz and Martha went to Baltimore to meet with him. Mr. Wilson agreed to manage the first Show and managed the Washington Antiques Show for the next twenty-five years. The first Washington Antiques Show opened on March 5, 1956, one year after its inception, at the Sheraton Park Hotel with dealers from eighteen states. Mrs. WoodrowWilson (Edith) opened the Show by cutting a ribbon at 12 noon that day, the first day of a five-day Show, beginning a long tradition of First Ladies serving as honorary chairs. The theme, A Children’s World, was in keeping with the dual mission of the Show — to educate the public about the beauty and importance of antiques and to raise funds for The Thrift Shop beneficiaries. Mr. Frank Klapthor, then curator of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum, pulled together the first loan exhibit with objects from Blair House, by Mary Stuart Travers and Katherine M. Prendergast