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Russian snuffbox, late Eighteenth Century to mid-Nineteenth Century, lacquered papier mache.

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Mocha ware, circa 1780–1850.

FOR 6/27

HOUSTON MUSEUM PRESENTS LOOK AT ANNA SAFLEY HOUSTON, w/2 cuts

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CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — Anna Safley Houston, best known for her collection of antique glass, considered among the finest in the world, collected lots of other things too. Now Chattanooga’s Houston Museum of Decorative Arts has put on display a special exhibit of items from many of her other collections.

Amy H. Frierson, director of the Houston Museum, said there are actually some 50 smaller collections within the larger collection accumulated by Houston, who left her antiques in trust to the people of Chattanooga when she died in 1951.

“A Sampling Of Annie’s Individual Collections,” one of three exhibits scheduled between now and the end of 2008, is on view through August.

Selected pieces that are being displayed in addition to the museum’s famed antique glass include daguerreotypes, miniature portraits on porcelain, occupational shaving mugs, ceramic hens on nests, napkin rings, coronation cups, clocks, boudoir items and snuff boxes.

No one has ever solved the mystery of how Houston, who was never wealthy and was considered eccentric by many who knew her, was able to accumulate collections of antiques now considered priceless.

After her death, collections of her “treasures” were discovered in an old barnlike structure that she had built with her own hands, and plans were made to house her collections in a museum.

Today they are on display in a restored century-old Victorian house in a downtown area overlooking the Tennessee River.

Other special exhibits at the Houston Museum this year include September 1–October, patriotic and commemorative ceramic and glass pieces to herald the November presidential elections; and in November and December — colored glass and other objects evoking the spirit of the holiday season.

The museum is at 201 High Street. For more information, www.thehoustonmuseum.com or 423-267-7176.