MUST RUN 5/2

LITCHFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY Lecture May 16 On LITCHFIELD COUNTY FURNITURE AND FURNITURE MAKERS 1780-1830

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LITCHFIELD, CONN. — On Friday, May 16, the Litchfield Historical Society will present the second in a four-part lecture series that celebrates Litchfield County’s furniture and furniture makers.

William Hosley will speak on “Hartford’s Role in the Origins of Antique Collecting in America.” All lectures in the series begin at 5:30 pm at St Michael’s Church House, 25 South Street.

In 1928, Wallace Nutting described Hartford as “the best informed city on early furniture in America.” Nutting went on to praise some of the city’s legendary collectors, among them Henry Wood Irving, who was his mentor and friend. This lecture will explain Hartford’s role in the origin and development of antiques collecting in America and its legendary collectors, beginning with antiquarians like Isaac Stuart in the 1850s and culminating in preservation powerhouses like Emily Holcombe.

Focusing on both furniture and ceramics collecting, Hosley’s talk will also explore the inter-relationship between several converging trends in Gilded Age America including women’s rights, international trade, the nation’s quest for an epic national history, the art museum movement and the consumer revolution. Profiles of Irving Lyon, George Dudley Seymour, Mary and William C. Prime, Gurdon Trumbull, Annie Slosson and Albert Pitkin and their China Hunters circle complete this portrait of American cultural life in transition.

The society will hold a reception at the museum following the lecture. Registration is required, at 860-567-4501.

The lecture series is designed to complement the Litchfield Historical Society’s latest exhibition, “To Please Any Taste: Litchfield County Furniture and Furniture Makers, 1780–1830,” on display through November 30. On Friday May 30, Lynne Brickley will lecture on “Litchfield’s Colonial Revival Collectors and Dealers.” The series concludes on June 6 with Briann Greenfield, who will speak on “Jewish Antique Dealers in New England.”

For additional information, www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org or 860-567-4501.