Collections Management
Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin and John D.
Rockefeller, Jr. discuss plans for the
restoration of
the Raleigh Tavern. The brick Rockefeller holds is
similar to several original eighteenth-century
bricks
in the architectural fragments collection.
The newly-renovated architectural collections
storage area. The expansion
nearly doubled the
space to store and display
fragments, including a
new
mezzanine level and
shelves to exhibit the
Chesapeake collection
Tom Taylor, intern Meghan Townes and students
reconstruct a paneled window from
the Peyton
Randolph House. The majority of objects in the
architectural fragments collection are carved
wood,
including many chair boards, cornices, window sashes,
and clapboards.
Since 1929, the Foundation’s
architects and architectural historians have systematically removed and recorded
fragments from Historic Area buildings. Guided by the Decalogue, a list of ten
recommendations developed by the Architects Advisory Committee, the Foundation
believed that “in the securing of old materials there should be
no demolition or removal of buildings where there seems a reasonable prospect
they will persist intact on their original sites.” Thus a large majority of
the buildings in the Historic Area retain original eighteenth-century features,
from shingles and shutters, to clapboards and cornices. Today as in the past,
when it is clear to conservators and historians that original material will not
survive in place, fragments are carefully removed and incorporated into the architectural
fragments collection.
Additionally, architects and architectural historians have gathered fragments
from structures throughout the Chesapeake region. These fragments frequently
are recovered from abandoned buildings or private residences which today no
longer survive. In 1972, Henry Francis Lenygon’s widow donated 660 English
and European architectural fragments to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Today, the architectural fragments collection consists of four subgroups, including
the Historic Area collection, the Regional collection, the Lenygon collection,
and a group of miscellaneous fragments interesting in design or technology,
but unprovenanced.
Before the creation of the department in 1991, the Research Division periodically
made efforts to identify, catalogue, and photograph the growing architectural
fragments collection owned by the Foundation. With the recent extensive renovations
of the Packet’s Court
facility, the Department of Architectural Collections Management
and Conservation has significantly raised the standards for collections care
of the Foundations’ architectural
fragments.
In 2007, the Research Division received generous grants from “Save America’s
Treasures” and the Institute for Museums
and Library Sciences (IMLS), in addition to matching funds from the Foundation. These
finances have allowed the Department to extensively renovate and
rehouse the entire collection of fragments and models. Improving the
architectural storage area involved installing a new HVAC system, creating
climate controls to regulate temperature and humidity levels, installing new
security and fire detection systems. Additionally, the storage area was significantly
expanded allowing for additional shelving that provided collections managers
the opportunity to group fragments from individual sites together. This renovated
storage and research facility will allow other departments throughout the Foundation
to more easily utilize this important collection.
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