Acknowledgements and Credits

From Re-Presenting Black Womanhood

A needlework framed in a brown wooden frame. The needlework depicts a house with a yellow roof and chimney in the center, with trees in the background and bushes in front. There is a bridge on the left with a light blue stream running under it across the image. On the right, there is a light-skinned, blonde haired woman in a pink dress and yellow bonnet. To her left, there is a black goat, a white goat, and a black and tan dog. In the left background, there is a white stone building with a blue and red roof. The bottom of the needlework reads: “Rachel Ann Lee worked at the Sisters of Providence School of Baltimore July 3, 1846.”

Students and staff at Winterthur continually revisit the collection to ask new questions and explore the histories these objects can tell.

Over the past year, graduate students had the opportunity to submit ideas for a women-centric exhibition based on collections at Winterthur. Justyce Bennett, Winterthur Program in American Material Culture Class of 2021, proposed the concept of Re-Presenting Black Womanhood, and the exhibition content was created by graduate students at Winterthur and the University of Delaware as part of the Material Life in America and Exhibitions and Interpretation classes. We acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions to the exhibition:

Exhibitions Class: Anne Ciskanik, Brandan Henry, Charlotte O’Shaughnessy, and Kaila Temple

Material Life in America Class: Kayle Avery, Justyce Bennett, Benét Burton, Cara Caputo, Peter Fedoryk, Susan “Brynne” Long, Christopher Malone, Molly Mapstone, Susannah Philbrick, and Kaila Temple

  • Martin Brückner
  • Ann Bowler
  • Kelli Coles
  • Catharine Dann Roeber 
  • Emelie Gevalt
  • The Creative Vision Factory
  • Tandem Press
  • Jonathan W. Wilson
  • Winterthur Library Staff 
  • Winterthur Museum Staff

Object Credit Lines

By section, in order of appearance.
All objects are from the Winterthur collection, unless otherwise noted.

Abolition

Frontispiece from Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral, Phillis Wheatley, London: Printed for A. Bell, 1773, Ink on paper, Winterthur Library RBR PS866 W55

Seal, Unknown maker, London; 1820-40, Glass, Gift of Lindsay Grigsby 2009.0014.001

Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, Samuel Jennings, London; 1792, Oil on canvas, Museum purchase with funds provided by Henry Francis du Pont 1958.0120.002

Advertisement, National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C.; April 25, 1815, Ink on paper, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library Col. 844

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Boston: John P. Jewett & Co.; 1853, Winterthur Library PS2954 U54a V1

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Paper Dolls, The Boston Sunday Globe; 1896, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library

Doll, Albert Bruckner’s Sons, United States; ca. 1920s, Cotton and ink, Gift of Margaret H. Prince 2014.0026

Indigo Blue and High Yella’ Blue, Alison Saar, 2016, Courtesy of The Tandem Press

Depictions of Black Womanhood

Woman in Blue Dress, John Lewis Krimmel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; ca. 1813, Watercolor over ink, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library

The Quilting Frolic, John Lewis Krimmel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 1813, Oil on canvas, Museum purchase 1953.0178.002 A, B

Drawing Book, Mollie J. Brooks, Orange County, New York; 1861, Pencil on paper, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library Doc. 1017

Textile Samples, Unknown maker, Blackburn, North Carolina; 1861-65, Cotton, wool, paper, wood, Museum purchase with funds drawn from the Centenary Fund 2014.0008 A, B

Needlework picture, Rachel Ann Lee, Baltimore, Maryland; 1846, Wool, linen and metallic thread, Museum purchase with funds drawn from the Centenary Fund, Courtesy of Winterthur Museum, 2009.0013 A, B

Confronting Culture

A Book of Recipes for the Cooking School, Carrie Alberta Lyford, 1921, Hampton, Virginia: Press of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute; 1921, Winterthur Library RBR TX663 L98b 1921

A Date with a Dish: A Cook Book of American Negro Recipes, Freda de Knight, New York: Hermitage Press, Inc.; 1948, Private Collection

Snowdrift Trade Catalog, Wesson Oil & Snowdrift Company, New York City; 1920s, Ink and paper, Gift of Forbes Maner, Winterthur Library RBR TX407 O34w TC

La Cuisine Creole (“Creole Cookery”), Lafcadio Hearn, New Orleans: F.F. Hansell; 1885, Winterthur Library RBR TX715 H43

Gathering Air Moss, Edna Cooke Shoemaker drawings and papers, 1818-1980, 1908-1960, Summer, 1886, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library Col. 827

Papers Related to Debts, 1731-43, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library Col. 1002

Craig Family Papers, 1847-1935, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library Col. 564

Looking Forward

Untitled (Woman with fruit in hair), Channel A series, Knicoma “Intent” Frederick, Watercolor on paper, Wilmington, Delaware, 2019, Courtesy of Benét Burton

Dolls, Zakkiyah Mumin, Textiles, Wilmington, Delaware, ca. 2012, Courtesy of Creative Vision Factory

This exhibition is presented by Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. To learn more, visit www.winterthur.org.

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