10 Quirky Objects Underscore the Unique Stories of Historic Sites
Part of what makes a house museum so intriguing is not the on-theme, expected collections, but the oddities. The things that make you ask, “What is that?” “How did that get here?” Delving into the stories of the quirkiest objects is fun and sometimes silly. It also provides real context into the people who built and inhabited these homes and offers insight about the times in which they lived.
Here’s a look at 10 different quirky objects, some of which are from another era, at different Historic Artists' Homes and Studios and National Trust Historic Sites. Explore the list and then look around your own home, what offbeat items do you have on display?
Animal Adventures
Alligator at Fonthill Castle (Doylestown, Pennsylvania)
photo by: Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle
Fonthill Castle's Alligator. Fonthill is a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
In the early 1900s, Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) bought a strange little alligator or caiman from an antique shop in Philadelphia. As an archaeologist, anthropologist and collector, Mercer recognized the historical symbolism of alligators in connection with alchemy and medicine. This alligator now hangs in the Morning Room in Mercer's home, Fonthill Castle, his self-designed and first poured-in place concrete building.
Mercer chose the alligator to playfully complement a print (one of thousands in his extensive collection) depicting a 17th century dentist’s office or apothecary’s shop, with an alligator hanging in the background. The print, after a painting by Gerrit Dou, is called "A tooth-drawer holding up a tooth after extracting it from a patient, who is spitting blood out of the window.”
Framed Sheep’s Wool at the Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.)
During World War I, Woodrow and Edith Wilson wanted to promote the concept of sustainability and garner support behind creating Victory Gardens. They did this by offering to raise sheep (yes, live sheep) on the front lawn of the White House. Sheep “mowed” the grass (thus saving on manpower), and their wool was sold at auction for the American Red Cross (raising nearly $100,000). Framed wool from those White House sheep hangs in the Woodrow Wilson House.
photo by: Woodrow Wilson House
A framed image of sheep's wool at the Woodrow Wilson House, a National Trust Historic Site.
Mastodon Tusk at Wharton Esherick Museum (Malvern, Pennsylvania)
photo by: Wharton Esherick Museum
Two images of a mastadon tusk at the Wharton Esherick Museum, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
Sure, in other houses you might see a mastodon tusk, perhaps in a case or on a shelf. But at the home of artist Wharton Esherick, the tusk is the handrail of a staircase on the way to the bedroom. The tusk was found in Alaska by the son of John Schmidt, who was Esherick’s cabinetmaker, neighbor and essential collaborator.
Esherick carried the tusk all around the studio until realizing it would be a fit for his spiral staircase. It was installed sometime after 1947, but the tusk itself is more than 10,000 years old. It feels at home in the studio too, amongst Esherick’s carved and curving forms inspired by the natural world.
Stuffed Peacock at Olana State Historic Site (Hudson, New York)
Olana State Historic Site is the house and landscape designed by artist Frederic Edwin Church, a leading figure of the Hudson River School. Photographic evidence indicates an assortment of taxidermy exotic birds began appearing in Olana’s central stair hall by around 1888-1890, adding a bright iridescence to the space and providing a reminder to visitors of Church’s famous tropical travels.
The stuffed peacock presently on view at Olana is the second modern-day replacement for the original, which would have likely been preserved using arsenic. Peacocks were once kept on the farm at Olana, but it is not known where the Churches may have acquired their original stuffed peacock. The Stair Hall display also features two stuffed quetzals, along with a bird of paradise and a preserved locust, decoratively mounted on a branch in a manner that was popular in the 19th century.
photo by: Olana State Historic Site
A stuffed peacock under Olana State Historic Site, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
One Person’s Treasure
Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck at Couse-Sharp Historic Site (Taos, New Mexico)
photo by: Lucas McDaniel
A reel-to-reel tape deck at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
This isn’t just an average reel-to reel-tape deck. It’s the Keyer TG-34-A, which was developed in the 1940s for the U.S. Army Signal Corps for Morse code communications training during World War II. The historically significant machine automated the reproduction of code practice signals recorded on inked paper tape, making it an essential tool in both classroom and field settings. It was compact and portable (at least for its time) and weatherproof. But quirkier than the object itself is the mystery of how it found its way into Couse-Sharp Historic Site, the home of one of the founding members of the Taos Society of Artists.
Stone Doorknob at Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center (Garrison, New York)
photo by: Tara Wing
A stone doorknob from Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
Dragon Rock, a modernist house and studio, is built into the ledge of the 75-acre abandoned stone quarry that became American industrial designer Russel Wright’s oasis for living in creative harmony with nature. Wright built an intertwined natural and manmade world, chockful of detail, for his young family.
The rounded stone and brass round doorknob at the entrance of his studio is visually striking, with deep orange veins. The stone knob contrasts with the rough-hewn door and was likely found along a stream bed during one of Wright’s daily explorations of the site. The doorknob echoes stone features seen throughout Dragon Rock, where boulders of all sizes serve as furniture, walls and stairs.
Potty Figurine at Alice Austen House (Staten Island, New York)
The house of photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952) was brimming with objects, as the family were both collectors and hoarders. While much of the collection itself was lost to poverty, Austen's photographs reveal a treasure trove of Victorian collecting. (The Alice Austen House maintains a growing collection of objects rediscovered and returned to the museum.)
One glimpse of the offbeat sensibility of this collection is this askew potty figurine. One display in Austen’s bathroom is one tiny fragment of a vast collection accumulated by Austen’s Aunt Minn. Her thematic potty figurine collection was displayed from floor to ceiling in the bathroom at the artist’s home on Staten Island.
photo by: Alice Austen House
A potty figurine at the Alice Austen House, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
Building Materials
Inferno Fireplace at New York Studio School’s Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Studio (New York, NY)
photo by: New York Studio School
A view of the inferno fireplace at the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Studio, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
While many quirky objects are the small, unexpected, oft-overlooked items in a collection, that’s not the case with the inferno fireplace. Robert Winthrop Chanler designed it in the late 1910s for artist and patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and it is the signature object of the Whitney Studio at The New York Studio School. It grabs the attention of everyone who walks into the space, thanks to flames that rise 22 feet up the wall and become part of an elaborate bas-relief plaster ceiling. Some have suggested that the flames are a metaphor for the creative process, which is the essence of the New York Studio School experience.
Front Doors at President Lincoln’s Cottage (Washington, D.C.)
Finding quirky means looking right in front of your eyes, as well as in little nooks and crannies. In the visitor center at President Lincoln’s Cottage, you can see the original 1842 front doors of President Lincoln’s Cottage.
They reach 11-feet high, towering tall, just like the president himself. President Lincoln saw these board-and-batten beauties daily during his three seasons in residence at the Soldiers’ Home. The doors were removed during the exterior restoration in 2005, and had been sitting away, stored in the attic until the Cottage preservationist suggested moving them to the visitor center.
photo by: President Lincoln's Cottage
The original front doors at President Lincoln's Cottage, a National Trust Historic Site.
Painted Panels at Florence Griswold Museum (Old Lyme, Connecticut)
photo by: Florence Griswold Museum
View of the painted panels at the Florence Griswold Museum, a member of the Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program.
The staff of the Florence Griswold Museum believes that the painted panels in the house museum’s dining room make it unlike any other room in America. It features more than 30 different panels, painted by Lyme Art Colony artists. Their work on the doors and walls show the breadth and depth of the work of American Tonalist and Impressionist artists in the place where they lived and painted.
The Late-Georgian mansion that houses this dining rooms was designed by Samuel Belcher. It was transformed from a wealthy sea captain’s home into a boardinghouse for some of the most noted names in American Impressionism.
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