WINTER PARK, FL—The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum brings scholars from significant museums and institutions to present during its free Wednesday Lecture Series beginning this month. The topics of this four-part series will focus on historic preservation and shed light on the Museum’s renowned collection.
Preservation Advisor Jeanne M. Pelletier will begin the series with a lecture titled “Preserving the Last Surviving Tiffany Residential Commission: The Ayer Mansion in Boston.” The talk will examine Tiffany’s ground-breaking design and chronicle the twenty-five-year effort to preserve his last surviving residential commission, Boston’s Ayer Mansion, completed in 1902 for entrepreneur Frederick Ayer and his charismatic wife, Ellen Banning Ayer.
In February, Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor Emeritus, Architectural History at the University of Virginia, will explore the origins of preservation, some elements of its development, and prevailing questions in the field. Historic preservation often centers on a building or a structure—whether a dwelling, store, church, school, or mill. Wilson will investigate the ephemeral and the evanescent and the roles these play in a field overwhelmingly preoccupied with permanence.
Lisa A. Neely will visit the Morse in March to share her knowledge as archivist of King Ranch, Inc. The Texas ranch’s main house is unique in that it has many of the original Tiffany furnishings, is still in use by the family, and is one of only a few private residences that have Tiffany glass windows. A selection of photographs will show the King Ranch main house from the time it was completed in 1915 to how it looks today, highlighting the Tiffany furnishings.
Concluding the lecture series, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will discuss stained-glass treasures hidden at the historic Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City. The glass art at Woodlawn includes more than fifty windows by Tiffany Studios, the largest known assemblage anywhere. Frelinghuysen will give an overview of the windows and the ongoing assessment project.
The lectures take place at 2:30 p.m. (doors open at 2:00 p.m.) on selected Wednesdays in the Jeannette G. and Hugh F. McKean Pavilion, 161 West Canton Avenue (just behind the Museum). All of these lectures are free and open to the public. Space is limited and filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Details of the lectures are as follows:
Wednesday, January 25, 2:30 p.m.
“Preserving the Last Surviving Tiffany Residential Commission: The Ayer Mansion in Boston”
Jeanne M. Pelletier
Preservation Advisor, Boston, Massachusetts
Wednesday, February 8, 2:30 p.m.
“Preserving the Ephemeral: Emergence of Historic Preservation in the United States”
Richard Guy Wilson
Commonwealth Professor Emeritus, Architectural History, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Wednesday, March 22, 2:30 p.m.
“Henrietta King’s 100+ Year Legacy: The Main House”
Lisa A. Neely
Archivist, King Ranch, Inc., Kingsville, Texas
Wednesday, April 19, 2:30 p.m.
“Hidden Treasures: Tiffany Windows at Woodlawn Cemetery”
Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen
Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
The Morse Museum hours November through April are 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday; and l p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Regular admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $1 for students, and free for children under 12. All visitors receive free admission from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays, November through April. For more information, please visit morsemuseum.org.