Historic Deerfield

Are you attending the SAGA Retreat in Bedford Glen?

Maybe you are going to have a little extra time, either as you travel to the site or on your way home? Maybe you can visit one or two places nearby?

Here is one interesting place to visit- Historic Deerfield

www.historic-deerfield.org

Historic Deerfield Inc., founded in 1952, is an outdoor history museum that focuses on the history and culture of the Connecticut River Valley and early New England.  It has a dual mission of educating the public about the lifestyles of the diverse people who lived here long ago and of preserving antique buildings and collections of regional furniture, silver, textiles, and other decorative arts. First settled in 1669, Deerfield is one of the few towns settled by English colonists along the eastern seaboard that retains its original scale and town plan. Visitors are offered guided and self-guided tours of 12 antique houses ranging in age from 1730 to 1850. Eleven of these houses are on their original sites.

This is one exhibition that might be of interest to SAGA members:

Celebrating the Fiber Arts: The Helen Geier Flynt Textile Gallery (2017)

January 01, 2017 - December 23, 2017 | 9:30 am - 4:30 pm 

Historic Deerfield’s costume and textile collection has long been considered one of the finest in America.  Begun by the museum’s founder, Helen Geier Flynt, the collection features a vast array of costumes, needlework and domestic textiles which are displayed on a rotating basis.  Newly installed in this permanent gallery for the season are 38 exciting examples of American and European clothing, accessories, textiles and needlework from the 17^th century through the mid-20^th century. 

Some of the current highlights featured include a dramatic, mid-18^th-century gown, whose fabric was woven in Lyon, France’s renowned center of silk-weaving.  Yards of expensive brocaded silk were draped and sewn to create a gown whose considerable width was supported by panniers or side hoops worn under the garment itself and tied around the wearer’s waist. 

A man’s early 19^th-century wool coat is displayed in an unconventional, horizontal orientation for visitors to get a better sense of the skills involved in tailoring the garment.  Padding, interfacing and stitching will all be seen to better advantage from this diagrammatical presentation.

Also on view is a recent acquisition by the museum, a modest pictorial needlework wrought by Violet Forward Scott (1786-1853) of Belchertown, Massachusetts in the late 1790s (pictured).  This piece represents an important step in Scott’s education.  It was likely her first attempt at a pictorial needlework that required her to develop the skill of composition, beyond the practice of count-stitching alphabets and numbers in horizontal rows onto a grid of warp and weft.  This example also incorporates watercolor and gouache, probably executed by the instructress or an outside professional.    

 A vibrant red whole cloth wool quilt is just one of the new items on view in the gallery’s quilt and coverlet rack.  This example’s all-over uniform geometric quilting pattern is indicative of styles from first half of the 19^th century, while its cut-out corners – a design feature seen on the bottom corners of some quilts to accommodate its use on a four-poster bed – suggest a New England origin. 

See these and other outstanding textiles thematically arranged according to their natural fibers: silk, wool, cotton and linen. 

 This exhibition is made possible in part by a grant from The Coby Foundation, Ltd.