http://www.cultureandtourism.org/cct/cwp/view.asp?a=2127&q=302248
This project was made possible in part through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Connecticut State Library on behalf of the State Archives and Conservation ConneCTion.
© 2018 Henry Whitfield State Museum. All rights reserved.
Collection open for research.
For copyright status, please contact the Henry Whitfield State Museum.
[Identification of item], , [Box no]., Henry Whitfield State Museum
Collected by museum staff during the restoration project
The Henry Whitfield State Museum, established by the State of Connecticut in 1899, explores four centuries of Connecticut history through the evolution of the 1639 Whitfield House. Thirty-two years after the founding of Jamestown and nineteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, a group of English Puritans journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to establish a community in the New World free from religious persecution. They were led by their minister, Reverend Henry Whitfield. The Whitfield family home also served as a fort for the community. Its massive stone walls and chimneys, steeply-pitched roof, and casement windows reflect the style of post-medieval domestic architecture found in England - rare in 17th-century America and unique today. Through the years, the "Old Stone House" has undergone many changes and many families have called it home. Restored by noted architects Norman Isham and J. Frederick Kelly in the early 1900s, the house is an important example of Colonial Revival restoration work. Based on these restorations, the Whitfield House was designated a National Historic Landmark. The museum and library collections number over 10,000 items.
Materials related to J. Frederick Kelly's restoration of the Whitfield House include approximately 25 blueprints (1936), 18 exterior photographs (c. 1933-1937), 6 interior photographs (c. 1935-1936), Henry Whitfield State Museum Trustees meeting minutes, miscellaneous correspondence, publication about the restoration plans (1935), program for the October 20, 1937 commemorative exercises, published book 'The Henry Whitfield House 1639 - Dedication' (1937), published book 'Journal of the Restoration of the Old Stone House' (1939), and an article about the restoration in the 1939 issue of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities Bulletin Old Time New England.
Materials related to Beatrix Farrand's landscape plans for the Whitfield House include 3 blueprints (1935): a plot plan of the Whitfield House grounds and a revision copy, and a plan showing detailed plantings.
The materials are stored by format and size and arranged by subject. For instance, the blueprints are either rolled or stored in a flat file, while the exterior photos are stored in one box and the interior photos are stored in another box.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.