Alice Winchester (December 9, 1907 – December 9, 1996) was an American magazine editor and art historian.
Biography
Born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Winchester was the daughter of a
Congregationalist clergyman.
She grew up in
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, and received her bachelor's degree from
Smith College. Upon graduation she worked briefly at
Chase National Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fina ...
in New York City before joining the staff of ''
Antiques
An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...
'', where in 1930 she became secretary to
Homer Eaton Keyes. He died in October 1938; the following March Winchester was named his successor as editor.
Winchester became an influential voice in the world of antique collecting, publishing scholarship by such historians and curators as
Joseph Downs
Joseph Downs (July 24, 1895 – September 8, 1954) was an American museum curator and scholar of American decorative arts. After 17 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Downs became founding curator of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Libra ...
,
Charles F. Montgomery,
Marshall B. Davison,
Irving W. Lyon, and
Helen Comstock. In the field of folk art, she published work by
Mabel M. Swan,
Esther Stevens Brazer,
E. Alfred Jones,
Carl W. Dreppard,
Jean Lipman
Jean Herzberg Lipman (1909 – June 20, 1998) was an American artist, collector, and art historian, a pioneer in the study of American folk art.
Biography
A native of Manhattan, where she was born Jean Herzberg, Lipman grew up in Midtown before ...
, and
Nina Fletcher Little, among others. She devoted entire issues of the magazine to the
Winterthur Museum
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home o ...
,
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location a ...
, the
Shelburne Museum,
Greenfield Village
The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection conta ...
, the
Henry Ford Museum
The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...
,
Historic Deerfield
Historic Deerfield is a museum dedicated to the heritage and preservation of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and history of the Connecticut River Valley. Its historic houses, museums, and programs provide visitors with an understanding of New Engla ...
, and the Shaker museums at
Hancock Hancock may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Hancock, Iowa
* Hancock, Maine
* Hancock, Maryland
* Hancock, Massachusetts
* Hancock, Michigan
* Hancock, Minnesota
* Hancock, Missouri
* Hancock, New Hampshire
** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and
Pleasant Hill,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
. ''Antiques'' also profiled notable collectors and their homes in the "Living With Antiques" feature. Upon her retirement in 1972, Winchester continued to publish on the subject of American folk art, writing about
Jonathan Fisher and publishing two books with Jean Lipman.
She also worked at the
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
from 1972 until 1974.
Awards and honors
During her career she received the Smith College Medal in 1968 and the Henry Francis du Pont Award for the Decorative Arts from the
Winterthur Museum
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home o ...
in 1990.
Legacy
An oral history interview with Winchester, conducted between 1993 and 1995, is held by the
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
.
The archives also own a collection of her papers, donated in 1993.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchester, Alice
1907 births
1996 deaths
American art historians
Women art historians
American women historians
20th-century American historians
20th-century American women writers
American magazine editors
Women magazine editors
Smith College alumni
Writers from Chicago
Historians from Illinois
People from Concord, Massachusetts
Historians from Massachusetts