As the Curator of Collections, it is my responsability to rotate the objects on permanent display.  This week I have been busy working on changing the hanging art work that complemented the walls in the Ching Reading Room.

If you are unfamiliar with our facility, the Ching Reading Room is located on the ground floor of the Litchfield History Museum and is part of the Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.  It is most often used by researchers who visit the Library in order to study some aspect of Litchfield history.

The Litchfield Historical Society has an extensive collection of paintings of both Litchfield residents and works completed by local artists.  The Ching Reading Room provides the ideal venue in which to showcase many of these pieces that would other wise sit in storage.

For the past two years we have had a collection of landscape paintings by various local artists on display.  I have decided to continue this theme but introduce new paintings to the room.  The Ching Reading Room now features paintings by Robert Nisbit (1879-1961) of Kent, CT; Adelaide Deming (1864-1956), Stanley Mortimer (1896-1984), and Nils Hogner (1898-1970) all of Litchfield, CT.

The paintings showcase a variety of artistic styles and illustrate the vibrant artistic community that existed in the northwest hills throughout the twentieth century.

The Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00-12:00 and 1:00 to 4:00.  We invite you to stop by and check out these new changes.

You may have heard that the Litchfield Historical Society received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources for cataloging hidden special collections.  The staff chose the Archon database, an open source archival management system developed by the University of Illinois.  Staff are working to populate the database with finding aids for holdings dating from 1776-1835.  To date, the Benjamin Tallmadge Collection and the Pierce Family Correspondence are complete finding aids.  If you take time to browse the “Collections” module, you’ll see that there are a few others in progress, including the papers of George C. Woodruff, the Litchfield Female Academy Collection, and the Wolcott Family Collection.  You may also notice that there are a few items in “digital content” where we hope to include photos of some of the objects related to the manuscript collections.  Check back for additional content, and let us know if you have any suggestions for improving the site.

Within the short span of only ten days the Historical Society acquired two landscapes by Adelaide Deming.

Adelaide Deming was an artist who lived the majority of her life in Litchfield and was a well regarded and known artist in her time.  She studied at the Art Students League in New York and later with such artists as William Merritt Chase, William Lathrop, Henry Snow and Arthur Dow.  From 1902 to 1910 she was an instructor at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.  She traveled to England, France, and the Virgin Islands as well as the western United States and California to paint.  Adelaide Deming was a member fo the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, and the American Watercolor Society as well as many other state and local artistic associations.

The Litchfield Historical Society has a large collection of Adelaide Deming’s works, many donated to the museum by the artist herself.   This is a facet of the collection, the museum is constantly seeked to expand and enrich with new acquisitions.

The first, an untitled winter scene believed to be of the Litchfield countryside was purchased by the museum from Shannon Fine Art Auctioneers in Milford, CT.   The painting had traveled back to Connecticut from a private owner in Arizona.

The painting is signed “Adelaide Deming” in the bottom right hand corner.

The second painting was also purchased by the museum but this time the staff did not have to travel quite so far.  One of the staff members happened into Traces Fine Art Gallery in Bantam, CT and spied a small painting by Adelaide Deming.   Upon further investigation, it was discovered the painting was done of a home on North St. in Litchfield known as the Corner House.   Also painted in winter, this small canvas adds to the Society’s collection of known buildings painting by local artists.

Both works will soon be on display in the Ching Reading Room located on the ground floor of the Litchfield History Museum.  Please feel free to stop by and see this two new acquisitions.