Collaboration between the Historical Society and the University of Delaware’s Museum Studies Department continues with the internship of Bridget Killian. Bridget is a third year Masters degree student in Art History and will also graduate with a Museum Studies Certificate. Her main focus is the history of photography, but she is also interested in the digitization of art and would like to teach at the grade school or high school level or work as a curator.
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Bridget was drawn to the University of Delaware because of their strong Museum Studies program and their specialization in American Art. The University of Delaware is also in the forefront of research on Material Culture which investigates the telling of history by the types of objects that people owned, what those objects did and how people interacted with them.
During her internship at the Historical Society she will be working closely with the Society’s curator, Lisa Dolor. Bridget hopes to learn how databases work and how to organize collections. She is also interested in our local history and is already learning about local landmarks as she works with her first collection of art. She says it will be useful to see how small non-profit organizations operate and how they manage their collections.
The Historical Society has a large art collection that ranges from 1700s oil portraits to Victorian era art made from hair. The Society is hoping to get this collection properly catalogued and into our museum inventory database. We also want to identify any preservation issues, especially with the oil portraits and make sure all the art is stored correctly. Bridget is starting with the oil paintings and watercolors by Mabel Hunt Johnson. Mabel Hunt Johnson studied painting at an art school in Cleveland, Ohio and her studio there was called The Phoenician Studio. She made her living with her art and painted murals in at least two Cleveland hotels. She also acted as an interior decorator for many private homes.
Mabel Hunt married George A.M. Johnson of North East, MD and established a studio near Leslie. Mr. Johnson was a talented maker of lawn ornaments which were in vogue during the 1930s. They also maintained a studio in Stuart, Florida. Mrs. Johnson painted many pictures of historic structures in the county such as Perry Point, Holly Hall, Bohemia Manor, Whitaker Mansion-Principio Furnace, Bohemia, Ellerslie, Gilpin Manor and Richards Oak. Included in the collection is a large oil painting of the Italian gardens in full bloom on the campus of Tome School. She also favored the wildflowers of Maryland and painted using both oils and watercolors.
Mrs. Johnson had a shy retiring nature and was a friend of Miss Corinne Jamar of Elkton, a noted miniaturist, and gave exhibitions of her paintings along with Miss Jamar’s art. Her work has been exhibited in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York.
Mrs. Johnson died in Coral Gables, Florida in 1940. She had one son, Allen Hunt Johnson, who was a landscape gardener in Florida. In 1960, Mr. Johnson made Florida his permanent home and at that time he presented the Historical Society with a large, representative collection of her paintings.
The Historical Society will be opening a new exhibit next year that will showcase fashion and fads through the decades. This exhibit was made possible by the University of Delaware Museum Studies SWAT team that worked at the Society in the beginning of this year to catalogue our textile collection. In order for us to display as many “fashions” as possible we are in need of mannequins. Please contact us at 410-398-1790 if you would like to donate to this exhibit.
