Displaying items by tag: colonial williamsburg

The Industrial Revolution drove countless American ceramics workshops out of business. Traces of these wares, whether well-preserved porcelain cups or smashed storage jars, are inspiring lectures and exhibitions.

From Sept. 18 through 20, “Declaring Independence: American Ceramics in the Making,” a conference at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, will discuss early producers from places ranging from Massachusetts to Alabama.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation — which runs a popular living history museum that brings the 18th century to life with actors and restored buildings — announced Friday that it has embarked on a $600 million fundraising campaign.

The foundation launched the private phase of the campaign in 2009 and says it has already raised more than $300 million toward its goal. The public phase begins Saturday, the foundation said.

Colonial Williamsburg is the world’s largest living history museum, with more than 400 restored or reconstructed original buildings in Virginia’s 18th century Williamsburg capitol.

Colonial Williamsburg got a big contribution toward an even bigger goal Thursday.

Susan and David Goode of Norfolk contributed $1 million for the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg to support efforts that include tours, teacher workshops and regular classes offered at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum's newly renamed Susan Goode Education Gallery.

According to Colonial Williamsburg spokesman Joe Straw, that's a contribution to the big plans the foundation has for the museums.

Maybe you have faded memories from many years or decades ago, of visiting an old house preserved as a museum — a stuffy, drab kind of place both physically and mentally. It felt like a place somewhat lost to time, stuck in a kind of historical coffin of its own design.

Fortunately, most historical house museums today, at least those of any renown, don’t fit that characterization. Even relic-filled places like Colonial Williamsburg have evolved with the times and especially the great strides made in historical preservation over the past couple decades, says Karen Daly, executive director of the Dumbarton House.