Do you ever wonder how museum collections develop over time? Here is how two historic house museums worked together to bring an object into context so that it left one collection for which it was unsuitable and became part of a different, more appropriate collection.
In 1955 the Hammond-Harwood House Museum purchased a New York-made mirror c. 1780 that had been owned by the Lansing family of Albany, New York.
This year, the mirror was selected for deaccession, which means that because it no longer fit with the museum’s interpretation as the home of an early 18th century Maryland family, it should be sold or placed with a different museum. Hammond-Harwood curator Rachel Lovett reached out to the Lansing Manor Museum in North Blenheim, New York, an 1819 home built by the Lansing family. It’s now owned by the New York Power Authority for the Schoharie County Historical Society, and they were happy to accept the piece as a donation into their museum collection. The piece is headed home to New York to be appreciated in its original context.
By Rachel Lovett, Curator
