Queries

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 2004 by Remi Spriggs

THE ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL is seeking applications for the eighteenth annual United States Capitol Historical Society Fellowship. This fellowship is designed to support research and publication on the history of art and architecture of the United States Capitol and related buildings. The proposed topic must relate directly to some element of art and architecture within the United States Capitol complex: the Capitol, the congressional office buildings, the Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court building, or the Botanic Garden. It may include studies of individual artists, architects, or other historical figures and forces. The research must involve the resources of the Architect of the Capitol or pertinent material in the Library of Congress, National Archives, or other collections identified in the proposal. Graduate students and scholars may apply for periods ranging from one month to one year. The stipend is $2,000 per month, up to a maximum of $24,000 for a full year. Applications must be postmarked by March 15, 2004. For further information or an application, please contact:

Barbara Wolanin

Curator

Architect of the Capitol

Washington, D.C. 20515

IN CONJUNCTION with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) Summer Institute on Early Southern History and Decorative Arts announces a call for papers for the fourth biennial Gordon Conference. Graduate students and scholars in fields relating to southern decorative arts and material culture from 1600 to 1850 are invited to submit proposals for the presentation of current research and scholarship. The conference will be held at MESDA in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on October 9, 2004. The proposals are due by March 1, 2004, and notification will be given by March 31, 2004. For further information, please contact:

Sally Gant

Summer Institute, MESDA

P.O. Box 10310

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

27108-0310

BUILT IN 1902, the Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts, was the country house of the writer Edith Wharton (1862-1937). She was also an influential authority on architectural, landscape, and interior design, and the house is the only complete expression of her design principles. In 1912 Wharton sold the Mount and some of its contents to Albert R. and Mary Strong Shattuck, who dispersed many of the furnishings in the succeeding years. In addition, the Shattucks' heirs auctioned French furniture and Brussels tapestries from the house at the Anderson Galleries in New York City in October 1935. In the 1970s the Foxhollow School, which owned the property from 1942 to 1976, sold the sculptures and furniture. Now a historic house museum and a National Historic Landmark, the Mount is in the midst of a major restoration campaign that will include refurnishing the interior to reflect Wharton's decade of residence. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of original furnishings, as well as items once owned by Wharton in general, is asked to contact:

Erica Donnis

Curator of Collections

The Mount, P.O. Box 974

Lenox, Massachusetts 01240

Edited by Remi Spriggs