The theme for Week 4 of My Home is a Museum project is “Secrets from Childhood”. This topic is in line with some of the controversial thoughts of our modern world, specifically those concerning the origin of Covid 19. Some theories assert it as a …
The theme for week 3 was “Masks”. I was excited about this theme as it refers to one of the most common items in our daily lives during these tumultuous times. I am pleased to share a thrilling response to the aforementioned prompt below. Olga …
Summertime is often the season when I, as I am sure many of our readers as well, will go and explore various museums. Seeing as how I am from Virginia, this usually means going to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts or the (newly renamed) Virginia Museum of History & Culture. One of my absolute favorite hidden gems in Richmond, however, is Agecroft Hall. A beautiful Tudor-era English manor house that was brought over piece-by-piece in the early twentieth century from its original place in England, Agecroft Hall is a unique blend of early modern architecture with modern conveniences (such as closets and radiators).
The tours that visitors are treated to at Agecroft are likewise an interesting mix of early modern English history and the estate’s twentieth-century history of how it made its way from England to the US due to the popular desires to have European-style homes. T.C. Williams, Jr., the man who purchased Agecroft and had it brought over to Richmond, actually wanted to create a kind of Tudor-style neighborhood surrounding Agecroft Hall (although this didn’t ultimately happen, Agecroft’s neighbor is likewise an early modern English-style home). Some visitors, I think, will be unsure of how to feel about a very historic English home being taken from its original grounds and brought over and adapted to fit 1920s standards of living; I know I at least was not sure what to think of this initially. However, Agecroft Hall was on the verge of collapse due to mining in the surrounding English countryside and had fallen into disrepair. So while extra closet spaces and radiators are perhaps not quite what is usually done in the maintaining of an historic house – indeed, nor is changing the entire floor plan, as Williams chose to do – at least Agecroft Hall was given a kind of second life as the home-turned-museum in Richmond, Virginia. This choice was also not made without much thought and care – Agecroft Hall only left England with the approval of Parliament after a debate.
For me, it is also so interesting to think of how much conservation and preservation work has developed from the time when Agecroft Hall was brought over to the US to today. I think that while the methods perhaps are not what would have been done now, that the spirit of wanting to ensure the survival – at least in some capacity – of a historically significant building is something that is in common between past and present efforts.
The museum also is such a wonderful opportunity to learn about and experience these kinds of historic houses that usually one would have to fly overseas to Europe in order to see. As my area of focus is early modern England, you can imagine my delight when I first went to Agecroft Hall. The majority of the museum is staged just as an early modern home would have been in its day, giving visitors an idea of what life in a manor house like Agecroft Hall would have been like for both servants and the family. Rich tapestries and wood furniture darkened with age; portraits of Elizabethan courtiers; a curiosity cabinet; herbals and King James I’s treatise on the evils of witchcraft; and, most exciting of all, a pardon with Elizabeth I’s own beeswax seal. These are only some of the wonderful artifacts on display at this fascinating historic house and I know I can’t wait to go visit again as soon as I can.
July 26th, 2020 marked the thirty-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which made it illegal to discriminate against people based on a disability in areas including, but not limited to, employment, transportation, and public services. In an article, called “A Brief History …
As we are entering into the third week of My Home is a Museum, it is time to announce the new theme. For week 3 our theme will be “Masks”. According to the author of the idea, people can share with any kind of mask …
The second week of My Home is a Museum project has come to an end. The time passed by really quickly, didn’t it? For this past week, I received two significantly different and yet really captivating submissions.
Interestingly both objects are connected with close family members. What are other connections that you spot?
Mahammad Kekalov
Baku, Azerbaijan
Bachelors student at Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC)
“I got this laminated calendar for my 15th birthday. I was in 10th grade and preparing for university, and my mom was talking about this secret gift she got me. She wouldn’t tell me what that was until it was time. I was surprised when I got this gift. I didn’t understand it. It is my grandmother, my aunt (her daughter) and I sitting down in our casual outfits. We were chatting and mom decided to take this picture. I didn’t know she would later use it to gift it to me.
I understand now what this gift means and why it’s important. It depicts the deep and valuable relationship I have with these people. We’re family here and the calendar is a celebration of our good family. My grandmother and my aunt both have helped me so much in my life and I’m grateful for that. I’m glad I have this calendar to remind me that every time I see it.
Connecting that with the theme, what really matters is our relationships and connections we have with people. We surround ourselves with people we value and we establish a thriving relationship with them that keeps us safe and sane. For me, the connection is important. I’ve had friends over the past years that at times we couldn’t really get along. But we keep coming back to each other, even after days of stress, disagreements, arguments, judgments and broken hearts because connections don’t fade away easily and connections are strong. When you have that link with someone, be it a friend, a relative, a close family member, things come and go, and the two of you stay.”
Abigail Lynn
Massachusetts, USA
Masters Student of Art History and Museum Studies at Tufts University
“My object is a blanket which my grandmother made for me when I was about four years old. A couple years after making the blanket my grandmother died and so the blanket became the strongest connection I had to her memory. Now that I am older, I still have this blanket and it continues to serve as a connection to my family. It is in times of struggle that we need our connections to our loved ones most. At times this connection is all that matters.”