Introducing Elisabeth Mallin

Earlier this year, Elisabeth Mallin became the 2017-2019 Decorative Arts Trust Associate Curator at the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS).

Elisabeth Mallin examining a Baltimore-made painted table that recently arrived at the Maryland Historical Society as a long-term loan.

Elisabeth comes to MdHS with an impressive list of accomplishments. An alumna of Yale University, she worked as a Warnock Fellow at the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell before obtaining a Master’s Degree from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. Her research interests brought her to a thesis topic on the construction of tall-case clocks in 18th-century Germantown, located outside of Philadelphia. After her studies at Winterthur, she gained further experience with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, first as an Andrew W. Mellon Intern in the curatorial department, and then as a Marshall Steel, Sr. Fellow in conservation, where she specialized in historic and reproduction upholstery under conservator Leroy Graves.  

In her first months at the MdHS, Elisabeth has commenced a survey of the furniture collection to identify its strengths and weaknesses. The major project during her tenure will be the revitalization of the museum’s furniture gallery. She will identify important pieces in storage that should go back out on display and develop connections between furniture and other decorative arts and family stories through installations within the gallery.  

In June, Elisabeth participated in her first Museum Committee meeting alongside her supervisor and mentor, Alexandra Deutsch, Director of Collections and Interpretation at the MdHS. They presented a strong group of potential acquisitions for the committee’s consideration and acceptance. In addition to her work on the furniture gallery, Alexandra has tasked Elisabeth with the initial evaluation of gift offers, and the two have already visited several collectors and new donors. She is also assisting in the final run-up to the October opening of the exhibit “Structure and Perspective: David Brewster and Maryland’s Social Landscape,” which highlights the work of a living artist.

The MdHS is Maryland’s oldest continuously operating cultural institution and includes a museum and the H. Furlong Baldwin Library. The organization occupies a complex centered around the historic façade at 201 West Monument Street, which has housed the society since 1919. The facility was expanded in 1953 and 1968 and completely renovated in 2003. In addition to maintaining the museum and library, the society has published the quarterly Maryland Historical Magazine since 1906.

With a collection of more than 350,000 objects, encompassing everything from decorative arts to the largest collection of works by the Peale family, to maritime objects, the institution has been at the forefront of outreach and educational programming since the early 20th century. Following the Civil War, the museum has also focused on collecting artifacts of the recent past, a process  explored in the recent exhibition “The What & The Why: Collecting at the Maryland Historical Society.”

We are thrilled to follow Elisabeth’s career for the next two years and will run an article detailing her work at the MdHS in our winter magazine. “Elisabeth is already contributing important work each and every day,” says Alexandra Deutsch. “She jumped into our preparations for an offsite costume exhibition, tackled an inquiry about Lannuier chairs, examined a fine Baltimore painted table (a wonderful soon-to-be acquisition!) and oriented herself with impressive speed to various projects we are tackling simultaneously, including a total revision of the Collections Policy. She is truly a perfect fit and is making such a difference to our everyday work in the department.”

The Trust is grateful for the generous support of our members and the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund for making this opportunity possible through the Emerging Scholars Program. Trust members will have the opportunity to attend a special program organized by Elisabeth in the coming year.