Exploring America’s Beginnings in New York City

Our New York Antiques Weekend program in January 2026 delved into themes tied to the United States’s Semiquincentennial by visiting historic sites with pre-Revolutionary roots.

A Revolutionary Friday

On Friday, January 23, members gathered for a tour of Trinity Church at 89 Broadway, guided by church Sacristans and with a musical demonstration by the church’s organist, Avi Stein. Founded in 1697 at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway, the church was the city’s first Anglican parish. The current church building is the third to be constructed for the congregation and was designed by English architect Richard Upjohn in the Gothic Revival style. The nearby St. Paul’s Chapel opened in 1766 as an outpost for Trinity Church’s expanding community. An exquisite example of late Georgian architecture, St. Paul’s is the only 18th-century church remaining in Manhattan, and was the location where George Washington worshipped while living in the city.

The current Federal Hall Memorial at 15 Pine Street has a fascinating past. The original Federal Hall was finished in 1789 to host Washington’s first presidential inauguration and house the Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch offices. The current structure was developed as the Federal Customs House in 1842 and is a Greek Revival gem by the renowned architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis. National Park Service Ranger Jen Zehner shared details about this important site.

At the Fraunces Tavern Museum on Pearl Street, Education and Public Programs Manager Melissa Lauer offered insight on one of the most important meeting places of the Revolutionary era. The grand three-story brick building was constructed as a residence for the De Lancey family in 1719 and was variously used as a headquarters for George Washington, a venue for peace negotiations with the British, and federal offices in the Early Republic. We were fortunate to enjoy a convivial lunch at this historic site.

The afternoon included a visit to the South Street Seaport Museum and Bowne & Co. Stationers. Martina Caruso, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, showed us highlights of the museum’s superb collection of maritime art, navigational instruments, maps, prints, and historic vessels. Bowne & Co. boasts a heritage stretching back to 1775, and we were thrilled to observe demonstrations by Art Director and Operations Manager Rob Wilson. We even tried our hands at printing, taking home some exclusive, patriotic Decorative Arts Trust prints!

Saturday at the Winter Show

On Saturday, participants gathered at the Park Avenue Armory for tours of the Winter Show with Frank Levy from Levy Galleries, Kevin Tulimieri from Liverant Antiques, Jim McConnaughy from S.J. Shrubsole, and Kelly Kinzle from Kelly Kinzle Antiques. The incredible range of decorative and fine arts on display left us dazzled. Lunch in the Herter-Brothers-designed Board of Officers Room was followed by exclusive visits to an outstanding private collection of early-19th-century decorative arts and mid-to-late-19th century paintings and drawings. The festivities included partaking in an evening reception hosted by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation overlooking Central Park from the El Dorado. As snowflakes started to fall, we celebrated the conclusion of another successful New York Antiques Weekend!

Colloquium on a Snowy Sunday

Although Winter Storm Fern blew into town, Sunday’s Emerging Scholars Colloquium was a resounding success. Generously sponsored by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation and Mrs. Sandra A. Ayres, the 10th Annual Colloquium was held in the Park Avenue Armory’s Board of Officers Room.

Benjamin Prosky, Jenrette Foundation President, welcomed the audience, and handed the mic to Decorative Arts Trust Executive Director Matthew A. Thurlow for opening remarks commemorating the milestone anniversary of this event. Catherine Carlisle, the Trust’s Manager of Educational Programs, introduced the lecturers, beginning with Eric Birkle, the Marie Zimmermann Curatorial Fellow, European Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Birkle, whose position is supported by a Curatorial Internship Grant from the Trust, presented Highlighting the Edge: The Art of Picture Framing in Late 19th-century Toronto. Fosca Maddaloni-Yu, the Euchlin D. Reeves Curatorial Fellow in Ceramics at the Museums at Washington & Lee University, lectured about Practical Agency: Porcelain, Metalwork, and the Making of Transcultural Objects in the 16th Century. Maddaloni-Yu received a scholarship to participate in the Trust’s Japan Study Trip Abroad in September 2025. Jasper Martens, a PhD student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who received a 2025 Research Grant from the Trust, shared his research in the talk Dressing the Miniature: Costume, Identity, and Transformation in 17th-Century Netherlandish Portraits with Mica Overlays. Bethany McGlyn, a recent William Thompson Fellow at the Hampton Jenrette Foundation and a Graduate Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Age of Jefferson, Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia, presented A Room With A View: Visualizing the 19th-Century Danish Caribbean Interior. In recent years, McGlyn received a Trust Research Grant and participated in a Virtual Dialogue.

To celebrate the Colloquium’s tenth anniversary, we featured one of the speakers from the inaugural event in 2017! Emilie Gevalt, now the Deborah Davenport and Stewart Stender Deputy Director & Chief Curatorial and Program Officer at the American Folk Art Museum, presented the lecture Beyond Decorative: Girls’ Education, the Ornamental Arts, and the Shaping of Early American Identity. 

A Brunch Fundraiser for the Trust’s Emerging Scholars Program followed, and fortunately the host restaurant was a short jaunt through the scenic winter wonderland. A warm celebration among lecturers and attendees was the perfect conclusion to another wonderful weekend in New York City!