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Description: Mrs. Delany and her Circle
~Mrs. Delany and her Circle, both as a book and an exhibition, has benefited immeasurably from the support of many institutions and the expertise of many individuals. The editors and curators are deeply indebted to the friends and colleagues at the Yale Center for British Art, Sir John Soane’s Museum, and elsewhere who have provided advice, enthusiasm, and...
Author
PublisherYale Center for British Art
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00085.003
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Acknowledgments
Mrs. Delany and her Circle, both as a book and an exhibition, has benefited immeasurably from the support of many institutions and the expertise of many individuals. The editors and curators are deeply indebted to the friends and colleagues at the Yale Center for British Art, Sir John Soane’s Museum, and elsewhere who have provided advice, enthusiasm, and much practical assistance.
This exhibition began in the spirit of generosity unfailingly demonstrated by Ruth Hayden and her extended family, who allowed us to document and study their Delaniana. Our first thanks go to Ruth as well as Robert Whytehead, Penelope J. W Poullain, Priscilla Whytehead, Sue Hewitt, and others who wish to remain anonymous, but have generously agreed to share their collections.
At the Royal Collection we wish to express our gratitude to Sir Hugh and the Hon. Lady Roberts; at Historic Royal Palaces, to Lucy Worsley and to Joanna Marschner, to whom we owe special thanks both for sharing her invaluable knowledge of court dress and royal palaces and for hosting a gathering of the authors of this volume.
In following Mrs. Delany’s peregrinations through the great houses she frequented we have been assisted by the curators of collections that she once knew. For their help in this regard we would like to thank Amanda Askari, Brendan Cole, and Emma Tate at Knowsley Hall, Merseyside; Dr. Kate Harris at Longleat House, Wiltshire; and Derek Adlam at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire.
In Great Britain and in the United States we have had the privilege of working with colleagues in the natural sciences who have invariably enriched the intellectual scope of this project. At the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow we would like to thank warmly Geoff Hancock and Maggie Reilly. At the Natural History Museum, London, we are grateful to Mark Adams, Malcolm Beasley, Steve Cafferty, Andrea Hart, Mary Spencer Jones, Judith Magee, Jane Smith, Clare Valentine, and Kathie Way. At Chelsea Physic Garden, we would like to thank Rosie Atkins and her colleague Ruth Stungo. At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we were assisted by Christopher Mills and Lynn Parker, and at Painshill Park Trust by Karen Bridgman, Kathleen Clark, and Mark Ebdon. We received much helpful advice from staff at the LuEsther T. Mertz Library and the New York Botanical Garden, including Karen Daubmann, Todd Forrest, and Marc Hachadourian. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of our colleagues at Yale’s Peabody Museum, Susan H. Butts, Eric A. Lazo-Wasem, Raymond J. Pupedis, Lourdes M. Rojas, and Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell, as well.
We have been guided throughout the project by John Edmondson and his colleagues both at the World Museum Liverpool and at the Linnean Society of London. We are grateful, too, for the inexhaustible botanical acumen of Charles Nelson. Their contribution to the entire book in terms of rigorous scientific insights and editorial support cannot be overstated.
Research for this project was pursued in numerous libraries and archives. We are indebted to the staffs of these institutions, including those of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University; the British Library; the Heinz Archive of the National Portrait Gallery, London; and the Newport Reference Library. We are also grateful to the staff of Bernard Quaritch, Ltd. We would like to thank particularly Lisa Decesare and Judith A. Warnement at the Harvard University Herbaria; David J. Griffin at the Irish Architectural Archive; Margaret Powell, Cynthia Roman, Sue Walker, and the rest of the staff at the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University; Saundra Taylor and Cherry Dunham Williams at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington; and Brent Elliot and Annika Erikson Browne at the Lindley Library, Royal Horticultural Society.
This exhibition would not have been possible without the gracious support of the British Museum. Here, we are indebted to the enthusiasm of Neil MacGregor, the cooperation of Antony Griffiths, the expertise of Helen Sharp and Kim Sloan, and the invaluable contributions of Mark McDonald and the Merlin Scanning Team: Allan Chin, Christopher Coles, Barbara Freitas, Claudia Fruianu, and Nicoletta Norman. At the National Gallery of Ireland we benefited from both the assistance and the deep knowledge of Anne Hodge and Adrian Le Harival. In our research for this exhibition we were privileged to draw on the goodwill of numerous colleagues at a broad range of museums, including the staff of the Pierpont Morgan Library and the Museum of London. We would like to give special thanks to Clare Browne and Julius Bryant at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Alex Kidson at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; V Barwell at No. 1 Royal Crescent Museum, Bath; Sandy Nairne and Lucy Peltz at the National Portrait Gallery, London; and Peter Greenhalgh and David Scrase at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. We would also like to thank our colleagues at the Yale University Art Gallery: John Stuart Gordon, Patricia E. Kane, Jock Reynolds, and David Ake Sensabaugh.
The editors and authors would also like to express their thanks to the following people, who have contributed to the individual conversations, symposia, panels and workshops which have formed and enriched this project: Brian Allen, Louisa Calé, Michele Cohen, Juilee Decker, Henry A. DePhillips Jr., Elizabeth Eger, the Knight of Glin, the Hon. Desmond Guinness, Craig Ashley Hanson, John and Eileen Harris, Tim Knox, Stephen Lloyd, Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, Julia Marciari Alexander, Amy Meyers, Lisa L. Moore, Victoria Munroe, Charles Nelson, William Palin, Molly Peacock, Claude Rawson, Jason Siebenmorgen, and Jane Wildgoose. We would also like to thank Lowell Libson for advice and logistical assistance.
Mrs. Delany and her Circle has been propelled by the exemplary staff of the Yale Center for British Art. The editors would like to thank without reservation Eleanor Hughes, Assistant Curator in the Department of Exhibitions and Publications; the intrepid Anna Magliaro, Publications Assistant; Diane Bowman, Senior Administrative Assistant; and Postdoctoral Research Associates, Jo Briggs and Andrea Wolk Rager, the latter of whom provided indispensable support in the final stages of the exhibition process. For their advice and support throughout we would like to express our gratitude to Cassandra Albinson, Associate Curator of Paintings and Sculpture; Gillian Forrester, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings; Matthew Hargraves, Assistant Curator of Art Collections Documentation and Research; and to Scott Wilcox, Chief Curator of Art Collections and Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, along with the staff of the Department of Prints and Drawings, especially John Monahan, Senior Curatorial Assistant, and Adrianna Bates, Curatorial Assistant. We would like to thank Elisabeth Fairman, both in her capacity as Senior Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts and for her role as organizing curator for the installation entitled Promiscuous Assemblage, Friendship, & the Order of Things, by the artist Jane Wildgoose, that accompanies this exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art. We also would like to thank her colleagues Maria Rossi, Senior Curatorial Assistant, and Bekah Dickstein, Curatorial Assistant.
We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Kraig Binkowski, Head Librarian, and the entire staff of the Reference Library at the Yale Center for British Art for their incalculable contributions to this project. Our conception of the book and exhibition have been similarly aided by the staff of the Center’s Research Department, including the former Head of Research, Michael Hatt; Associate Head of Research, Lisa Ford; and Imogen Hart, Postdoctoral Research Associate.
It has been a pleasure and an honor to work closely with the Center’s Paper Conservation Department. We owe thanks to the entire staff, but would like particularly to mention Chief Conservator of Paper, Theresa Fairbanks Harris; Associate Conservator, Dong-Eun Kim; Conservation Assistant, Mary Regan-Yttre; and Kohleen Reeder, formerly Postgraduate Research Associate and now Book and Paper Conservator at J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Special thanks go to Stephen Saitas, who designed the wonderful installation of the exhibition at the Center, and in the process did much to help the curators refine their vision of the project as a whole. We also would like to thank Installation Manager, Richard Johnson and the installation team at the Center, as well as Lyn Bell Rose, Senior Graphic Designer, and Elena Grossman, Graphic Designer, for their characteristically brilliant execution. We have had the pleasure of working with Jason Siebenmorgen on the special botanical installation that also accompanies the exhibition at the Center; our thanks go to him and to the many people at the institution who have made this part of the project possible.
We have been fortunate throughout this project to work with a number of extraordinary Yale undergraduates, including Rachel Cooke; Adam T. Gardener; and Diana Mellon, who joined our team as a Bartels fellow. Their assistance has been invaluable and their contribution palpable in every aspect of Mrs. Delany and her Circle.
As the editors, we would like to extend heartfelt and personal thanks to Mary Gladue, copy editor, Catherine Bowe, editorial coordinator, and Sally Salvesen, Publisher, at Yale University Press, London. If the reader finds elegance or good humor here, they are in large measure responsible. We would also like to thank John Hammond, whose wonderful photographs adorn many pages of this book.
The transferral of the exhibition to Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, has been made possible by generous support from the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation and Mrs. Shelby White via the Leon Levy Foundation. We would also like to thank Jerzy J. Kierkuć-Bieliński, Exhibitions Curator, at Sir John Soane’s Museum, as well as Mike Nicholson and Claudia Celder of the Soane Development Office for their tireless work in securing funding.
Mark Laird and Alicia Weisberg-Roberts
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