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Antiquarian Society

The Antiquarian Society continues a tradition begun well over a century ago to provide funding for acquisitions to the museum’s departments of American Art and European Decorative Arts.

Founded in 1877 as the Chicago Society of Decorative Art, the Antiquarian Society originally sought to help impoverished women master the skills of an honorable trade, particularly by training women artists and artisans in the applied arts. with the aid of teachers in drawing, painting, and needlework, the early Antiquarians embarked on improving the quality of women’s work and creating a market for it. Admiration for the resultant handiwork was so great that the society was invited to occupy rooms at the newly organized Art Institute of Chicago.
 
In 1888, Mrs. Mary E. Pode purchased the society’s entire stock of art objects and assumed all financial responsibilities for it. Later that year, a motion was made to allocate a portion of the accumulated funds for the purchase of a collection to donate to the Art Institute. On April 7, 1891, a proposal was sent to the board “that the money now in the treasury ... be applied to the purchase of articles pertaining to the Industrial Arts, such as pottery, china, embroideries, laces, etc., to be presented to the Art Institute and marked in such a way that credit should be given to the society for the gift.”
 
On November 10, 1894, the society was renamed Antiquarians of the Art Institute to more accurately reflect the future purpose of the organization. In 1908, the board decided to further alter the name to the Antiquarian Society of the Art Institute of Chicago.
 
The Antiquarian Society of today, having played an important role in fostering the early collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and subsequently assuring its continued growth through donations of funds for acquisitions, maintains the tradition of support through the continuing generosity of its members.

Membership in the Antiquarian Society is by invitation.

President
Mrs. Thomas J. Tausché

Vice President
Mrs. Philip S. J. Moriarty

Secretary
Mrs. Frank C. Schroeder III

Assistant Secretary
Mrs. Byron C. Karzas

Treasurer
Mrs. John J. Borland

Assistant Treasurer
Ms. Lynn Orschel   
 
Directors
Mrs. Keene H. Addington II

Mrs. Merrick J. Axel

Mrs. Philip D. Block III

Mrs. Samuel H. Ellis

Mrs. Robert H. Fesmire

Mrs. James T. Glerum

Mrs. Walter M. Mack

Mrs. Kurt Mancillas

Mrs. Andrew J. McKenna

Mrs. James E. Morris

Mrs. Charles F. Nadler

Mrs. Thomas E. O’Neill III

Mrs. James H. Schink

Mrs. Paul R. C. Sullivan

Mrs. William R. Tobey


President's Council
Mrs. James A. Alsdorf
Mrs. John A. Bross
Mrs. Edward Hines
Mrs. William R. Jentes
Mrs. John K. Notz, Jr.
Mrs. Richard J. L. Senior
Mrs. Morris S. Weeden
Mrs. George B. Young

Membership
Mrs. Gordon Lang, Jr.

Finance                                       
Mrs. John J. Borland                           
Mrs. Edward Hines                               
Mrs. William R. Jentes                                   
Ms. Lynn Orschel
Mrs. William R. Tobey

Programs/Workshops                                                              
Ms. Erica C. Meyer

Holiday Tea                                 
Mrs. Edward R Weed                                   
Mrs. Fred A Krehbeil
Mrs. Keene H. Addington                           
Mrs. Charles F. Nadler

Spring Luncheon                                   
Mrs. James H. Schink

Antiques Show                                   
Mrs. Richard M. Norton   

Greeters
Mrs. Gerald O. Strauch
Mrs. Jonathan A. Veeder   

Purchasing                                   
Mrs. Samuel Grober                                   
Mrs. Fred A. Krehbeil                                   
Mrs. John W. Madigan   

The following events are restricted to members of the Antiquarian Society and their guests. Unless noted, monthly programs begin with a lecture at 11:00 a.m., followed by a lunch at noon.


Early American Silver
October 9, 2012
Beth Carver Wees, curator of American silver, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Annual Meeting
November 13, 2012

Holiday Tea
December 11, 2012
2:00 p.m. lecture/3:00 p.m. tea

Biedermeier: The Invention of Simplicity
Laurie Winters, Milwaukee Art Museum 

The Gilded Age beyond New York
January 8, 2013

Ulysses Dietz, curator of decorative arts, Newark Museum


French Decorative Art: Mid-19th Century to World War I
February 12, 2013
Gabriel P. Weisberg, historian

Japanned Furniture Decoration in America
March 12, 2013

Ethan Lasser, curator, Chipstone Foundation


Paint, Pattern, and People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania
April 9, 2013
Wendy Cooper, curator of American furniture, Winterthur

Spring Luncheon
April 30, 2013
10:45 a.m. lecture/12:00 p.m. lunch

The Language of Interior Design
Alexa Hampton, Mark Hampton, LLC.

The Wallace Collection of Sèvres Porcelain
May 14, 2013

Rethinking the Wallace Collection: A Director Reminisces
Dame Rosalind Savill, director of the Wallace Collection, London

The following special events are restricted to Antiquarian Society members only.

Day Bus Tour
September 24, 2012
(maximum: 45)
Kelton House Farm, Fredonia, WI
Antiquarian member Joe Gromacki offers a tour of his exquisite collection of 17th- and 18th-century American furniture and decorative arts and 17th-century English needlework at his 18th-century New England salt-box home in Wisconsin.

Workshops

October 23, 2012
(maximum: 20)
Steuben Workshop
Monica Obniski, assistant curator of American decorative arts, Art Institute of Chicago

November 8, 2012
11:00 a.m. Ceramics
Antiquarian Harry Root
2:00 p.m. Silver
Ghenete Zelleke, curator of European decorative arts, Art Institute of Chicago








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