- About [1]
- Board of Directors [2]
- Committee Members [3]
- 2012–2013 Calendar [4]
[5]
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.
[6]
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
[7]
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
[8]
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