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History and Mission

History Hunters

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At last week’s Logan Awards Dinner, the @nscdapa honored three outstanding individuals who have made a lasting impact in the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania: the legacy of Esther Ann McFarland, Councilmember Kendra Brooks, and Karin Wulf, PhD. Proceeds from the Dinner provide critical support for the preservation of Stenton and for History Hunters, the museum’s award-winning educational program for Philadelphia schoolchildren. We’re especially grateful to our Presenting Sponsors, Fiduciary Trust and the George C. and Esther Ann McFarland Foundation. We can never say thank you enough to everyone who joined us at this beautiful celebration to support our work at Stenton. We can’t do it without you! Visit https://www.stenton.org/supporters for a complete list of sponsors.

Photos by: @rashiid.marcell

At last week’s Logan Awards Dinner, the @nscdapa honored three outstanding individuals who have made a lasting impact in the Philadelphia region and Pennsylvania: the legacy of Esther Ann McFarland, Councilmember Kendra Brooks, and Karin Wulf, PhD. Proceeds from the Dinner provide critical support for the preservation of Stenton and for History Hunters, the museum’s award-winning educational program for Philadelphia schoolchildren. We’re especially grateful to our Presenting Sponsors, Fiduciary Trust and the George C. and Esther Ann McFarland Foundation. We can never say thank you enough to everyone who joined us at this beautiful celebration to support our work at Stenton. We can’t do it without you! Visit https://www.stenton.org/supporters for a complete list of sponsors.

Photos by: @rashiid.marcell

Looking or Pier Glass
Mirrored (tin-mercury amalgam) glass, secondary wood, and later, possibly restored gilding
England
1700-1730
Courtesy of the @philahistory; Bequest of Maria Dickinson Logan to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in memory of Albanus Charles Logan, 1939.

According to the 1752 James Logan probate inventory, there was a large looking glass valued at £8 in the Stenton parlour. The James Logan Account Book page included here tells us that Logan imported a large looking glass for £6 for his own use in 1712. Could this looking glass be one of these two?

This 67” high by 26” wide pier glass fits comfortably inside the field of the raised panels in the Stenton parlor which measure 69” by 30.” If indeed the glass hung at Stenton, the wall opposite the doors to the room is a natural position where looking into the mirror visually expanded the depth of the house. Almost every ground-floor and second-floor room at Stenton included a looking glass. They lent visual interest to interiors and were often hung on the piers between windows. Functionally, they served as lighting devices, doubling the effect of candlelight by reflecting it around a room at night. Until the late 18th century, large looking glasses could only technically be achieved with at least two pieces of glass.

#Logania250

Looking or Pier Glass
Mirrored (tin-mercury amalgam) glass, secondary wood, and later, possibly restored gilding
England
1700-1730
Courtesy of the @philahistory; Bequest of Maria Dickinson Logan to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in memory of Albanus Charles Logan, 1939.

According to the 1752 James Logan probate inventory, there was a large looking glass valued at £8 in the Stenton parlour. The James Logan Account Book page included here tells us that Logan imported a large looking glass for £6 for his own use in 1712. Could this looking glass be one of these two?

This 67” high by 26” wide pier glass fits comfortably inside the field of the raised panels in the Stenton parlor which measure 69” by 30.” If indeed the glass hung at Stenton, the wall opposite the doors to the room is a natural position where looking into the mirror visually expanded the depth of the house. Almost every ground-floor and second-floor room at Stenton included a looking glass. They lent visual interest to interiors and were often hung on the piers between windows. Functionally, they served as lighting devices, doubling the effect of candlelight by reflecting it around a room at night. Until the late 18th century, large looking glasses could only technically be achieved with at least two pieces of glass.

#Logania250

Cheerful pops of yellow on this gloomy October morning 🌼

Cheerful pops of yellow on this gloomy October morning 🌼

Visit Stenton this October for lectures, a dec arts workshop, a chocolate making demo, and of course, our Halloween Harvest Festival! For more details and to RSVP, visit the link in our bio or www.stenton.org/programs

October 10th, 10:00 AM -2:00 PM - A Stenton Symposium - Coffee, Camelia and Cacao: Caffeinated Beverages in the Atlantic World - $20 tickets includes lectures, lunch, and workshop!

October 10th, 2:00-3:00 PM - Second Saturday Chocolate Making Demonstration with Mary Crathorne - FREE program plus FREE house tours beginning at 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00pm.

October 24th, 1:00-3:00 PM - Stenton's Halloween Harvest Festival with special guests - @phillygoatproject

Visit Stenton this October for lectures, a dec arts workshop, a chocolate making demo, and of course, our Halloween Harvest Festival! For more details and to RSVP, visit the link in our bio or www.stenton.org/programs

October 10th, 10:00 AM -2:00 PM - A Stenton Symposium - Coffee, Camelia and Cacao: Caffeinated Beverages in the Atlantic World - $20 tickets includes lectures, lunch, and workshop!

October 10th, 2:00-3:00 PM - Second Saturday Chocolate Making Demonstration with Mary Crathorne - FREE program plus FREE house tours beginning at 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00pm.

October 24th, 1:00-3:00 PM - Stenton's Halloween Harvest Festival with special guests - @phillygoatproject

Sometimes it’s the little things….

Spoons
Pewter
Unknown place of manufacture
Unknown craftsperson
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

On the James Logan 1752 probate inventory, the Logan family Pewter Press was then worth one pound. At the time, the press contained: “ 2Doz[en] & 3 Dishes,” “5 doz[en] Plates,” and “3 Old Water Plates & 1 Bason.” No mention of spoons. The Pewter Press that descended to Robert Restalrig Logan (1874-1956), on loan to Stenton from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, has six spoon slots. These four pewter spoons descended to Maria Dicksinson Logan (1857-1939) of Loudoun. Bringing objects with Logan family histories into conversation with each other at Stenton offers a sense of satisfaction in restoration. In this instance, installing the spoons into the slots in the Press offers a most satisfying moment, like a key fitting into a lock, opening a connection to everyday life nearly three hundred years ago.

#logania250

Sometimes it’s the little things….

Spoons
Pewter
Unknown place of manufacture
Unknown craftsperson
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

On the James Logan 1752 probate inventory, the Logan family Pewter Press was then worth one pound. At the time, the press contained: “ 2Doz[en] & 3 Dishes,” “5 doz[en] Plates,” and “3 Old Water Plates & 1 Bason.” No mention of spoons. The Pewter Press that descended to Robert Restalrig Logan (1874-1956), on loan to Stenton from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, has six spoon slots. These four pewter spoons descended to Maria Dicksinson Logan (1857-1939) of Loudoun. Bringing objects with Logan family histories into conversation with each other at Stenton offers a sense of satisfaction in restoration. In this instance, installing the spoons into the slots in the Press offers a most satisfying moment, like a key fitting into a lock, opening a connection to everyday life nearly three hundred years ago.

#logania250

As the season quickly changes, we are looking back on the last few weeks of summer, when Stenton’s greenspace supported the truly magical life cycle of monarchs. From eggs and caterpillars on milkweed to chrysalises and newly hatched butterflies safely tucked under a piece of wood, it’s amazing what the right habitat can bring! #stenton #greenspace #nature #monarch #monarchcaterpillar

As the season quickly changes, we are looking back on the last few weeks of summer, when Stenton’s greenspace supported the truly magical life cycle of monarchs. From eggs and caterpillars on milkweed to chrysalises and newly hatched butterflies safely tucked under a piece of wood, it’s amazing what the right habitat can bring! #stenton #greenspace #nature #monarch #monarchcaterpillar

Tureen or Soup Dish
Chinese-export porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Jingdezhen
c.1740-1750
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

This mended, round soup tureen survived above ground with Logan descendants who cared enough about it as a family heirloom to repair it with both staples and cement. Sarah Logan’s 1754 probate inventory tells us the Logans had a “large enamelled Soup Dish.” As this blue and white one does not have overglaze or enameled decoration, like reds, greens, or gilding, this one is not the one listed among Sarah’s possessions at her death. Stenton is delighted and grateful, nevertheless, to include it among the family objects on loan from the Loudoun collection on display in the Parlour buffet.

You can see more of the Stenton ceramics, both excavated and inherited family objects, by going to our CatalogIT database, which is linked to our website: https://www.stenton.org/collections-database

#Logania250

Tureen or Soup Dish
Chinese-export porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Jingdezhen
c.1740-1750
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

This mended, round soup tureen survived above ground with Logan descendants who cared enough about it as a family heirloom to repair it with both staples and cement. Sarah Logan’s 1754 probate inventory tells us the Logans had a “large enamelled Soup Dish.” As this blue and white one does not have overglaze or enameled decoration, like reds, greens, or gilding, this one is not the one listed among Sarah’s possessions at her death. Stenton is delighted and grateful, nevertheless, to include it among the family objects on loan from the Loudoun collection on display in the Parlour buffet.

You can see more of the Stenton ceramics, both excavated and inherited family objects, by going to our CatalogIT database, which is linked to our website: https://www.stenton.org/collections-database

#Logania250

Dish
Chinese-export porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Jingdezhen
c.1740-1750
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

That the large Loudoun dish featuring a willow tree and bridge and geese around the border matches two smaller plates excavated at Stenton offers added assurance to the Logan provenance of the large dish. The three dishes may appear on Sarah Read Logan’s 1754 probate inventory as, “2 Large Blue & White China Dishes,” worth 15 shillings, and “3 smaller ditto…[Blue & White China Dishes] valued at 12 shillings.

Stenton is fortunate to have ceramics, largely porcelain, that survived above-ground, having passed down through generations of the family. Stenton also has an amazing trove of pre-1760 archeological artifacts, excavated from a cistern beyond the original kitchen and laundry in 1982, representing a variety of ceramic bodies -- English, Chinese, and Philadelphia-made. Many mended vessels are returned to the house on exhibit.

#Logania250

Dish
Chinese-export porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Jingdezhen
c.1740-1750
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

That the large Loudoun dish featuring a willow tree and bridge and geese around the border matches two smaller plates excavated at Stenton offers added assurance to the Logan provenance of the large dish. The three dishes may appear on Sarah Read Logan’s 1754 probate inventory as, “2 Large Blue & White China Dishes,” worth 15 shillings, and “3 smaller ditto…[Blue & White China Dishes] valued at 12 shillings.

Stenton is fortunate to have ceramics, largely porcelain, that survived above-ground, having passed down through generations of the family. Stenton also has an amazing trove of pre-1760 archeological artifacts, excavated from a cistern beyond the original kitchen and laundry in 1982, representing a variety of ceramic bodies -- English, Chinese, and Philadelphia-made. Many mended vessels are returned to the house on exhibit.

#Logania250

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