Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Alice Winchester

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.winche93
Creators:
Winchester, Alice
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1993 September 17-1995 June 29
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
3 Sound cassettes
Sound recording (3 hrs., 46 min.)
analog
72 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Interview of Alice Winchester, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution at Winchester's home in Danbury, CT, September 17, 1993-June 29, 1995.
Scope and Contents
Winchester speaks of her childhood in the family of a Congregational minister in New England; attending Smith College (BA 1929) as had her mother and sisters; her junior year abroad in France; her clerical employment in New York City; her position as office secretary and then associate editor of "The Magazine Antiques"; working with Homer Eaton Keyes, its founding editor; learning about antiques; meeting many dealers, curators, and collectors (1930-38); her early years as editor of "The Magazine Antiques"; expanding the scope of the magazine, particularly to include articles on folk art and regular features on outstanding public and private collections; her highly specialized, though small, staff, including Helen Comstock; her close associations with important New York dealers, such as Israel Sack and his sons, Harold and Albert, and members of the Ginsburg and Levy firm; her role in establishing the annual Antiques Forum at Colonial Williamsburg; the importance of steady travel to view collections and meet collectors and curators; her several books on antiques; and the wealthy collectors she met, including Electra Havemeyer Webb, of Shelburne, VT. Winchester also recalls Henry Francis Du Pont, Mr. and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Flynt, Marshall and "Petey" Davidson, and Joseph Downs.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Alice Winchester (1907-1996) was an art editor and author of Danbury, Connecticut. Winchester was editor of the magazine, "Antiques," 1938-1951 and its successor "Antiques," 1951-1972; and curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1972-1974.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 46 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Magazine antiques (New York, N.Y. :1928) Title Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Antiques (New York, N.Y. : 1952) Title Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Editors -- New York (State) -- New York Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Antiques -- Periodicals Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Antiques Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art publishing Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Antique dealers Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Webb, Electra Havemeyer Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Keyes, Homer Eaton, 1875-1938 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Du Pont, Henry Francis, 1880-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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