Collector’s Day Creating Collections: Using Primary Documents to Build Narratives

Primary documents can provide a wealth of information about your collection. Sources like wills, inventories, letters and other documents help us gain an understanding of a collection, whether it is inherited or acquired. With these sources we can build the story of the objects in the collection or of the previous owner’s interests. We can learn about the construction of the collection objects and about the decorative, the intellectual, and the conventional aspects of each piece.

The Hammond-Harwood House Museum, an 18-century Anglo-Palladian house with a well-curated collection of American fine and decorative arts, will host Collectors’ Day, an afternoon symposium, on Saturday, November 3, 2018. Speakers at the event will focus on using primary documents to build and maintain a collection. In conjunction with the 2018 exhibition “Architect & Apprentice”, the symposium will feature two speakers – Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley and Paul Koch – with knowledge of collections that connect to the life of Hammond-Harwood House architect William Buckland (1734-1774).