The dishes are stored in the Butler Pantry.
The photo above was taken in the 1960s. And the photo below
was taken in 2014.
When I became Curator in 2006, I had a great time going through the collection - the dishes, vases, glass pitchers and soup tureens and little glass souvenirs, and etc.. I carefully inspected each one, cleaned it, documented it and placed it back in the cabinet...arranging the pieces in a way that I considered to give it the best exposure.
Below is a corner of the Parlor as it looked in 1967...
...and this is a shot of the same wall, with a wider camera angle, in 2013.
(Photo Credit Judi Barr)
When I started visiting the museum many years ago, the parlor walls were painted a bright red, which was not unusual for Victorian décor, but the window treatments at that time were of poor quality and the walls were cluttered with way too much art work, portraits and framed documents having to do with local history. It was simply too busy. I remember the first time I visited after the "face lift" in 2000. Most of the interior rooms got new paint, wallpaper and window treatments and the new Curator thinned out a LOT of the clutter. I enjoyed browsing the rooms much more because I felt I could see much more!
