You can see this exhibit in the Dewitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum at Colonial Williamsburg, along with a few other items that came from Scotia. Read the labels and you?ll have a fun scavenger hunt around several of the exhibits there. (There?s a chair, some china, and a wafer iron for a start.)
Back in 1961, when J. Glen Sanders died, his widow, Pearl, decided to sell the house. It was hoped at first that the house and furnishings could be kept together, but when that didn?t work out, the house contents were sold separately to Colonial Williamsburg. The collection contains 218 items, plus manuscripts.
[At the time this provoked lively discussion and was quite controversial. I hope to put that story together for a future post?if you were in Scotia then and have stories you?d like to tell, please email me and we can get together!]
Last spring I was in Colonial Williamsburg and had a chance to meet with curators Angelika Kuettner, Kim Ivey, and Janine Skerry to chat about the collection and to view some of the artifacts in their storage facility.
Many items are being used in the historic houses and shown in the museums, and?I had a great time searching for them as I toured the various buildings. If you?re going to Williamsburg, get in touch and I can give you some tips.
[There is a catalog called ?The Glen-Sanders Collection from Scotia, NY,? published by Colonial Williamsburg in 1966. (A copy can be viewed at the Flint House.) ?A microfilm of the Glen-Sanders papers is available at the Schenectady County Historical Society. You can also explore the Glen-Sanders items that Colonial Williamsburg has online by searching for them at //emuseum.history.org/]