The story of Henry du Pont and the museum of Americana he envisioned.

The fourteen essays in this volume provide an important cross section of new research on the current state of American material culture scholarship. From Tupperware to stuffed owls, modern dolls to colonial portraits, the subjects that the authors study demonstrate that things provoke and sustain human dramas.

The story of Henry du Pont and the museum of Americana he envisioned.

"The culmination of Henry Francis du Pont's lifelong vision and passion for collecting, the Winterthur Museum houses the premier collection dedicated to American decorative arts. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Winterthur, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, presents an incomparable selection of masterpieces chosen according to the very principles espoused by du Pont himself: rarity, beauty, historical association and provenance. The result, An American Vision, offers an array of the vast riches of this remarkable museum."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This study of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century American glass is based upon the Henry Francis du Pont collection in the Winterthur Museum. Categories include ornamental vases, lighting devices and bottles. Most objects are shown life-size and each carries a physical description and brief history.