2022-2023 Mansion Docent Training

Available below are the agendas, attendant readings, videos, and handouts for the 2022-2023 mansion docent training program. The content is organized by class topic. The list begins with the first class in the program.  

How to use the Reading Lists

  • All required readings that are articles and sections of books are made available online via this page. 
  • Titles that are bolded were distributed to the docents-in-training in August 2022 prior to the training’s start.
  • To access the readings for each class, click on the desired class topics to expand the page for a complete list of required reading. Click on the hyperlinks to access the videos, articles, or websites. 
  • Helpful tip: All Hillwood publications will include an accession number, which is a unique identifying number given to each object in the collection. The accession number can be located in the “tombstone,” which details artist/maker, location, dates, materials, etc. Using the accession number is the best way to search for the object on Hillwood’s collection database.

The secondary sources are seen as providing more in-depth study of particular subjects or general context. As such, you may think of them as a reading list for your continued education after the docent training is completed.

Handouts

Required Readings

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens’ website. www.hillwoodmuseum.org. Please peruse this website to understand the online content available to visitors, paying special attention to the “Estate” section, including “Marjorie Merriweather Post,” “Developing Her Taste,” Sir Joseph Duveen,” “Frozen Peas to Fabergé,” and “Life at Hillwood.”

Great Museums TV. “Riches Rivals & Radicals: A Hundred Years of Museums in America.” YouTube video. 56:42 minutes. Published December 11, 2009. Accessed September 7, 2022.

Kai-Kee, Elliot. “A Brief History of Teaching in the Art Museum.” Teaching in the Art Museum: Interpretation as Experience, 19-58. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Publications, 2014.

Ripley, Dillon. “Preview: The Collecting Instinct.” In The Sacred Grove: Essays on Museums, 17-23. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1967.

Handouts

Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Biography

Curator Lecture: Hillwood Volunteer Website. “Marjorie Merriweather Post: The Life Behind the Luxury.” YouTube video. 49:55 minutes. Published October 2019. Accessed September 7, 2022. 

Curator Lecture: Hillwood Museum’s Channel. “Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Biography.” YouTube video. 57:53 minutes. Published January 22, 2019. Accessed September 21, 2022.

A World Unique and Magnificent.” Life Magazine, November 5, 1965.

Bartlett, Arthur. “Profiles: Lady Bountiful-I, II, and III.” The New Yorker, February 1939. 

Brown, Stephanie. Marjorie Merriweather Post: A Timeline, 1887-1973. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum & Gardens, 2006.

Chung, Estella M. Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post, 51-72, 99-128. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens Foundation, in association with D. Giles Limited, 2013.

Chung, Estella M. Marjorie Merriweather Post: A Life Behind the Luxury. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens Foundation, in association with D. Giles Limited, 2019.

Graham, Katharine. A selection of readings [Stewart Alsop. “The Drama of Conflict from The Center (1968);” Anne Squire. “Don’ts in Washington from Social Washington (1929);” Perle Mesta. “Bigwigs, Littlewigs, and No Wigs at All from Perle, My Story (1960);” Constance Casey. “Memoirs of a Congressman’s Daughter from The Washington Post Magazine (1992)”]. In Katharine Graham’s Washington, 55-59, 122-124, 165-170, 229-240. New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.

Descendants of Charles William Post.” Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum & Gardens, 2022. 

Kurlansky, Mark. Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man, 166-174. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2012.

Martinelli, Megan. “Marjorie Post’s Beauty Rituals and Personal Care.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (May 2021 issue)

The National Museum of American Diplomacy (2021 online post). The Diplomatic Legacy of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (April 2021 issue)

The Oral History Research Office. The Reminiscences of Marjorie Merriweather Post. New York: Columbia University, 1964.

Tidwell, Mike. “The Best Democracy I’ve Known.” In American Legacy: Summer 2000.

Museum Visitors 

Falk, John H. “Calling All Spiritual Pilgrims: Identity in the Museum Experience.” Museum (Jan/Feb 2008): 62-67. Note: Updated link added 09.22.22.

Basic Concepts and Assumptions about Adult Learners. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.

Families at Hillwood: A Cheat Sheet. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.

The Learners and Learning List. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.

Perry, Deborah L. “The Anatomy of a Museum Visit: What Visitors Really Want.” In The Sourcebook: AAM 1994 Annual Meeting, 69-72. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 1994.

Rand, Judy. “The Visitors’ Bill of Rights.” Reach, August 1997.

Silverman, Lois. “Making Meaning Together: Lessons from the Field of American History.” In Transforming Practice: Selections from the Journal of Museum Education, 1992-1999, edited by Joanne S. Hirsch and Lois H. Silverman, 230-239. Washington, DC: Museum Education Roundtable, 2000.

Handouts 

Marjorie Merriweather Post and Staff at Hillwood

Curator Lecture: Hillwood Volunteer Website. “Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post.” YouTube video. 1:05:37 minutes. Published January 2019. Accessed September 7, 2022. 

Chung, Estella M. Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post, 23-50, 73-98. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens Foundation, in association with D. Giles Limited, 2013.

Higonnet, Anne. “The Golden Age of the Private Collector.” In 1995 Washington Antiques Show, 59-65. Washington, DC: Washington Antiques Show, 1995.

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Tour. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. This booklet is commonly referred to as Hillwood’s printed tour booklet. We recommend reading the printed tour booklet while walking the mansion/garden rooms. Note: only pencils (not pens) are allowed in the mansion.

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens’ Orientation Film. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Accessed on January 6, 2017. https://hillwoodmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit. The 16-minute visitor orientation film is embedded on the “Plan Your Visit” webpage. This film is shown in the visitor center theater during regular open hours (10 a.m. – 5 p.m.) on the quarter-hour.

Hillwood Museum’s Channel. “Living Artfully: Installing the Leaves in the Dining Room Table.” Hillwood staff installs the leaves in the dining room table for the 2013 special exhibition “Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post.” It is the first time the leaves have been used at Hillwood.

Hillwood’s Website. “Hillwood’s Rich Soil” and “Before Hillwood: A Brief History of this Land

Mansion and Garden Audio Tour Scripts. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, November 2016. This is a compilation of the scripts from the following audio tours: mansion, garden, family, French collection, and Russian collection. We recommend listening to the audio tour (the mobile app is available to download from Hillwood’s website), with audio script in hand while walking the mansion and garden rooms. Note: only pencils (not pens) are allowed in the mansion. The mansion is closed to the public for a deep clean for a few weeks in January and into early February.

Markert, Kate, Lynn Rossotti, Liana Paredes. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 2015. This book is commonly referred to as Hillwood’s “souvenir book.” Sections of this book (p. 29-50 and p.91-111) are organized by mansion or garden room. We recommend reading those sections while walking those rooms. Note: only pencils (not pens) are allowed in the mansion.

Post, Marjorie Merriweather. “Notes on Organization.” 1965.

Schwarzer, Marjorie. “Riches, Rivals, and Radicals: The Collectors who Shaped the American Museum.” Museum News, January/February, 2006.

Speck, Jason. “Recognizing Dedication: Honoring Former Hillwood Staff.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (March 2022 issue)

Zeisler, Wilfried. “A Holiday Season with Marjorie Merriweather Post.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (December 2021 issue)

Handouts

Required Readings

Gartenhaus, Alan. “Teaching with Questions.” The Docent Educator 1, no. 3 (1992): 2-3.

Marsh, Caryl. “Opening the Way for Questions: Techniques for Encouraging the Expression of Curiosity.” Northeast Training News 2, no. 2 (1980): 8-9.

Shuh, John Hennigar. “Teaching Yourself to Teach with Objects.” Journal of Education 7, no. 4 (1985): 8-15.

Handouts 

Required Readings 

Curator Lecture: Hillwood Volunteer Website. “Furniture and Furnishings and Small Precious Objects.” YouTube video. 1:20:02 minutes. Published October 11,  2022. Accessed October 12, 2022. 

Review previously assigned readings pertaining to furniture, furnishing, and small precious objects in the: audio tour script, printed tour booklet, and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (the “souvenir book”).

French Tapestries 

Hillwood Collection Database. “Tapestry with the Scenes “L’Operateur” and “La Curiosité” (41.1),“ Bacchus and Ariadne” (41.2), “Jupiter and Antiope” (41.3). Accessed September 9, 2022. http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/collection

Bremer-David, Charissa. “Chapter 12: Les Amours des dieux: Arianne et Bacchus et Bacchus changé en raisin (also called Bacchus and Ariadne with Jupiter and Antiope).” In French Tapestries & Textiles in the J. Paul Getty Museum, 120-127. Los Angeles, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997.

Bremer-David, Charissa. “Why Boucher? The Enduring Appeal of Boucher Tapestries.” In French Art of the Eighteenth Century at The Huntington, 285-308. Los Angeles, CA: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2008.

Getty Museum. “The Art of Making a Tapestry: The Tapestry Manufactory at the Gobelins, Paris.” YouTube video. 9:04 minutes. Published November 18, 2015. Accessed January 6, 2017.

Whitehead, John. “Chapter 10: Textiles.” The French Interior in the 18th Century, 199-210. London: L. King, 1992. 

French Furniture 

Catalogue entries 40-44; 46; 88-98 in A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum.

DeJean, Joan. The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Causal – and the Modern Home Began. New York, NY, 2009: Chapter 6

Getty Museum. “Construction of an 18-century French Mechanical Table (Oeben).” YouTube video. 2:40 minutes. Published September 28, 2012. Accessed September 7, 2022.

Hillwood Museum’s Channel. “Discover the Secrets of the Roentgen Rolltop Desk.” YouTube video. 1:26 minutes. Published on November 13, 2014. Accessed on September 7, 2022. Hillwood’s rolltop desk was included in the Met’s 2012 exhibition Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens and this video was created, along with many others, to showcase the furniture.

Khan Academy. “The Inlay Technique of Marquetry.” YouTube video. 2:34 minutes. Accessed September 7, 2022.

Khan Academy. “Unlocking an 18-century French Mechanical Table.” YouTube video. 2:40 minutes. Accessed September 7, 2022.

Koeppe, Wolfram. Catalogue entry 18. In Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens, Wolfram Koeppe and Reinier Baarsen, 94-97. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012. This attribution of the rolltop desk to Maria Antonia supercedes previous beliefs that this desk was intended for Marie Antoinette. This catalog citation is the most up-to-date information about the desk. For more about the Roentgens, see also Wolfram Koeppe’s lecture on November 18, 2014, as listed in the secondary reading list.

Paredes Arend, Liana. French Furniture from the Collection of Hillwood Museum & Gardens. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 2002.

Paredes Arend, Liana. “Furnishing Hillwood: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Passion for French Style.” Antiques, March 2003.

Paredes, Liana. “The Lure of Luxury: French Fashions and Trends in Eighteenth-Century Decorative Arts.” In A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum, Anne Odom and Liana Paredes, 54-67. Alexandria, VA: Art Services International, 1998.

Paredes Arend, Liana. “Two Commodes Attributed to Jean-Henri Riesener.” Hillwood Studies (Autumn 1994): 7-12.

The Art Institute of Chicago. “LaunchPad: Roentgen Marquetry.” YouTube video. 5:12 minutes. Published March 20, 2013. Accessed September 7, 2022. 

Tilles, Rebecca. “New Research on the Miniature Bed.” Post Serial Newsletter (Summer 2019 issue): 9

Zeisler, Wilfried. “An Imperial Rug Woven in France by Braquenié.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (November 2021 issue)

Russian Furniture 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Russian Nesting Tables.” Facebook video. 9:30 minutes. Published March 10, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Table from the Royal Porcelain Manufactory.” Facebook video. 9:19 minutes. Published January 13, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022.

Zeisler, Wilfried. “Recap of the Monighetti Cabinet Highlighted at the Volunteer Appreciation Reception.” Post Serial Newsletter (Summer 2019 issue): 12-13.

Zeisler, Wilfried. “Hillwood’s Grand Pianos.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (October 2021 issue)

Small Precious Objects

Emerson, Julie. “Vessels of Tradition: The Kovsh.” In Moscow: Treasures and Traditions, 104-107. Washington, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1990.

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Diamond Pendant Watch with Cipher of Catherine II.” Facebook video. 8:24 minutes. Published June 16, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Lady of Honor Insignia.” Facebook video. 6:85 minutes. Published March 24, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Lesser-Known Collection of Watches.” Facebook video. 5:28 minutes. Published February 17, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Maid of Honor Cypher Pin.” Facebook video. 8:01 minutes. Published February 3, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022.

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Objects from the Collection of the Mecklenburg-Strelitz.” Facebook video. 10:55 minutes. Published May 19, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Pendant Watch from Hillwood’s Lesser-Known Collection of Timepieces” Facebook video. 8:53 minutes. Published May 27, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022.

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Presentation Box Featuring a Miniature of Alexander II” Facebook video. 3:53 minutes. Published May 13, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Presentation Box Featuring Miniatures of Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodoronva.” Facebook video. 8:10 minutes. Published December 30, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Rock Crystal Seal” Facebook video. 3:14 minutes. Published April 20, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood Museum’s channel. “Etui from Splendor and Surprise, on view February 15 to June 7, 2015.” YouTube video. 1:53 minutes. Published February 12, 2015. Accessed September 7, 2022. Splendor and Surprise: Elegant Containers Antique to Modern was an exhibition at Hillwood that featured small containers, and several video labels were created. This one features an objet de vertu.

Hillwood’s Museum’s channel. “Russian Malachite at Hillwood.” YouTube Video. 1:02:08 minutes. Published October 13, 2020. Accessed September 19, 2022.

Kettering, Karen L. “Enamels from the Moscow Workshop of Mariia Semenova.” In Women of Metal: The 49th Washington Antiques Show, 81-88. Washington, DC: The Thrift Shop Charities, 2004.

Odom, Anne. Russian Silver in America: Surviving the Melting Pot, 10-17, 18-25, 182-205. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens Foundation; London: in association with D Giles Limited, 2011. Please pay special attention to the objects that are in Hillwood’s collection, as not all objects are Hillwood’s.

Odom, Anne. “Russian Enamels: From Kievan Rus to Fabergé,” 19-23. In Russian Enamels: Kievan Rus to Fabergé. London: Philip Wilson, 1996.

Paredes Arend, Liana. “Gold Boxes at Hillwood.” Antiques, March, 2003.

Snowman, A. Kenneth. “Introduction.” In Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1990.

Frameworks

Carson, Barbara G. “Interpreting History through Objects.” In Patterns in Practice: Selections from the Journal of Museum Education, edited by Susan K. Nichols, 129-133. Washington, DC: Museum Education Roundtable, 1992.

Miner, Susan. “An Object Lesson.” The Docent Educator 4, no. 3 (1995): 7.

Zimmerman, Philip D. “Introduction.” In Seeing Things Differently, 7. Winterthur, DE: Winterthur Museum, 1992; and Winterthur exhibition brochure “Perspectives on the Decorative Arts in Early America.”

Handouts

Required Readings 

Curator Lecture: Hillwood Volunteer Website. “Porcelain and Glass.” YouTube video. 1:26:10 minutes. Published October 14,  2022. Accessed October 17, 2022. 

Russia-General

Frommer, Frederick J. “Before Lincoln Issued the Emancipation Proclamation, This Russian Czar Freed 20 Million Serfs.” In Smithsonian Magazine, August 30, 2022.

Odom, Anne and Wendy Salmond. “Introduction: From Preservation to the Export of Russia’s Cultural Patrimony.”  In Treasures into Tractors: The Selling of Russia’s Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938, 3-31. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2009.

 Odom, Anne. “American Collectors of Russian Decorative Arts.”  In Treasures into Tractors: The Selling of Russia’s Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938, Anne Odom and Wendy Salmond, 265-290. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2009.

Odom, Anne. “Russian Patronage and European Culture.” In A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum, Anne Odom and Liana Paredes, 68-81. Alexandria, VA: Art Services International, 1998.

Roosevelt, Priscilla. Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Culture History, 2-31, 210-242, 245-267. Yale University, 1995

Porcelain and Glass-General

Review previously assigned readings pertaining to porcelain and glass in the: audio tour scripts, printed tour booklet, and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (the “souvenir book”).

Catalog entries 26-27; 29-30; 32-35; 37; 62-64; 66-77; 79-80; 83-84; 110-112; 114-117; 124-131; 133; 136; 138; 141; 148; 150; 152-154; 156; 161; 169 in A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum.

Zeisler, Wilfried. “New Acquisitions of Silver and Ceramics at Hillwood.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (September 2021 issue)

French Porcelain and Glass

McQueen, Alison. “Making their Marks: the significant roles and challenges for women in the first century of Sèvres porcelain.” American Ceramic Circle vol.XXI (2021).

Paredes Arend, Liana. A selection of sections: “Introduction,” “Chapter One: The Eighteenth Century,” an excerpt from “Chapter Two: The Nineteenth Century,” and an excerpt from “Catalog: Checklist of Entries.” In Sèvres: Then and Now: Tradition and Innovation in Porcelain, 1750-2000, 10-15, 16-59, 60-81, and 135-155. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 2009.

Paredes Arend, Liana. “Sèvres during the Revolution: A Yellow Service with Birds.” Hillwood Studies (Autumn 1993): 5-8.

Paredes Arend, Liana. Sèvres Porcelain at Hillwood. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 1998.

Tilles, Rebecca. “Hillwood’s Msytery Elephant Head Vases Newly Conserved and On Display.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (February 2022 issue)

Russian Porcelain and Glass

Anisimova, Elena, and Iriana Bagdasarova, et al. Main essay. In Dining with the Tsars. Fragile Beauty from the Hermitage, 18-47. Amsterdam: Hermitage Amsterdam, 2014.

Hillwood exhibition brochure. “Russian Porcelain and the Fine Art of Propaganda.”  

Hillwood Handout. Ukrainian Objects Newly Installed in Mansion, March 30, 2022.  

Kettering, Karen L.  Russian Glass at Hillwood. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum, 2001.

Kettering, Karen L. “The Magic Spell of the White Rose: Alexandra Fedorovna and the Cottage Service.” Hillwood Studies 6 (1999): 8-18.

Kettering, Karen L. “Porcelain and Private Life: The Private Services in the Nineteenth Century.” In At the Tsar’s Table: Russian Imperial Porcelain from the Raymond Piper Collection, Jerome Fortier, 25-28. Milwaukee, WI: Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 2001.

Odom, Anne. “Paintings on Porcelain Vases at Hillwood.” Antiques, March, 2003.

Odom, Anne. Russian Imperial Porcelain at Hillwood. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum, 1999.

Odom, Anne. “The Politics of Porcelain.” In At the Tsar’s Table: Russian Imperial Porcelain from the Raymond Piper Collection, Jerome Fortier, 10-22. Milwaukee, WI: Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 2001.

Ruby, Scott. “The Power of Porcelain: The Gardener Order Services for the Empress of Russia.” Ars Ceramica 23, (2007): 6-14.

Zeisler, Wilfried. “The New Russian Porcelain Installation, Summer Project.” Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Originally Published 2016, Updated 2022. (Note: Link updated 10.17.2022)

Handouts

Required Readings

Curator Lecture: Hillwood Volunteer Website. “Fabergé.” YouTube video. 1:04:22 minutes. Published October 14,  2022. Accessed October 17, 2022. 

Review previously assigned readings pertaining Fabergé and Russian metalwork in the: audio tour scripts, printed tour booklet, and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (the “souvenir book”).

Catalog entries 1013; 25; 50; 52; 55-61; 108; 118; 122-123; 132; 160; 162-164; 174-179 in A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum.

Birbaum, Franz. “Birbaum Memoirs.” In Fabergé: Imperial Jeweler, Géza von Habsburg and Marina Lopato, 444-461. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1994.

Hillwood Museum’s channel. “Faberge Clock Animated Label.” YouTube video. 1:47 minutes. Published February 19, 2015. Accessed September 7, 2022. Splendor and Surprise: Elegant Containers Antique to Modern was an exhibition at Hillwood that featured small containers, and several video labels were created. This one features Hillwood’s Fabergé clock.

Hillwood Museum channel. “The Firm of Faberge: Business, Clients, and Collectors.” YouTube video. 1:09:25 minutes. Lecture by Wilfried Zeisler. Published October 3, 2018. Accessed September 19, 2022.

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Fabergé Miniature Monument to Peter the Great.” Facebook video. 9:04 minutes. Published August 25, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Pair of Silver Candlesticks from the Firm of Fabergé” Facebook video. 6:24 minutes. Published July 1, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Snuffbox once belonged to the Yusupovs.” Facebook video. 10:53 minutes. Published October 14, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Post, Marjorie Merriweather. “Foreword.” In The Art of Karl Fabergé and His Contemporaries, Marvin Ross. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. While many object-specific details have been expanded upon or revised since its publication, this publication is important to the history of Hillwood’s collection.

Zeisler, Wilfried. Fabergé Rediscovered. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens; London: in association with D. Giles Limited, 2018. 

Zeisler, Wilfried. “Hillwood’s Hardstone Collection.” In Materials from the International Academic Conference at Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg. October 8-10, 2015, 119-124.

Required Readings

Zeisler, Wilfried. “Behind-the-Scenes: Mansion Cleaning.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (February 2022 issue)

Zeisler, Wilfried. The House and Collections of Marjorie Merriweather Post: The Joy of It. Washington, DC: Rizzoli Electa, 2022. (Note: Publication date is not until October 11, 2022)

Communication Skills for Docents. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.

Welcoming All: Creating an Inclusive Tour Experience. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.

Welcoming All: Engaging with Different Visitors. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.

Handouts

Required Readings

Chapman, Martin. “Cartier for Americans.” In Cartier and America, 11-41. San Francisco, CA: Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2009.

Kurtz, Howard. V., and Trish Donnally. Ingenue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion from the Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens; London: in association with D. Giles Limited, 2015.

Paredes, Liana. Spectacular: Gems and Jewelry from the Merriweather Post Collection. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens; London: in association with D. Giles Limited, 2017.

Ann Lowe

Major, Gerri. “Dean of American Designers: Frail New Yorker has Spent 50 Years Creating  Fashions for Nation’s Top Society.” In Ebony magazine. December 1966 issue.

Powell, Margaret E. “The Life and Work of Ann Lowe: Rediscovering “Society’s Best Kept Secret.” 2012. Masters dissertation,  Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts: The Smithsonian Associations and the Corcoran College of Art + Design.

Way, Elizabeth. “Laying the Groundwork: Ann Lowe.” In Black Designers in American Fashion, 37-43. London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.

Handouts

Readings

Review previously assigned readings pertaining to paintings and portraiture in the: audio tour scripts, printed tour booklet, and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (the “souvenir book”).

Catalog entries 1; 15; 49; 97; 100-102-103; 145-146; 150; 158-159; 185 in A Taste for Splendor: Russian Imperial and European Treasures from the Hillwood Museum.

Aurisch-Kessler, Helga. High Society: The Portraits of Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 3, 56, 170. Arnoldsche Art Publishers/ Museum of Fine Arts, Houston/Augustinermuseum Freiburg (2016)

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Portrait of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and the Painting’s Artists, Christina Robertson” Facebook video. 6:15 minutes. Published April 22, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood’s Facebook. “Wednesdays with Wilfried: Russian Portrait of Colonel Serge Oblensky.” Facebook video. 11:23 minutes. Published September 9, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2022. 

Hillwood Museum channel. “A Homecoming for Hillwood: A New Acquisition of 18th-Century French Portraiture and Highlights of French Painting from the Collection.” YouTube video. 52:18 minutes. Published September 7, 2018. Accessed September 19, 2022. 

Lloyd, Sandra Mackenzie. “Giving Objects Their Voice.” The Docent Educator 4, no. 3 (1995): 14-16.

Martinelli, Megan and Rebecca Tilles. “A Portrait and Its Frame: Two Fascinating Stories.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (April 2022 issue)

Petrova, Evgenia. “The New Era in Russian Culture: The 18th and the First Half of the 19th Centuries.” In Russia! Nine Hundred Years of Masterpieces and Master Collections, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 84-94. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2005.

Salmond, Wendy R., Russell Martin, Wilfried Zeisler. Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar’s Painter in America and Paris. Washington, DC: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens; London: in association with D Giles Limited, 2015. Hillwood published this book, and in 2016 presented an exhibition of the same title. For more about this publication, see also the multiple lectures that were recorded at the Makovsky symposium on February 27, 2016, as listed in the secondary reading list.

Salmond, Wendy R. Russian Icons at Hillwood. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum, 1998.

Taylor, Katrina V. H. “Portraits of Catherine the Great” and “Painting.” In Russian Art at Hillwood, 12-23. Washington DC: Hillwood Museum, 1988. Subsequent publications have superseded or expanded upon much since this book was written.

Tilles, Rebecca. “A New Attribution of Eighteenth-Century Portrait.” Post Serial Newsletter (Fall 2018 issue): 8-9

Tilles, Rebecca. “New Provenance Discovery of Eighteenth-Century French Portraiture.” Post Serial Newsletter (Fall 2019 issue): 9-11

Tilles, Rebecca and Wilfried Zeisler. “The Acquisition of Largillièrre’s Portrait of Monsieur de Puysegur.” Post Serial Newsletter (Spring 2018 issue): 1-2

Visitor Center Label from “Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar’s Painter.” Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 2016. This exhibition was on view in the mansion with special displays in the visitor center February 13-June 12, 2016. 

Display labels in Pavilion: “Portrait of Lloyd Patterson,” “Portrait of Countess Julia Samoilova with foster daughter Giovannina and Black Servant,” and “Alexander Pushkin, a Russian literary giant of African descent.” Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, April 7, 2022. These displays are currently on view in the pavilion.

Hillwood Collection Database. ““Clock Case (16.3),” “Portrait of Countess Julia Samoilova with Foster Daughter Giovannina and Black Servant” (51.73), “Portrait of Countess Julia Samoilova with Austrian Hussars.” (2016.1). Accessed September 9, 2022. http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/collection

Label about contemporary artists Cindy Sherman and Roberto Lugo from “The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present.” Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 2022. This exhibition was on view in the dacha with special displays in the mansion February 19-June 26, 2022. 

Tilles, Rebecca. “Two New Acquisitions of Contemporary Art at Hillwood.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (October 2021 issue)

James Patterson Portrait 

El-Hai, Jack. “Comrades We’ve Been Screwed.” SundayLongRead.com ( December 6, 2020).

Hillwood Museum’s channel. “Virtual Conversation | A Revealing Portrait: Discovering Lloyd Patterson.” YouTube video. 1:07:31 minutes. Published May 17, 2022. Accessed September 9, 2022. 

Zeisler, Wilfried. “Revealing Portrait: Discovering Lloyd Patterson.” Hillwood Volunteer Newsletter (April 2022 issue)

Handouts

Interpreting the Gardens and Estate on Mansion Docent Tours

Review previously assigned readings pertaining to Hillwood’s gardens in: audio tour scripts, printed tour booklet, and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (the “souvenir book”).

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. “Interpreting the Gardens-Mansion Connection on Tours.” 2023.

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. “The ‘Design-Features-Marjorie Post’ Framework for Docent-led Garden Tours.” 2019.

Handouts

Readings

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens’ website. www.hillwoodmuseum.org. Please peruse the website to understand the touring options, amenities, and policies relating to the visitor experience, paying special attention to the “Visit” section, including “Opening Hours and Tickets,” “Plan Your Visit,” “Hints and Tips,” “Merriweather Café,” COVID-19 Safety Guidelines,” “Facilities and Access,” and “Museum Shop.”

Volunteer Documents