Published Articles
Carlyle Connection - Winter 2015
There is nothing more charming than the image many Americans today have of eighteenth century life during the winter season -- the family gathered around a blazing fire...and presumably, cozy warm. The historical record, however, reveals that image of warmth and comfort is more imaginary than reality. As Mrs. Royal Tyler wrote in her memoirs late in the nineteenth century, “Truly the people of this age know little of the horrors of winter.”
Carlyle Connection - Spring 2015
Last year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation adopted a new Collections Management Policy (CMP) and widely promoted it at professional conferences and in national publications as a model to house museums and historic sites to resolve some of their stewardship challenges.
Carlyle Connection - Summer 2015
As most of you know, John Carlyle owned at least three area plantations in addition to his properties in Alexandria. Jim Munson’s book and other writings go into some detail discussing Torthorwald, but only briefly mention Lymekilns and Bridekirk, indicating that their exact locations are unknown. A little bit of sleuthing reveals both locations, as well as several other properties owned by Carlyle.
Carlyle Connection - Fall 2015
The Mansion House Hospital, which incorporated the 1753 home of John Carlyle and the large building in front of it, was a place of strife and suffering during the Civil War. Alexandria, the longest occupied Confederate city, epitomized what it meant to pit brother against brother. It is a legacy of divisiveness that is still apparent today as we struggle to grapple with what the Civil War meant then and now. Inside the Union-controlled hospital, one found struggles as well. Female nurses were verbally abused and criticized. Soldiers struggled against disease and illness, often serving only to find their pension claims denied. Everyone at the hospital missed home and peacetime.
Interpreting the Objects of Carlyle House: The Curator’s Perspective - December 2015
One of my first courses in college about museums was entitled “Dimensions of Material Culture” and was taught by a leading expert in the Decorative Arts field, Ann Smart Martin. Professor Martin was team-teaching the course with my favorite undergraduate professor, Jean Lee, who has consulted with Mount Vernon on slavery, culture in the 18th century, taught courses about the American Revolution and written a book on Charles County and Saint Mary’s County, Maryland.
Interpreting the Objects of Carlyle House: The Educator’s Perspective - September 2015
One of the advantages of working at a historic house museum is that we never run out of stories to tell. From the family to the architecture we are able to share with visitors a compelling biography of those who inhabited Carlyle House. How are we able to keep the stories of a dwelling older than the United States new and fresh to our visitors? The answer is simple: the objects.
Carlyle House: An Early Docent Remembers - August 2015
I’ve long thought that docents at Carlyle House Historic Park, even those proudly sporting 5, 10, and 15-year service pins, would benefit from learning more about the early days of the site’s latest incarnation as a museum. After some cajoling, a knowledgeable source of information about those days, Janice Magnuson, recently agreed to be interviewed for this docent newsletter article. She also shared copies of some early docent newsletters.
The Secondary Staircase in the Carlyle House: A Rarity in Side Passage Design - July 2015
In many eighteenth century Virginia houses a secondary staircase, usually situated in the “private” or domestic side of the house and not visible to visitors, provided discreet access to each level of the house, frequently including the cellar/servants’ hall, the ground and upper floors, and often the attic spaces where servants may have slept. The staircase was also often located near an exterior entrance providing access to the kitchen yard. This “hidden” staircase was essential to maintaining the level of gentility sought by the refined Virginia gentry. It was by way of this “discreet” passage that servants carried arduous chamber-pots and soiled linen on a daily basis to avoid offending the sensibilities of visitors or the rest of the family.
Docent Dispatch - May - May 2015
Docent Dispatch - April - April 2015
Prologue to the “Grandest Congress” and Braddock’s Ill-Fated Expedition” - March 2015
John Carlyle tendered his resignation from the Ohio Company in 1749 – two years after it was formed in 1747 in order to secure substantial land holdings in the Ohio Valley area for its investors.
Keeping Warm in Early America: The Carlyle House - February 2015
Winter for the Carlyle family of Alexandria, Virginia was no doubt uncomfortable. It made little difference that their house was constructed substantially of sand stone or that it had more fireplaces for heating than most other dwellings in town. Those very fireplaces, lacking dampers, allowed heat loss up the chimney and chilling down drafts of cold air when fires were not kept. The structure’s numerous multi-paned windows added further to winter’s intrusion. High ceilings, beneficial for summer living, only served to make rooms more difficult to heat in the winter. In short, life for the Carlyle family, like that of their neighbors, became highly constricted - limited to that part of the house that could be kept relatively warm.
John Carlyle and the Scots in Colonial America - January 2015
Introduction: John Carlyle was born to Rachel Murray Carlyle and William Carlyle in 1720. His family had a long and distinguished heritage of Scottish ancestors. He could trace the Carlyle lineage back to Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland in the 14th century, whose sister, Lady Margaret, married a William Carlyle. It is surmised, based on John Carlyle’s oft-times phonetic spelling in his letters, that he spoke with a lowland Scottish accent [1]. He was one of many merchants of Scottish heritage that were active in commerce and in public life in English Colonial America, especially in the Middle Atlantic colonies.
