Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series
at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum

Funded by the Horatio Hall Whitridge and Gracia Grieb Whitridge Lecture Series Endowment

A Colonial Williamsburg Admissions Ticket, Museum Pass, or Good Neighbor Card provides access for the public for most lectures. See individual lecture descriptions for any additional ticket or reservation requirements.

• Next Lecture:

  Tuesday, May 28 at 5:30 p.m., Hennage Auditorium

  Foundlings, Philanthropy and Textiles in Eighteenth-Century London

  John Styles, Guest Curator

  Styles' lecture will describe the establishment of London's Foundling Hospital in 1741 "for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children" and the process of admission where mothers were encouraged to leave with their infant a small textile token as a means of identification and reclamation should her circumstances change. These swatches now form Britain's largest collection of everyday textiles from the 18th century and individually tell the story of a single abandoned infant and its mother.
  (1 hour)
  $5 program ticket required in addition to museum admission

• Wednesday, June 12 at 5:30 p.m., Hennage Auditorium

  The Foundling Hospital: Charity, Art and Music

  Jane King, Independent Scholar

  This lecture will describe the sudden rise of public and private charitable giving that benefited London's Foundling Hospital in the 18th century. This cultural phenomenon led to the financial involvement of respected Londoners including the devoted services of artist William Hogarth, a fundraising concert by Handel, and numerous influential public figures of the day.
  (1 hour)
  $5 program ticket required in addition to museum admission

Programs and exhibitions at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.