Becky FifieldJan 3, 20163 minRailroad Dreams: Danbury Railway MuseumIf you mourn the destruction of the late, great Pennsylvania Station in NYC, you’ll find this glass heralding the coming of the new...
Becky FifieldDec 30, 20152 minSamuel Adams’s Mother Was a FifieldRL Fifield vacuuming samplers with a dental vacuum in the old Textile Conservation Lab, MFA Boston, 2001. Back in the early aughts, I was...
Becky FifieldNov 5, 20152 minThomas Bewick, Newcastle Wood Engraver (1753-1828)Oil painting on canvas, Thomas Bewick (1753-1828). Cherryburn, Northumberland, National Trust. NT 530359. In digging through the British...
Becky FifieldFeb 27, 20152 minThe Pain of Mosul – A Preservation Professional’s PerspectiveI have spent my life caring for cultural heritage. As a museum collection manager, my work aims to preserve the physical and intellectual...
Becky FifieldJun 13, 20141 minMaryland Material Culture: Bushel BasketQuiz: What does a Marylander most often associate with a bushel basket? Sure, you can put fruit or vegetables in it (pick-ur-own or...
Becky FifieldNov 20, 20132 minA Philadelphia Servant, 1787The Accident in Lombard Street. Charles Wilson Peale. Winterthur Museum. 1962.88. A pie lays broken in the street, a distraught servant...
Becky FifieldAug 29, 20132 minCatering to Clients in an 18th Century Philadelphia ShopI spent July at a Research Fellowship at Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. This mainly meant identifying manuscripts and object...
Becky FifieldAug 26, 20133 minMuseum Monday: Museum-HaterDo we say “museums are not for everyone” and leave it at that? Or should we have meetings this Monday morning to figure out how our...
Becky FifieldAug 5, 20131 minMuseum Monday – Chester County Historical SocietyChester County Historical Society. In addition to Swarthmore College’s Friends Historical Library, Wednesday also took me to the Chester...
Becky FifieldAug 1, 20131 minDigging in the Archives: Swarthmore College’s Friends Historical LibraryMy time here at Winterthur is wrapping up. I took yesterday to visit two incredible local institutions, the Friends Historical Library at...
Becky FifieldJul 25, 20131 minA Squeal of Delight at the Indianapolis Museum of Art: Miniature DressesRL Fifield. I attended the American Institute for Conservation’s Annual Meeting in Indianapolis at the end of May. The opening reception...
Becky FifieldMay 30, 20132 minWhat I’ve Been Reading: Buying Into A World of Goods by Ann Smart MartinRead this great book on 18th century commerce in the backwoods of Virginia. Ann Smart Martin’s Buying into the World of Goods: Early...
Becky FifieldMay 21, 20132 minTrans. Tuesday: We Survived The Parade of TrainsJust barely. RL Fifield 2013. Dr. V. indulged my whim to visit the assemblage of historic trains at New York’s Grand Central Terminal...
Becky FifieldApr 12, 20132 minA Very Scary Moment in a Dark Alley: Trashing a Disney Princess KitchenI was scooting through my apartment building’s basement (a wonder in systems and architecture) on my way to pick up a package at the...
Becky FifieldMar 1, 20131 minHaplessly Crafty: Block PrintingA few samples of historically recreated printed textiles using modern materials. The folded squares at the front are handkerchiefs....
Becky FifieldFeb 14, 20132 minCurious Objects: Portrait Collages at the National Portrait GalleryCollage of engraved portraits on exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in “A Will of their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of...
Becky FifieldJan 18, 20132 minOn the Subject of Duck…Picture postcard of duck hunting in a sink box at Havre de Grace, Maryland. Duck is tasty. It was popular fare in New York’s...
Becky FifieldDec 21, 20122 minShifting Garment Styles, 1750-1790: What Research and Sketching Have in CommonI roll over this analogy in my mind as I work with my study of 1,000 runaway indentured and enslaved women and their 6,000 garments,...
Becky FifieldDec 17, 20122 minMuseum Monday: Beethoven’s BirthplaceHas anyone else been outraged by the clips on WNYC when they ask people on the street “Who is Beethoven?” followed by soundbites of...
Becky FifieldDec 8, 20121 minA Lesson in Water Conservation – from MartiansThe Leaky Faucet features two of the weirder Muppets, The Martians. Their octopus-like lower halves are topped with wide flexible mouths...