The AWI Museum
The American Watchmakers Institute (AWI) Orville =
&=20
Josephine Hagans Museum in Harrison, Ohio, contains =
some of=20
the famous Packard Collection.13=
=20
James Ward Packard (1863-1928), of the Packard car, =
had a=20
group of highly complicated watches made for him by =
the most=20
renowned European makers of the beginning of the =
twentieth=20
century, most notably by Patek, Philippe in Geneva. He =
originally intended them to be in a Packard Museum in =
Warren,=20
Ohio, then instead willed the watches to the Cleveland =
Museum=20
of Art. Just before he died in 1928 he changed his =
mind and=20
made his bequest to the Horological Institute of =
America that=20
became the American Watchmakers Institute. The Packard =
Collection was on display for many years at the =
Smithsonian=20
Institution in Washington, D.C., on loan from AWI. =
During=20
World War II it was moved to the Chicago Science =
Museum, then=20
traveled back to the Smithsonian. The AWI retrieved =
the=20
watches and some of them are still at the =
Institute=92s=20
headquarters, the Hagans Museum, but several of the =
most=20
complicated were sold back to Patek Philippe for =
Patek=92s 150th=20
anniversary.
The Bowdoin Museum of Art
In 1921 the Hon. James Phinney Baxter (1831-1921)=20
bequeathed his collection of 35 watches to the Bowdoin =
Museum=20
of Art in Brunswick, Maine. Current publicity for the =
Walker=20
Art Building of Bowdoin College makes no mention of a =
watch=20
collection; the collection is still housed there but =
it is in=20
storage. It may be seen by appointment.
Michigan State University Museum
The Paul Chamberlain watch collection is at the =
Michigan=20
State University Museum in East Lansing. Chamberlain, =
who died=20
in 1940, was an engineer by profession who became a =
renowned=20
watch historian and collector. Like Barclay Stephens, =
he did=20
not begin collecting until after World War I. His =
interesting=20
collection was supplemented by his seminal book about =
watches,=20
watch escapements, and watchmakers, It=92s About =
Time,14=
=20
which was published after his death. His collection is =
still=20
at the museum in East Lansing but it is not on =
display.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art owns the Ruth =
Allison Lilly=20
collection of pocket watches, bequeathed to them in=20
1973.15=
=20
Ruth Allison Lilly (1892-1973) was a generation later =
than the=20
Proctors. She was secretary to Ely Lilly and married =
him in=20
1927. Her important collection, covering four =
centuries of=20
watchmaking, has indeed been lovingly looked after and =
researched. Seventy-five watches from the collection =
were in a=20
special display at the museum in 1984. The whole =
collection is=20
installed in two locations on the first and second =
floors of=20
the museum.
The Dartmouth College Museum
The Dartmouth College Museum has the Hugh Grant=20
Rowell16=
=20
clock collection. Dr. Rowell (1892-1963) began =
collecting=20
clocks in 1931, again, later than the Proctors by a=20
generation. A graduate of Dartmouth, professor at =
Columbia=20
University, Director of the Philipse Castle =
Restoration and=20
the Sunnyside Restoration (the home of Washington =
Irving), Dr.=20
Rowell left most of his clocks to the Dartmouth =
College Museum=20
where they are on view and appreciated.
Dispersed Collections
What famous early collections have completely =
disappeared?=20
Most collections, in fact, did not stay together, =
either in a=20
house or in a museum. Instead they were dispersed, =
usually by=20
auction. The Henry Symons Collection was sold at =
auction by=20
the American Art Galleries in 1915. (Thomas Proctor =
may have=20
purchased at least one watch at this sale.) The Henry =
P.=20
Strause collection of clocks was on loan to the =
Virginia=20
Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. In 1937 the Museum =
offered=20
for sale A Catalogue of the Henry P. Strause =
Collection of=20
Clocks,17=
=20
a 72-page booklet listing 118 timekeepers, mostly =
tallcase=20
clocks by notable makers, all non-American. In 1948 =
Mr.=20
Strause died and the collection was sold at auction. =
In 1918=20
the American Art Galleries in New York advertised an=20
=93Executors Unrestricted Public Sale of the =
Collection of the=20
Late Charles Gregory,=94 consisting of watch chains, =
keys,=20
movements, antique and modern watches and clocks. In =
1926 the=20
collection of Lyman C. Flynt of Monson, Massachusetts, =
was=20
sold; in April of that year, an ad from W. & J. =
Sloan, New=20
York, offered clocks from the Lyman C. Flynt =
Collection; in=20
December of that year, the American Art Association in =
New=20
York further offered for sale 400 early American and =
foreign=20
clocks from the collection of Mr. Lyman C. Flynt (the =
auction=20
was conducted by Mr. 0. Bernet and Mr. H. H. =
Parke).
Other dispersed collections include that of Harry =
W.=20
Yassen, a jeweler in Chicago, who began collecting in =
1902 and=20
was still at it when he joined NAWCC in the 1940s. =
Short=20
notices about his collection appeared in the H.I.A. =
Journal in=20
1949 and 1950, then silence. The A. F. Pontz =
Collection was=20
sold at auction in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1951. =
The C.=20
Winthrop Brown Collection was sold at auction by =
Parke-Bernet=20
in 1940. Moore mentioned the collection of Frederick =
Lincoln=20
Crane of Boston, Kernwood Hill and Crane=92s Beach, =
Ipswich, who=20
owned Paul Revere's watch. Where is it now? |
So among the other early collections still together =
and on=20
view in their original site are the Tafts, Henry =
Ford=92s, Henry=20
Clay Frick=92s, and Henry Huntington=92s. The Taft =
Museum of Art=92s=20
collection shows the era=92s passion for collecting. =
The Henry=20
Ford Museum preserves a historic watchmaking =
perspective.=20
Among collections that have been kept together in =
other=20
museums and that are identified by donor are the Heinz =
Collection at the Carnegie Institute, the Ruth Allison =
Lilly=20
Collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the =
Hugh=20
Grant Rowell Collection at Dartmouth College. These =
latter=20
collections, dating from later in the twentieth =
century, have=20
their own venues, such as the clocks at Sturbridge=20
Village.
The Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute offers to =
the=20
public a rare and unusual opportunity to see a choice =
and,=20
above all, personal, hundred-year-old collection on =
site.=20
Lovers of clocks and watches should be attracted to =
MWPAI to=20
see the collection and to learn more about how it was =
to be a=20
collector nearly a hundred years ago.
Acknowledgement
I wish to thank the personnel of the museums =
discussed for=20
their help in disclosing the whereabouts today of =
these early=20
collections.
Notes
1 Munson-Williams-Proctor=20
Art Institute, Watches: The Proctor Collection, =
Utica,=20
1988.
2 Welcome Home =
to the=20
Taft Museum. Brochure published by the Taft Museum =
of Art,=20
Cincinnati, OH.
3 Jonathan W. =
Snellenburg,=20
=93Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Watches,=94 =
The Taft=20
Museum. European Decorative Arts (New York: Hudson =
Hills=20
Press, 1995).
4 Abby Schwartz, =
=93Swiss=20
Watches in the Taft Collection,=94 Glass on =
Metal, Vol.=20
18, No. 3 (October 1999): p. 51. The Enamelist =
Society,=20
Newport, Kentucky.
5 Tom N. Michels, =
=93Henry=20
Ford - The Collector,=94 NAWCC Bulletin, No. 54 =
(June=20
1954): p. 213.
6 Catalog of the =
Huntington=20
Art Collections, San Marino, CA, 1948.
7 N. Hudson =
Moore, The=20
Old Clock Book (New York: Frederick A. Stokes =
Company,=20
1911).
8 Collection of =
Watches=20
Loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art of the City =
of New=20
York by Mrs. George A. Hearn, Metropolitan Museum, New =
York,=20
1907.
9 Annals of =
the Carnegie=20
Museum, Vol. XII, No. 1, November 1917.
10 John M. =
Arthur, =93Echoes=20
of the Past,=94 Coleraine Constitution (January =
1983).
11 Robert S. =
Edwards, =93The=20
Cosmochronotrope, An Astronomical Clock at the =
Smithsonian,=94=20
NAWCC Bulletin, No. 252 (February 1988): p. =
3.
12 Urban =
Thielmann,=20
=93Early Giants: Doctor W. Barclay Stephens,=94 =
NAWCC=20
Bulletin, No. 229 (April 1984): p. 172.
13 Henry B. =
Fried, =93The=20
Packard Collection,=94 Hobbies (March 1972): p. =
144;=20
(April 1972): p. 154; (June 1972): p. 124; and (July =
1972): p.=20
124.
14 Paul M. =
Chamberlain,=20
It=92s About Time (New York: Richard R. Smith, =
1941).
15 Catherine =
Beth Lippert,=20
=93The Ruth Allison Lilly Watch Collection,=94 =
NAWCC=20
Bulletin, No. 229 (April 1984): p. 133.
16 Allen L. =
King, =93Dr.=20
Rowell and his Clocks,=94 NAWCC Bulletin, No. =
284 (June=20
1993): p. 274.
17 Henry P. Strause,=20
Collection of Clocks (Richmond, VA: Virginia =
Museum of=20
Arts, 1937).
|
Kathleen Pritchard has been a member of NAWCC =
since=20
1975. However, she participated in NAWCC =
activities with=20
her late husband Wilbur long before becoming a =
member=20
herself.
She spent her working career as a librarian =
and had a=20
librarian=92s curiosity as to why so little =
information=20
was available about Swiss watch companies. In =
1997, she=20
authored the two-volume work, Swiss Timepiece =
Makers=20
1775-1975. In 2000 she received the Prix =
Ga=EFa from=20
the Mus=E9e International d=92Horlogerie in La =
Chaux de=20
Fonds, Switzerland, for this work.
Kathy has a B.A. in Fine Arts from the =
University of=20
Toronto, and an M.A. from Harvard, also in Fine =
Arts=20
(museum work). She is a Fellow and a Silver Star =
of the=20
NAWCC and from 1982-1992 was an NAWCC Museum =
Trustee.=20
Kathy travels from her home in Bethesda, =
Maryland, each=20
week to the Library and Research Center at the =
NAWCC=20
where she volunteers her time and helps to =
answer=20
watch-related research questions. She was twice =
NAWCC=20
Volunteer of the Year, is a member of a number =
of NAWCC=20
chapters and has been both President and =
Secretary of=20
Chapter 12 and 120. She is also a member of the =
Answer=20
Box Team for the=20
=
Bulletin. | |
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