Oral history interview with Alice Winchester
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 46 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Winchester, Alice
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
label: Names
content: Du Pont, Henry Francis, 1880-1969
label: Names
content: Keyes, Homer Eaton, 1875-1938
label: Names
content: Webb, Electra Havemeyer
title: label: Topic
content: Magazine antiques (New York, N.Y. :1928)
label: Topic
content: Antiques (New York, N.Y. : 1952)
topic: label: Occupation
content: Editors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Antique dealers
label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Antiques -- Periodicals
label: Topic
content: Antiques
label: Topic
content: Art publishing
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Winchester, Alice
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Alice Winchester (1907-1996) was an art editor and author of Danbury, Connecticut. Winchester was editor of the magazine, "Antiques," 1938-1951 and its successor "Antiques," 1951-1972; and curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1972-1974.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Sound cassettes (Sound recording (3 hrs., 46 min.), analog)
label: Extent
content: 72 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1993 September 17-1995 June 29
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.winche93
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Interview of Alice Winchester, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution at Winchester's home in Danbury, CT, September 17, 1993-June 29, 1995.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Winchester speaks of her childhood in the family of a Congregational minister in New England; attending Smith College (BA 1929) as had her mother and sisters; her junior year abroad in France; her clerical employment in New York City; her position as office secretary and then associate editor of "The Magazine Antiques"; working with Homer Eaton Keyes, its founding editor; learning about antiques; meeting many dealers, curators, and collectors (1930-38); her early years as editor of "The Magazine Antiques"; expanding the scope of the magazine, particularly to include articles on folk art and regular features on outstanding public and private collections; her highly specialized, though small, staff, including Helen Comstock; her close associations with important New York dealers, such as Israel Sack and his sons, Harold and Albert, and members of the Ginsburg and Levy firm; her role in establishing the annual Antiques Forum at Colonial Williamsburg; the importance of steady travel to view collections and meet collectors and curators; her several books on antiques; and the wealthy collectors she met, including Electra Havemeyer Webb, of Shelburne, VT. Winchester also recalls Henry Francis Du Pont, Mr. and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Flynt, Marshall and "Petey" Davidson, and Joseph Downs.