The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware 19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Hughes, Judith Coolidge

Title: Judith Coolidge Hughes papers

Dates: 1957-1968

Call No.: Col. 875

Acc. No.: 10x24, 13x2, 14x62

Quantity: 5 boxes

Location: 18 L 7

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Judith Coolidge Hughes (Mrs. W. Gordon Hughes) lived in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Mrs. Hughes was interested in antiques and in shells. She was the daughter of Ethel Louise Warren and Marcus A. Coolidge, a United States Senator from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Judith Coolidge’s first husband was Robert Earl Greenwood, who served as mayor of Fitchburg. Her sister Helen Coolidge Woodring (married to Harry Hines Woodring, a politician who served as governor of Kansas) was an artist who began to make pictures with shells after sister Judith gave her some colorful specimens from her collection. Another sister was named Louise (married to Donald Carpenter).

Mrs. Hughes had at least three articles published in Antiques, as well as an article in The Shelletter of Shells and Their Neighbors (published Redlands, California). She drafted an article about Clifford W. Ashley, but it is not known if it was published. Clifford Ashley was an illustrator. Born in Massachusetts, he split his adult life between Wilmington, Delaware, and his home state. He is famous for The Ashley Book of Knots, first published in 1944, and considered the definitive work on the subject. In 1908, Ashley traveled to Jamaica in search of antique furniture. The story of that adventure was the subject of Mrs. Hughes’ article.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection includes rough drafts of articles by Mrs. Hughes on John Elliott, Jr.’s labels, mirrors, Clifford Ashley, and sailors’ Valentines; notes on the use of shells in art; and correspondence and notes pertaining to her research on mirrors, sailors’ Valentines and the John Elliotts, Senior and Junior, both of whom sold mirrors in Philadelphia. A number of the letters are Mrs. Hughes’ handwritten drafts, but letters to her are also found. The correspondence includes letters exchanged with Alice Winchester, the editor of Antiques, and with Helen Comstock, who was also on the staff of Antiques. Most of the notes pertain to mirrors, and Mrs. Hughes was especially interested in the subject of those which had been imported into the United States in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries having been made in northern Europe, not just in England.

ORGANIZATION

The correspondence arranged in chronological order where possible. (Most of Mrs. Hughes’ letters are undated drafts of letters.) Correspondence with Alice Winchester (and her assistant Elizabeth Stillings) and Helen Comstock is in separate folders from the rest of the correspondence.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

The materials are in English.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.

RELATED MATERIALS

Additional correspondence of Mrs. Hughes with Helen Comstock is found in Col. 44 (Helen Comstock papers) in this repository.

Papers of Clifford W. Ashley are held by the Delaware Art Museum and by the Archives of American Art.

ARTICLES BY MRS. HUGHES

“Sailors’ Valentines,” Antiques, Feb. 1961, p. 187-189

“Courting Mirrors: Another European Export Product?” Antiques, July 1962, p. 68-71

“The Labels of John Elliott Jr.,” Antiques, April 1967, p. 514-517

Article about sailors’ valentines in The Shelletter of Shells and Their Neighbors (published Redlands, Calif.), Feb. 1963

PROVENANCE

All accessions are gift of Judith C. Herdeg, niece of Mrs. Hughes.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

Ashley, Clifford W. (Clifford Warren), 1881-1947.

Comstock, Helen.

Elliott, John, Jr., 1739-1810.

Elliott, John, Sr., 1713-1793.

Wilmerding, William, 1762-1832.

Winchester, Alice.

Topics:

Antique dealers.

Antiques – Jamaica.

Mirrors.

Mirrors – History.

Mirrors – Pictorial works.

Sailors’ valentines (Shellcraft).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 18 L 7

Box 1:

Folder 1: Addresses, catalogs, and things (acc. 14x62)

Folder 2: Articles: handwritten and typed: includes John Elliott, Sr. and Jr., and Bilboa mirrors (acc. 14x62)

Folder 3: Ashley, Clifford W.: article about him entitled “Jamaican Adventure, 1908: A Ship Load of Antique Mahogany Furniture” (acc. 10x24)

Folder 4: Brochures and other publications (acc. 10x24)

Folder 5: Correspondence, 1957, 1965-1968 (acc. 10x24)

Folder 6: Correspondence, not dated, most probably 1965 (acc. 10x24)

Folder 7: Correspondence: Comstock, Helen, 1964-1965 (acc. 10x24)

Folder 8: Correspondence: Winchester, Alice, and Elizabeth Stillinger (Antiques), 1963-1965 and no date (acc. 10x24)

Folder 9: Drafts of articles about national parks (acc. 10x24)

Folder 10: Ellery Queen Magazine (acc. 14x62)

Folder 11: Elliot, John, Jr. (acc. 14x62)

Folder 12: “John Elliott, Jr.’s Labels”: notes and drafts (acc. 10x24)

Folders 13-14: Elliott, John, Sr. (acc. 14x62)

Box 2:

Folders 1-2: Hayward, Mary Ellen: thesis: “The Elliotts of Philadelphia” (acc. 14x62)

Folder 3: Elliotts: includes Winterthur correspondence (acc. 14x62)

Folder 4: Elliotts and others (acc. 14x62)

Folder 5: Letters, addresses (acc. 14x62)

Folders 6-7: “Long Elizas” [specific Chinoiserie figure on European delftware, includes letter from Ivor Noel Hume] (acc. 14x62)

Box 3:

Folder 1: Mirrors: Book I: all styles (acc. 14x62)

Folder 2: Mirrors: Book II (acc. 14x62)

Folder 3: Mirrors: Book IV: larger examples, plus a comment on fretwork styles (acc. 14x62)

Folder 4: Mirrors: Book V: Bilboa mirrors (acc. 14x62)

Folders 5-6: Mirrors: “Courting Mirrors and Related Looking Glasses” (acc. 14x62)

Folder 7: Mirrors: fretwork and filigree (acc. 14x62)

Folders 8-10: Mirrors: letters and notes (acc. 14x62)

Box 4:

Folder 1: Mirrors: miscellaneous notes and letters (acc. 14x62)

Folder 2: Mirrors: mostly in ads and articles (acc. 14x62)

Folder 3: Mirrors: “North European Export Mirrors: The Evidence and Some Suggestions” (acc. 14x62)

Folder 4: Mirrors: notebook (acc. 14x62)

Folder 5: Mirrors: “Old Truths that Aren’t So”: notes for article on mirrors (acc. 10x24)

Folder 6: Mirrors: sources of influence (acc. 14x62)

Folders 7-8: Mirrors: William Wilmerding (acc. 14x62)

Folder 9: Mirrors: William Wilmerding and northern European mirrors (acc. 14x62)

Folder 10: Mirrors and looking glasses (acc. 14x62)

Box 5:

Folder 1: notes from Gottesman, The Arts and Crafts of New York; includes pages from a German book (acc. 14x62)

Folder 2: “old papers and pictures, ships, Wilmerding: all junk” (acc. 14x62)

Folder 3: Philadelphia Blue Book (acc. 14x62)

Folder 4: quotes and Comstock article (acc. 14x62)

Folder 5: Sailors’ Valentines: articles and notes (acc. 13x2)

Folder 6: Sailors’ Valentines: correspondence (acc. 13x2)

Folder 7: Sailors’ Valentines: correspondence with Alice Winchester and The Magazine Antiques (acc. 13x2)

Folder 8: Sailors’ Valentines: photographs (acc. 13x2)

Folder 9: Shells: Notes on shells, trade, and shells used in art (acc. 10x24)

Folder 10: Publications: Delaware Antiques Show catalog for 1967;

Israel Sack, Inc,. catalogs, no. 14 (June 1966) and no. 19 (Nov. 1970)