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Heritage Highlights
Selections from the Heritage Collection of Art & Artifacts
Nickerson Family Record, Ruth Nickerson, 1835
Heritage visitors and community members have asked to learn about Cape Cod stories. We listened! View a variety of folk art and everyday objects made by Cape Codders—everyone from silversmiths to watchmakers, students, and women.
Often, when a museum is founded by an individual, the idea is inspired by the urge to share a collection that they already have. What is somewhat unusual about Heritage, is that its founders, Josephine and Josiah Kirby Lilly III, created the museum first. Starting with items acquired from Josiah’s father’s estate and their own cherished autos, the Lillys went on to bring together an entire museum’s worth of objects and collections. This exhibit provides a glimpse into one answer to the question of “What should go in a museum?”
Today, Heritage’s collection focuses on what Mr. Lilly described as the “excellence and ingenuity of American craftsmen.” The collection is eclectic—from antique toys to decoy carving to paintings and sculpture. This exhibition presents a sampling of items that exemplify this breadth. No matter how disparate or disconnected these objects are, the connecting threads are the stories they tell.
John Baxter Trade Sign, c. 1890
Sandwich Fire Bucket, c. 1840-1860
Barnstable Cattle Show Broadside, 1848
Past Selections
Memorable Motifs
It is a defining human trait to make something not just functional but beautiful and interesting too. We humans don’t just make a boat or a weathervane or a jug. We decorate that object with meaningful pictures and designs. In Heritage’s collection, certain themes appear over and over again on all kinds of objects–from paintings to shop signs to antique toys. This year, we selected groups of objects that share a similar theme. How do these themes occupy a central spot in our lives? What do they reveal about our culture and ourselves? Featuring works by Martha Cahoon, Frank Vining Smith, Elmer Crowell, Hazel Blake French, and Currier & Ives, and more.
Ralph Cahoon and Peter Hunt
Peter Hunt and Ralph Cahoon are two artists whose work is synonymous with Cape Cod and who shared a love of antiques and history. Cahoon created paintings that are witty, winking nods to Cape Cod archetypes, dotted with sailors, mermaids, schooners, and more. With Peter Hunt, more is most definitely more. Inspired by traditional European painting traditions, he constructed and painted custom furniture and other items in a decorative style that he dubbed “peasant design.”
Works by Frank Vining Smith
Frank Vining Smith was well-known in the mid-twentieth century for his maritime paintings and clipper ships. He lived most of his life in Hingham, Massachusetts but was a frequent visitor to Cape Cod. Heritage’s collection contains paintings, sketches, and the contents of his studio. To learn more about Frank Vining Smith, click here.
The Carvings of A. E. Crowell
Anthony Elmer Crowell was a master craftsman and the greatest bird carver who ever lived. A lifelong Cape Codder, he lived a modest life with his family. His subjects were the things he loved: hunting, birds and wildlife. He translated his keen observations of those animals into beautifully naturalistic carvings–ones that could only be made by someone who had spent a lifetime living with and observing these subjects. To learn more about A. E. Crowell, click here.
