Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) in New Paltz, NY, is presenting a special exhibition, “Silver by DuBois Makers from the William Bowen Astrop Collection,” in the Fireplace Room at the DuBois Fort Visitor Center through December 17.
Holloware made by five different silversmiths, each descended from New Paltz patentee Louis DuBois, are being displayed, including items dating from the late 18th century through the mid-19th century by Abraham DuBois and Benjamin Franklin DuBois, both of Philadelphia; brothers Joseph and Teunis D. DuBois of New York and New Jersey; and Philo DuBois who worked in the Buffalo area.
This collection of fine silver — including a cream jug, sauceboat, knee buckles, snuff box, and flatware — was gifted to the HHS Permanent Collection by the William Bowen Astrop Family in 2022. The exhibition is complemented by a selection of early 19th-century documents from the Teunis D. DuBois Family Papers held in the HHS Archives.
These selections include letters relating to the untimely death of Teunis’s first wife Sarah Vanderveer in 1806, the War of 1812, and an outbreak of dysentery in 1826, as well as an account book of Rev. Benjamin DuBois, the father of Joseph and Teunis DuBois.
The exhibition “Indigenous Woodsplint Baskets” also remains on view through December 17, featuring several fine examples of the type made by Native Peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands.
Visitors will also see the recently conserved paintings by 19th-century itinerant portraitist Ammi Phillips of prominent New Paltz residents Dirck D. Wynkoop and his wife Annatje Eltinge.
The exhibitions are free and open to the public. The DuBois Fort Visitor Center is located at 81 Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York. Fall hours are Saturday and Sunday: 10 am-4 pm, with a break from 1 pm-2 pm to allow for the staff to take lunch (Closed Mondays-Friday).
Photo: Sauce boat, ca. 1785, by Abraham DuBois (American, 1751-1807).
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