Winterthur veteran gets endowed position

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library has announced a new endowed position: the Brown Harrington Director of Garden and Estate in honor of gifts from Winterthur Trustee Alice Cary Brown and from the late Elinore “Ellie” Harrington.

Chris Strand
Chris Strand

Chris Strand, who has led Winterthur’s Garden and Estate operations for 10 years, will assume the endowed leadership position immediately. An alumnus of the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program, Strand has also worked at Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, Callaway Gardens in Georgia, Denver Botanic Gardens, and Green Spring Gardens in Virginia. He was one of three co-curators of Winterthur’s blockbuster “Costumes of Downton Abbey” exhibit, said a Winterthur press release.

“Winterthur’s 60-acre naturalistic garden was designed by Henry Francis du Pont and is considered one of the finest in the nation. We know that with Chris Strand, the Brown Harrington Director of Garden and Estate will help to preserve the horticultural vision and legacy of H. F. du Pont through continuing excellence and beauty for generations to come,” said Brown in the release. “We are delighted that the Brown and Harrington names are linked through this position, as Ellie Harrington was a fellow garden advocate and a dear friend.”

Brown has been a member of the board of trustees since 2007 and has served as chairman of Winterthur’s Garden Committee and been an annual member of Winterthur’s Garden and Landscape Society. She was a vice president of the Garden Club of America and a GCA horticulture judge. In 2012, Alice Cary and her husband, W. L. Lyons Brown, a chairman emeritus of Winterthur, provided the funds necessary to create the Brown Horticulture Learning Center at the heart of Winterthur’s state-of-the-art horticulture education and programming campus.

Harrington was a resident of Wilmington, De., for many years and was a longstanding member of the Garden Club of Wilmington. She returned to Greenwich, Ct., after the death of her husband, Charles, in 1996. She was an award-winning member of the Greenwich Garden Club.

“Winterthur is deeply grateful to Alice Cary Brown and the late Elinore Harrington for their generous gifts, which have made possible the endowed Brown Harrington Director of Garden and Estate,” said Winterthur Director Dr. David P. Roselle in the release. “We congratulate Chris Strand for his appointment to this newly endowed post, which will serve as a lasting tribute to both Alice Cary Brown and the late Elinore Harrington while forging a solid bedrock for Winterthur to continue the exceptional horticultural legacy of Henry Francis du Pont.”

At Winterthur, H.F. du Pont created a garden of extraordinary beauty, complexity, and coherence. A master gardener, H.F. du Pont received the two highest awards given to non-professional horticulturalists in the United States: the Gold Medal of the National Association of Gardeners, and the Garden Club of America’s Medal of Honor. In presenting their award in 1956, the Garden Club of America proclaimed H.F. du Pont “one of the best, even the best, gardener this country has ever produced.”

Winterthur—known worldwide for its preeminent collection of American decorative arts, naturalistic gardens, and research library for the study of American art and material culture—offers a variety of tours, exhibitions, programs, and activities throughout the year. General admission includes a tour of some of the most notable spaces in the 175-room house, as well as access to the Winterthur Garden and Galleries, special exhibitions, a narrated tram tour (weather permitting), the Campbell Collection of Soup Tureens, and the Enchanted Woods children’s garden.

Tickets, which are $20 for adults, $18 for students and seniors, and $5 for ages 2–11, are valid for two consecutive days. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Winterthur is located on Route 52, five miles south of Route 1. For more information, including special services, call 800-448-3883 or visit www.winterthur.org.

 

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