Craig Lukezic to discuss Fort Casimir, established by the Dutch in 1651 in what is now New Castle, Del.

Bottle fragments from Lewes, Del.’s Roosevelt Inlet Shipwreck traced to the venerable wine estate.

EXHIBIT CLOSED on June 14, 2014.

EXHIBIT CLOSED on June 14, 2014

From Sept. 27, 2013 to June 14, 2014, the exhibit “Forging Faith, Building Freedom: African American Faith Experiences in Delaware, 1800-1980” was on display at the Delaware History Museum in Wilmington. The exhibit honored the faith experiences of Delaware’s Black community and its contributions to the development of religion in the United States including a commemoration of the bicentennial of the African Union Methodist tradition and the August Quarterly, the nation’s oldest African-American religious festival.

“Forging Faith, Building Freedom: African American Faith Experiences in Delaware, 1800-1980” was created through a partnership between the curatorial staff of the Delaware Historical Society, which researched and wrote the exhibit narrative and organized loans of exhibited objects; and the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ Collections, Affiliates, Research and Exhibits (CARE) Team which designed, fabricated and installed the exhibit.

The partnership with the Delaware Historical Society is one of several in which the division has participated in recent years. These partnerships have had great success in creating new opportunities for the agency to serve the public in communities where it has not previously had a presence. Partnerships help fulfill the division’s mission by shining a spotlight on Delaware history, enhancing leisure and educational opportunities for the state’s residents, stimulating tourist visitation leading to economic growth and job creation and expanding public awareness of the importance of preserving and protecting Delaware’s historical and cultural legacy.

Recent division partnerships have resulted in exhibits and displays at the Bethel, Laurel and Seaford historical societies; the Lewes and New Castle historical societies, the Rehoboth Art League and Dover’s Schwartz Center for the Arts, the Rehoboth Beach Museum and the Smyrna Rest Stop and Delaware Welcome Center Travel Plaza.

EXHIBITS CLOSED on Sept. 22, 2013.

EXHIBITS CLOSED on Sept. 22, 2013

“Dealing in Symbols: Profundity and the Human Figure,” an exhibit of works by noted Wilmington sculptor Charles Parks; and “USS Delaware: An American Battleship,” an exhibit on the USS Delaware (1909-1924) told through objects, photographs and ceremonial silver, closed on Sept. 22, 2013. Planned and created by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, the exhibits were on display at the First State Heritage Park Welcome Center and Galleries, Delaware Public Archives building, 121 Duke of York St. in Dover, Del.

EXHIBITS CLOSED on Aug. 25, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2013 respectively.

EXHIBITS CLOSED on Aug. 25, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2013 respectively

During 2013 the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs’ Collections, Affiliates, Research and Exhibits (CARE) Team loaned nearly 60 works of art from the state’s collections to two of Delaware’s most prominent arts organizations—the Rehoboth Art League and the Schwartz Center for the Arts.

Working in partnership with the Rehoboth Art League, located at 12 Dodds Lane in Rehoboth Beach, the CARE Team helped to create the exhibit “Memories of Jack Lewis,” a career retrospective on the beloved artist whose work captured Delaware’s unique history, places and people. Lewis died on Aug. 19, 2012 at the age of 99. The exhibit was on display from July 19 to Aug. 25, 2013.

The state of Delaware owns more than 400 of Lewis’ works from every period in his career including a set of monumental murals which adorn the upper walls of both the Senate and the House of Representatives chambers in Legislative Hall, and numerous paintings which grace the walls of public buildings across the state including Buena Vista, the Carvel State Office Building and the Townsend Building. In addition to the loan of more than 30 of Lewis’ works for the Art League’s exhibit, the CARE team matted and framed each of the paintings and created the descriptive labels that accompany each work.

The partnership with the Rehoboth Art League is one of several in which the division has participated in recent years as part of its Affiliates Program which utilizes professionals from the division staff—including exhibit designers, curators, editors, museum managers, archaeologists and historians—who work with history- and heritage-based organizations throughout Delaware to develop joint programs and exhibits, including potential display of items from the state’s collections. The program has had great success in creating new opportunities for the division to serve the public in communities where it has not previously had a presence. Other organizations that are participating in the Affiliates Program include the Historic Odessa Foundation, Middletown Historical Society, Laurel Historical Society, Seaford Historical Society, Bethel Historical Society, the Rehoboth Beach Museum and the Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware.

At the Schwartz Center for the Arts, located at 226 S. State St. in Dover, the CARE Team created an exhibit of works by Hispanic artists from the Norma Varisco de García Collection which was donated to the state of Delaware in 2012. The exhibit featured 17 paintings by American, Puerto Rican, Argentinean and Mexican artists including five works by Juan Perez, a Guatemalan native who now lives in Georgetown, Del. The exhibit was on display from Aug. 5 to Dec. 31, 2013.

About the collections of the state of Delaware…

The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs conserves a significant collection of historic materials owned by the state of Delaware including museum objects, archaeological artifacts, works of art, library and archival materials and oral histories which are utilized in developing exhibits and educational programs that illuminate the state’s historical and cultural legacies for the benefit of present and future generations.

Although the state’s collections are featured prominently in division-sponsored exhibits, the sheer number of items makes it impossible for all of the materials to be formally displayed at one time. In order to maximize public access to the collections, the division loans items to museums across Delaware and the nation, and manages a program that places collections objects in government offices and public buildings across the state. Examples of this partnership include the display of murals at the Delaware Veterans Home and Delaware Public Archives; the placement of historical furnishings at Woodburn, the Governor’s House and at the Buena Vista Conference Center; and the display of various paintings and furnishings in Legislative Hall, at the Governor’s three offices and in courthouses across the state. The division hopes to make even more items from the collections available for public viewing in coming years.

Beginning on July 20, 2013, C-SPAN, the public-affairs television network, will be posting 13 television segments on its website featuring the literary life and history of Delaware’s capital city of Dover. The segments can be viewed at the following Web address: www.c-span.org/LocalContent/Dover. C-SPAN will also be broadcasting the segments on non-fiction book channel BookTV (on […]

Beginning in July 2013, the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs began the process of simplifying the design of its e-newsletter to make it more compatible with hand-held computing devices such as smart phones and tablets. During the first phase of the transition process which will begin with the August 2013 edition, newsletter articles […]

On Monday, Aug. 26, 2013 at 6:30 p.m., the Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware will present “Free Black Communities of the 19th Century,” a dual lecture conducted by cultural-heritage consultant Janet L. Sheridan who will discuss Marshalltown which was established circa 1830 in Salem County, N.J., and Dr. Rebecca Sheppard, associate director of the Center […]

By: Alice Guerrant On February 21, 2013, our National Park Service reviewer approved Delaware’s draft historic preservation plan. In March, one of HCA’s talented graphic designers took that draft and turned it into a beautiful publication with an outstanding layout illustrated with photographs and charts. And on April 16, the State Review Board for Historic […]