VIEWPOINTS McFADDIN-WARD HOUSE
March 2016 Vol. 32/No. 2
McFaddins Celebrated Life Through the Years BY JUDY LINSLEY After Queen Victoria died in 1901, the Victorian Era gave way to the Edwardian, but the rigid morals and standards of propriety that were the queen’s legacy continued into her son’s reign. Far from being dull and gloomy, however, the Edwardian years were a time of glittering excess, wonderfully exemplified by the PBS show “Downton Abbey.” As Ida McFaddin’s granddaughter, Rosine McFaddin Wilson, explained, those years represented “a very formal, decorous way of life, but still a lively one.” Hostesses vied with one another for the most imaginative and elaborate celebrations. Those times perfectly suited someone like Ida, who with her social skills, creativity, and organizational abilities seemed born to entertain. In 1898, still a young bride with two small children, she chaired several charity balls, including a “Bal Poudré,” to which the ladies wore period
gowns and powdered their hair. In 1900, to ring in the new century, Ida hosted a New Year’s reception for the Twentieth Century Club, crafting the club monogram herself using gold and white chrysanthemums. Ida knew the rules so well that she also knew when she could break them. She caused a real stir at a benefit in 1900 for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, when she staged a “mock divorce,” with herself as the plaintiff and W.P.H. as the defendant. The event was a sellout. McFaddin family members and friends served as witnesses. W.S. Davidson, a family friend and lifelong bachelor, furnished an “intervention,” requesting possession of the plaintiff (Ida) once the divorce was granted (though he thought W.P.H. should get the children). This brought “roars of laughter” from the audience. The “jury” ultimately “granted” Ida the divorce and “awarded” W.P.H. all the property except for one sidesaddle and
See CELEBRATE, page 3
Ida Caldwell McFaddin poses in a white dress, ca. 1905.
Hanging out at the museum BY KAREN CHAPMAN The past five months on my new P.R. job have been a blur. Teaching myself new media software, adjusting to my peers, assisting with holiday events, stretching my creative muscle... the learning curve has been projectile steep. Frankly, I haven’t had much time for “hanging Allen Lea’s office is a hodgepodge of STUFF which is, at last, methodically organized.
See HANGING, page 4
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-- Director’s Desk --
THIRTY YEARS YOUNG By ALLEN LEA
If you think museums are boring, you’re doing it wrong. Thirty years ago, I wasn’t thinking about being this museum’s director. I was running around in a diaper, terrorizing cats by carrying them by the neck and generally acting like a typical mischievous one-year old boy. At the same time, McFaddin-Ward board members, volunteers and staff were eagerly awaiting the grand opening of the
McFaddin-Ward Historic House Museum. Over the next three decades, I grew up. I learned to hold cats the right way and a lot more about getting along in the real world. The museum grew up too, adapting its programs and updating operations to keep up with that same real world. That’s the bottom line for museums; they have to change in order to survive, or as some would say, to keep from becoming boring. After working here for six years, I
Perhaps Mamie McFaddin would have enjoyed wearing these pearls for her museum’s 30th Anniversary.
have come to think of the McFaddinWard House as my home and the staff and volunteers as family. All of us take great pride in our work, and no one has ever complained of being bored. In fact, I’m very excited to be a part of this museum’s mission and its journey ahead. In recent years, our staff has found new, creative ways to draw people in to get them interested in the museum not just as a place to visit once, but as a permanent and vibrant part of their lives. A lot of selfless time and energy has been poured into making people feel at home here. The McFaddin-Ward House was built in 1905 and has literally been on the map for 110 years; but metaphorically speaking, over the past few years it’s exploded to encompass a much larger space in the community. To use another metaphor, it’s like a caterpillar that has changed into a beautiful butterfly (or if you prefer in Southeast Texas, a crawfish that has molted), becoming a place where visitors come not just one time but again and again. The 30th is known as the “pearl” anniversary, and as Jackie Kennedy once said, “Pearls are always appropriate.” In order to celebrate the museum’s 30th anniversary in style, we have a great lineup of lectures and events scheduled this year. If you have never been to the McFaddin-Ward House for a tour or an event, you need to stop by and experience something entirely out of the ordinary. If you have been, you’ll enjoy the repeat experience; and I promise that you will be blown away by our legendary southern hospitality. One thing is for certain: you won’t be bored. We’ve had 30 years to perfect our show, and we know our stuff.
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Celebrate Continued from page 1 a horse, “Black Bess.” The tone was kept light, and what could have been shocking was simply entertaining. In March of 1907, right after the McFaddins moved into their new home at 1906 McFaddin in January, Ida hosted a musicale and dance to honor her sister and brother-in-law — and to show off her fine new residence. In order to showcase the entire house, she utilized not only the public rooms on the first floor but designated the third floor for dancing. (It was the only time she ever did this, as the third floor consisted of small spaces.) She filled every space with flowers — calla lilies, roses, narcissus, sweet peas, carnations — accented with “ropes of smilax.” Ida also contributed to the local talent on the program by singing “The Journey Is Long.” After that inaugural gathering, Ida entertained in the great house nearly every week with card parties, teas, or luncheons. Just a few weeks after the musicale, she hosted an Easter egg hunt for her children and their friends on the “spacious lawn” of the home. In good weather, she held large card parties on the front porch, which held as many as 35 tables. “We had trellises all around with roses,” recalled her daughter
Ida Caldwell McFaddin, ca. 1905.
Mamie McFaddin Ward, “and the covers of the tables were all made to match.” “She loved to plan the decorations, often around a theme,” recalled her granddaughter, with “flowers everywhere, and delicious food, served in two dining rooms, waiters at every elbow.” Living in a large house where guests could circulate freely and having enough fine china, silver, crystal, and table linens to accommodate a crowd, she could host memorable parties. Ida didn’t limit her skills to formal occasions. One of Mamie’s friends recalled a “barn dance” held in the carriage house in 1909. Ida and Mamie apparently thought that an informal event would be more fun for the young men — and it doubtless was. With the girls decked out in “checked school-type dresses” and the boys in shirtsleeves and trousers, the evening was more relaxed (and noisier) than a formal gathering. Visiting relatives always gave cause for celebration. When Ida’s then-unmarried brother Dabney Caldwell visited, she honored him with a porch dance, closing in the three sides with fabric and waxing the floor for dancing. An orchestra stationed at the southeast corner of the porch played “inspiring two-steps and waltzes.” During the intermission, couples “were scattered throughout the house and on the lawn.” For convenience, Ida placed the cut-glass punch bowl in the center of the entrance hall.
The barn and porch dances served a dual purpose. Hosting the “unmarried society” of Beaumont allowed Ida to bring together young men and women of similar social stature to meet, mingle, and perhaps find life partners. Ida soon gained a well-deserved reputation as an accomplished hostess. In 1910 the Beaumont Enterprise prefaced an announcement of a dance hosted by Ida and W.P.H. by saying “Mr. and Mrs. McFaddin have long held an enviable position in the realm of first-class entertainers, not only in Beaumont society but throughout the state.” Ida didn’t even have to be present to make the newspapers. In 1912 W.P.H. McFaddin gave a “stag” dinner honoring Governor Oscar Colquitt, which Ida obviously didn’t attend. The newspaper announcement nonetheless credited her with the planning and complimented her “resourcefulness in artistic designing,” especially the “snowy cloth of fillet lace, bearing hand embroidered garlands of white roses around which Mrs. McFaddin had encircled glorious American beauties [roses], the chosen theme for the dinner service.” At her own affairs, Ida always stood out, gracious, perfectly gowned and coiffed — the ideal subject for the florid, lush journalism of society columnists. The Beaumont Journal society editor, reporting on a “brilliant, beautiful” ball that Ida held in 1903 at the fashionable Oaks Hotel on Calder, described the hostess: “Mrs. McFaddin wore a magnificent white satin brocaded gown with court train trimmed with point lace and sable with diamond ornaments.” A ball hosted by Ida and W.P.H. at the Neches Club in 1910, honoring Mamie’s friends Signora Wiess and Tassie Polk, elicited even more detail from the Beaumont Enterprise: “Mrs. McFaddin was exquisitely attired in a princess robe of Irish point lace with trimmings of imported passementerie. Silver net was employed to produce a panel effect, being caught at each side with crystals over lace medallions. The décolletage was adorned in front with a magnificent diamond horse-shoe and the back with a diamond heart.” In the early years of the Twentieth Century, Ida McFaddin firmly established the house as a place for stylish celebrations. This year marks a milestone, the 30th anniversary of the McFaddin-Ward House Museum’s existence. We plan to observe that happy occasion with our own celebration, in the process highlighting past events from the McFaddin family story.
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Hanging Continued from page 1 out at the museum,” but I have noticed what others are doing. The daily grind is anything but a grind. No two days are alike. Yes, we have our routines like mowing lawns and cleaning house, but our historic home is like a living, breathing entity all its own. The staff is what keeps it “alive.” The collection is fastidiously maintained; the stories are recorded and retold. Just the other day I was walking through our Curatorial Office Building and caught Sam Daleo polishing the silver on a porcelain coffee cup. Sam wears a powder blue, button-front lab coat and white gloves to protect the precious pieces. He knows everything about the collection, down to the tiniest button. First he researches it, then he gives it a number. He lays it carefully on a shelf or in a drawer, sometimes first wrapping it with acid-free tissue paper and putting it tenderly in a box. Sam can walk directly to anything in the room if you ask for it; all 35,000 pieces are literally in his head. On the tip of the tongue are thousands of McFaddin-Ward Family Facts, each one deftly known by our historian, Judy Linsley. While I can hardly remember my own mother’s birthday, Judy recalls dates and times like she was there yesterday. Her knowledge of the McFaddin-Ward history is impeccable, a “Jeopardy” category all its
Allen still has room for family photographs and personal memorabilia in his office. own. I like watching her talk about it. She rocks gently back on her heels, folds her hands behind her back, and ponders your question intently. Then she belts out one interesting fact after another, painting a story with her palette of words. Becky Fertitta is a Volunteer Charmer. Like most of us, she didn’t receive training on how to organize, socialize, and legitimize our volunteer program, the strongest of any museum around. She just rounds up a large group of very talented, interested people and somehow manages to keep them happy
“Hanging out” in Allen’s office is never dull with his personal taste and style.
year after year. On any given day, you can drop by the visitor center where you’ll see a smile on her face, a pot of warm coffee, and homemade goodies nearby. It’s like visiting the S. Claus family in springtime. I’ve gained five pounds since I got here. Finally there is Allen Lea, our “calm and collected” museum director. Allen is tall, dark, handsome, and hyper. Like a feather in a fan shop, he is hard to pin down. He’s like watching Rob, Buddy and Sally rewrite a bungled episode of the “Alan Brady Show.” Allen’s creativity is lightningquick, he’s smart, and he always has the museum’s best interest at heart. During two days in January, I took what little “hanging out” time I had and helped Allen decorate his office. I’m convinced Allen has horror vacui, a fear of empty spaces. His stuff was everywhere, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I did what I could to make sense of it all. And you know what? It looks great! I even got him to clean off his desk. The room really should be part of our famous docent-led tour. Other wonderful people work at the McFaddin-Ward House; some I will highlight in future H.O.A.T. Museum columns. I just wanted you to know that hanging out with the folks at the museum is very special indeed. We are a family full of memories, a place where every corner has a history. Our lifeblood is telling those stories…the McFaddins’, the Wards’, and occasionally even our own.
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Blue Bedroom Restoration Completed By SAM DALEO
Restoration work has been completed in the blue bedroom, where a leak around the fireplace had caused the plaster to crack and the wallpaper to wrinkle and tear. The plaster has now been repaired, the room repainted and the wallpaper replaced. This room has changed little since Mrs. Ward used it as a guest bedroom. During restoration, 1983 through 1986, the ceiling was repaired and the room painted; but at that time it was decided to leave the 1960sera blue damask wallpaper in place. This paper had been produced by Scalamandré Silks for Mrs. Ward. Scalamandré, founded in 1929, is still one of the leading design firms today, making them the natural choice to replicate our damaged paper. Working with Mary Ann Reece, Territory Sales Executive in the Houston office, and Scalamandré’s art department in The new wallpaper “pops” in the Blue New Jersey, we were able to closely replicate both the design and colors of the original Bedroom.”
paper. This was not as simple as it might seem, however. The original screens for the paper no longer existed, causing us to have to start from “scratch.” Over the last fifty-five years, since the original paper was produced, techniques and dyes have undergone changes, making replication a challenge. Through perseverance and trial and error, we were able to succeed. Hanging the paper also presented problems. Small bubbles developed under the paper after it was hung and the paste failed to dry properly. Mary Ann Reece referred me to Theron Moore, an historic wallpaper hanger in the Houston area whom Scalamandré uses. Mr. Moore explained the exact technique needed to hang our paper, including changes in the type of paste used, application of the paste, and preparation of the walls. It worked perfectly, and the bubbles disappeared. The finished room is quite beautiful, and the wallpaper is true to the original that it replaced. Don’t take my word for it, though. Come by and see for yourself!
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Viewpoints from By BECKY FERTITTA
The annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet is both the ending and the beginning of the volunteer year. For the one held in early February 2016, it began a year of celebration for the 30th anniversary of the McFaddin-Ward House. It also harked back to earlier banquets. For many years the board of directors and staff hosted a lovely event at night, complete with a wonderful meal, much camaraderie, and awards. The excitement that surrounded such a special evening was contagious, and participants dressed in dazzling attire; glitz and sparkle were encouraged. About ten years ago, staff decided to shift gears and host an appreciation luncheon instead.
The decision was fine for most of the volunteers, but the daytime events never held the glamor of the evening ones. This year, in honor of the museum’s 30th anniversary, the staff decided to host an evening banquet once again. The volunteers, who turned out in great numbers, overwhelmingly agreed that the time had come to bring back the glamour and excitement of the real deal—a nighttime soiree. So it’s official, we are going to party in the evening! Of course, the banquet was also the first meeting of the museum’s Volunteer Service Council (VSC) and the time when new officers are elected to lead the organization. For 2016, Joan Madigan is the president and Lisa Hitt is president-elect.
Volunteers Peggy Ducote and Lyndia King are recognized for over 500 hours of service.
Glenda Warren and Sylvia Luquette received special recognition for 750 hours of volunteer service.
Laura Assunto is the chair of the social hospitality committee with Kim Williams as co-chair. Linda Martin will chair the education committee, and Barbara Smith will be co-chair. It is going to be an exciting and busy year for these ladies, their committee members, and all other museum volunteers who want be involved (and have lots of fun). An important part of the banquet is always an awards ceremony, not only celebrating the hard work volunteers did in 2015 but also recognizing the hours they donate over their entire careers. Volunteers recognized on that night include Linda Martin, Sue Hebert, Jenny Pullen, Peggy Ducote, Lyndia King, Sylvia Luquette, Lilo Stevens, and Glenda Warren. Docent Lisa
Incoming Volunteer Service Council President Joan Madigan.
Joyce Gaskin was honored as the McFaddinWard House Volunteer Innovation Personified (VIP) recipient for 2015.
2015 Visitor Services Award winner Linda Martin.
Becky Fertitta , volunteer coordinator, recognizes Lisa Hitt for donating over 1000 hours of service to the McFaddin-Ward House.
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the Visitor Center Hitt received the highest award for accumulating 1000 hours giving tours, assisting with adult programs and children’s activities, cooking, cleaning, serving, and much more. Another outstanding award went to docent Joyce Gaskin, who was named Volunteer Innovation Personified (VIP) for 2015 for going above and beyond the call of duty in all she does at the museum. The 30th anniversary Volunteer Appreciation Banquet was the perfect time and place to honor another special volunteer, George Ann LaGrappe. George Ann began giving tours of the museum in 1988 while still working full time. After she retired, George Ann became much more involved and was
president of the VSC in 1999 (after holding all the other offices leading to the president position). She was named VIP in 1999. Along with volunteering at the museum, she became a museum employee, and after 18 years as weekend and relief manager, she is still at it! George Ann’s volunteer hours really began to accumulate — she reached the 1000 milestone in 2003 and kept going. By the end of 2015 she had volunteered over 2000 hours. And that is why George Ann received special recognition at the banquet in February. She received a standing ovation from her peers and deserved every moment of her time in the spotlight. Hooray for George Ann!
George Ann LaGrappe received special recognition for giving over 2000 hours during her 28-year career as a McFaddin-Ward House volunteer.
Volunteers enjoy visiting with MWH Board President, Leslie Wilson, left, at the Annual Banquet, held this year at The Laurels.
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VIEWPOINTS McFADDIN-WARD HOUSE
The McFADDIN-WARD HOUSE 725 North Third Street BEAUMONT, TEXAS 77701-1629
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Vol. 32, No. 2 March 2016 Published quarterly for volunteers of the McFaddin-Ward House and others interested in cultural and educational aspects of the museum. (409) 832-1906, office (409) 832-2134, visitor center www.mcfaddin-ward.org 2013 Press Club of Southeast Texas Excellence in Media Award winner for Best Newsletter
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Events Calendar Thursday, March 3 Free Lecture: “Riders on the Orphan Train” Phil Lancaster, presenter 6:30 p.m. Visitor Center
Thursday, May 5 Spring Picnic 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. McFaddin-Ward House Lawn
Thursday, May 12 Free Lecture: “Antique Porcelain and Glass” David Lackey, presenter, as seen on “Antiques Roadshow” 6:30 p.m. Visitor Center
Thursday, April 14 Free Lecture: “Great Houses of Havana” Author Hermes Mallea, presenter 6:30 p.m. Visitor Center
Volunteer Calendar Monday, March 28 Volunteer Swap Meet 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lecture Hall Monday, April 11 Volunteer Service Council General Meeting Monday, May 23 Volunteer Book Club 12 Noon Lecture Hall Saturday, May 30 Junior Interpreter Guide Day 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitor Center