Hearthstone Historic House Museum offers resources to researchers interested in Victoriana.
Mary Alsted Strange Library
The Mary Alsted Strange Library is a special collections library, containing modern and historic books, articles, and other resources, that is available for research on a variety of Victorian topics.
The library is named for a descendant of the John S. Van Nortwick. The Van Nortwick brothers, William and John S., along with their father John M., were business partners of Henry Rogers and invested in a number of paper and pulp mills in Appleton and the surrounding area. Mary was a member of the Hearthstone Research Committee and a prolific donor to the museum. The library houses books, periodicals, and other materials focusing on the Victorian era (particularly furniture and decorative arts) and early electricity and invention.
The library is located on the third floor of Hearthstone and is available by appointment only on Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (holidays excluded). Please contact Curation Director Lynne Phillips, at lphillips@hearthstonemuseum.org, to make an appointment.
For on-site use, please note that visiting the library requires climbing a large number of stairs. As Hearthstone is a historic building and so does not have modern climate control, the library may be very hot in the summer and rather chilly in the winter. For those who may be more comfortable foregoing the climb and conditions, please inform Lynne when making an appointment and she will accommodate use of materials in a first floor room. The curatorial office on the third floor has air conditioning and may also be available when summer temperatures are extreme.
Materials are non-circulating. Copies can be made by our staff for $0.10 per page.
Collections
Information on a small subset of Hearthstone’s collections, featuring significant works by William Van Stratum and Fredrika Crane, is available to researchers on the Wisconsin Decorative Arts online database through the Wisconsin Historical Society.
On-site access to artifacts may be available by appointment on Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (holidays excluded). Please contact Curation Director Lynne Phillips, at lphillips@hearthstonemuseum.org, for access restrictions and conditions as well as to make an appointment.