The American Museum in Britain

The American Museum in Britain was a unique institution when it opened its doors in 1961 and it remains so today: the only museum devoted to American decorative art that is located outside the boundaries of the United States.

Founded by an American psychiatrist and an English antiques dealer, the Museum has welcomed over 3 million visitors to its dramatic setting in Bath, overlooking the Limpley Stoke Valley. In this series of short essays, the Museum's director, Richard Wendorf, offers his personal perspective on selected items within the Museum's wide-ranging collections, which include quilts, folk art as well as 'academic' paintings, items associated with trade in China, prints and maps, photographs, statuary and other carved objects, and the Colonial and early Federal furniture for which the institution is famous.

In addition to addressing particular items, Wendorf also includes ruminations on the definition of the decorative arts and on the characteristic qualities of folk art painting.