Breaking News: A "Masterpiece of Folk Art" is Home to Stay!

William Pitt, carved by Joseph Wilson for Lord Timothy Dexter's 1801 "museum", has been given to the Museum of Old Newbury by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

by Bethany Groff Dorau

Photo courtesy of Dan Fionte

On January 2, 2025, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History confirmed that ownership of the iconic William Pitt statue has been transferred to the Museum of Old Newbury. Though the statue has been on loan to the Museum since it was part of an exhibition in 1994, its future remained unclear. Now, with our ownership secured, we can rest easy knowing that Pitt's travels are over and he is home to stay.

The story of this legendary statue is intertwined with the lives of two other men, one an eccentric merchant, and the other a talented woodcarver, best known for his figureheads. The merchant, Lord Timothy Dexter, who styled himself "the greatest philosopher in the known world", hired the woodcarver, Joseph Wilson, to help him create a lasting, if somewhat off-beat, exhibition, featuring monumental figures on pedestals surrounding Dexter's house. Dexter intended the museum to impress and inspire, and it would showcase Dexter's heroes and represent his ideals. It was also a brilliant piece of self-promotion, as it encouraged tourism to the town where Dexter owned shares in roads and bridges.



William Pitt and his fellow celebrities were first introduced to the good townspeople of Newburyport in June, 1801, with an announcement in the Newburyport Herald and Country Gazette.

Dexter's announcement of June 16, 1801 read, (spelling corrected, though the original is much more fun), "The 3 presidents, Doctor Franklin, John Hancock and Mr. Hamilton, and Rufus King, and John Jay. 2 grenadiers on the top of the house, 4 lions below: 1 eagle is on the cupola, one lamb to lie down with one of the lions - one unicorn, one dog, Adam and Eve in the garden - one horse. The whole is not concluded on as yet." It was signed "Dexter's Museums".

One week later, another post clarified that in addition to "those already erected", he would add the statues mentioned in the prior announcement, but would add Adam and Eve in the garden only if he felt like it later .

Precisely when British Prime Minister William Pitt (1708-1778) joined the menagerie, and indeed if this statue is William Pitt, and if so, which William Pitt, remains a mystery as confounding as the man who first envisioned it.

A biography of Lord Timothy Dexter is outside the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that by his death in 1806, Dexter's "museum" was well-known and a bona fide tourist attraction. The man himself was considered an inspiration - his wealth seemed to accumulate despite erratic and seemingly irrational business decisions - and an oddity. He consulted fortune-tellers and had a personal poet laureate, the singularly unattractive Jonathan Plummer, who penned laudatory verses for his employer and loudly recited them to passersby. He faked his own death. He kept his coffin on display in his house, and a live lion on display in his garden. I could go on, but others have done a better job than I ever could, beginning with Samuel L. Knapp in 1838 (read it here if you are so moved).

This print, A View of the Mansion of the late LORD TIMOTHY DEXTER in High Street, Newburyport 1810, was created by J.H. Bufford around 1840, over three decades after Dexter's death, by which time no statues remained. The print declares that the statues, "have no pretentions to correctness of Character or even proportion but are faithfully delineated in order to convey a just representation of one of the Whims of this most truly excentric Character whose many singularities of Conduct and Speculations by which he acquired from the smallest beginnings a splendid Fortune are to be found in the Account of his Life . . .”.

William Pitt does not appear in Dexter's original announcement of his intended statuary, but Dexter was widely known for repurposing his statues by having new names inscribed "on the entablature" whenever he saw fit. In the lithograph above, the figure identified as William Pitt has little in common with our man, but whether this is due to a shifting identity or the license of the artist is difficult to say. At the time of Dexter's demise, Pitt was to be found in the company of Louis VII, Jack Tar, Maternal Affection, and two figures of Dexter himself, alongside an assortment of world leaders and representations of lofty ideals. It is generally believed that there were around thirty figures in total in Dexter's "museum", though an exact number is difficult to determine, with some later sources claiming up to forty-five figures.

Lord Timothy Dexter engraving from Samuel L. Knapp's 1838 biography, Life of Lord Timothy Dexter; with sketches of the eccentric characters that composed his associates, including his own writings, "Dexter's Pickle for the knowing ones", &c..

William Pitt and his wooden compatriots were left to the mercy of the wind and weather after the death of their celebrity master. Visitation to the Dexter mansion waned, and the estate was sold. According to Knapp, though the statues were in good repair in 1806, they came down one by one over the next few years, and then all at once during a fierce hurricane in 1815. The few statues not smashed to bits were sold at auction, with the venerable Mr. Pitt fetching the paltry sum of one dollar.

And then, William Pitt disappeared. The relics of other statues - two arms and a hand - eventually came into the possession of the Museum of Old Newbury, joining other curiosities collected from Dexter's estate, including Dexter's inkwell, some glassware, and bits of the house itself.

How this only surviving statue of the Dexter "Museum" was identified as William Pitt is a mystery, but according to a 1962 newspaper article, "it has been called William Pitt for at least 70 years, and thus it remains". The statue reappeared around 1880, when it was acquired by James M. Little. By this time, the statue was rotten in the middle and infested with carpenter ants. In an attempt to stabilize it, at some point concrete was poured into Pitt's hollowed body, causing further damage.

Enter Edna Hilburn Little Greenwood (1888-1972), of Lynn, Massachusetts, whose relationship to Pitt's previous owner is unclear.

An aside - Greenwood's dedication to Early American art and objects inspired a lifetime of collecting in her nephew Bert and his wife Nina Little, whose home in Essex, Cogswell's Grant, is a treasure owned by Historic New England.

Greenwood is said to have found William Pitt rotting away in a shed in 1944. In any case, she added the statue to her own vast collection, and in 1951, it came to the Smithsonian as part of a groundbreaking gift of over two thousand Early American objects and art.

William Pitt arrived at the Smithsonian in pieces. He was missing an arm and part of a foot, and had split down the middle. He was stored in a box for eight years, taken out only for "frequent visits to the fumitorium", according to a 1962 newspaper article. In 1959, a thorough-going restoration was undertaken by Smithsonian conservator Gordon Dentry.

For two years, Dentry painstakingly chipped away the concrete that filled the statue, added filler, reconstructed missing pieces, researched and matched paint, and finally presented the restored statue, resplendent in blue, crimson, and gold, for display in the Life in Early America exhibit hall.

At some point, Pitt was moved back into storage, and a decade later in 1971, when the Dexter house was open for tours to benefit the YMCA, its location was uncertain, with the Daily News reporting that the statue was "thought to be" at the Smithsonian.

Another two decades passed. In 1994, a major exhibition of Old Newbury folk art was held at the Cushing House. Entitled Vernacular Visions, the catalogue featured a much older image of an unrestored Pitt against the backdrop of the c. 1840 lithograph.

And then on May 13, 1994, an image of the fully-restored William Pitt being wrestled up the front stairs at the Cushing House graced the front page of the Daily News (above the fold).

In a stroke of boldness that would have impressed Dexter himself, the curator of the museum, John Wright, had heard of the existence of the statue and wrote to the Smithsonian, "only half expecting them to loan the piece." When the loan was unexpectedly approved, he was ecstatic. There was only one problem - the statue and pedestal are nine and a half feet tall and would not fit in the lecture hall where the exhibition was held.

So up the stairs he went. And there he has remained, greeting guests to the museum for over thirty years. Every three years, a request was made to extend the loan, and every three years the Smithsonian graciously agreed. When I came on as the executive director, I made a gentle inquiry into whether ownership of Mr. Pitt would ever be transferred to the Museum of Old Newbury, and was told that it was unlikely. But, times change, and earlier this year, as I prepared to submit the request with its attendant paperwork, the Smithsonian let me know that they would consider deaccessioning the statue and transferring ownership to us.

And so, after a careful review, the Smithsonian has ensured that William Pitt will remain here, his long journey at an end just up the street from where he first stood in 1801.

For two and a quarter centuries, this treasure has been preserved through good luck, hard work, and the generosity and care of dozens of people. We have Dexter's vision of a phalanx of inspirational figures to thank for Pitt's creation, Joseph Wilson to thank for this vision's execution, Edna Little Greenwood to thank for Pitt's preservation, Gordon Dentry to thank for his restoration, and a host of curators, docents, scholars, and volunteers to thank for telling his story and helping to keep his monumental figure in beautiful condition. And of course, to the staff at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, thank you for trusting us with his care.

William Pitt and his friend Landlocked Lady, both carved by Joseph Wilson (1779-1857), and painted by Alan Bull, were featured in our Annual Fund mailing this year. I like to think of them having a chat after the museum closes and we all go home for the night.

Though I'm not quite as odd as Lord Timothy Dexter, I did run up the stairs to tell Pitt that he could stay forever as soon as I heard the news, and I think he smiled, just a little bit.

Stay tuned for the next newsletter where we look deeper into the connections between Newburyport and William Pitt (the Elder and the Younger)! We will also reveal the exciting slate of programs scheduled for the upcoming months.

It's not too late!

Donate to the 2024 Annual Fund Today!

Dexter would donate. Just saying.

Something Is Always Cooking...

Annabelle, Lilly, and Freddy, three of last year's interns, joined me and Kristen Fehlhaber, former assistant director of the museum, for a Christmas week reunion involving bagel-baking and recipe-testing at Kristen's wonderful home. This recipe from King Arthur Baking, which can be found in much more detail here, was the winner. 

Ingredients

Poolish

1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (166g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (198g) water, lukewarm (75° to 80°F)

Dough

1 1/2 cups (340g) water, lukewarm

5 1/2 cups (660g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

2 3/4 teaspoons (17g) table salt

3/4 teaspoon instant yeast

Water Bath

2 tablespoons (43g) barley malt syrup or molasses

1 tablespoon (18g) table salt

Toppings

sesame seeds, coarse salt, dehydrated onion, poppy seeds, or Everything Bagel Topping

To make the poolish: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and yeast. Add the water, mixing until smooth. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 2 to 8 hours. This broad time range is for both convenience and flavor. More time will yield more flavor, but even a few hours will be enough to make a noticeable difference.

To make the dough: In a large mixing bowl combine the poolish with the water, mixing by hand to break up the poolish. Add the flour, salt, and yeast, stirring by hand or on low speed of a stand mixer until the dough forms a cohesive, shaggy, tacky mass. Resist the urge to add more flour.

Place the dough in a bowl, cover, and allow it to rest for 2 hours, stretching and folding the dough over onto itself three or four times in the bowl after 1 hour.

Without touching the dough again, place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight, or for 8 to 12 hours.

The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.

Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces; if you have a scale each piece will weigh about 114g.

Shape each piece into a tight ball, place on a lightly floured surface, then cover and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

To shape the bagels: Using your fingers, poke a hole in the middle of each ball, gently expanding the hole until it’s 2” to 3” in diameter.

Return the shaped bagels to the floured surface, cover them again, and allow them to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.  

While the bagels are resting, preheat the oven to 475°F. If you have a baking stone, place it on the middle rack in the oven and have ready two pieces of parchment large enough to fit the stone. To bake on baking sheets, line two pans with parchment and set aside.

To prepare the water bath: Put 4” of water in a shallow (wide) 6-quart pot, then add the barley malt syrup or molasses and the salt. Bring to a medium boil.

Carefully place three bagels at a time in the water bath. Boil the bagels for 30 seconds on one side. Using a slotted spoon, flip them over. Boil the bagels for another 60 to 90 seconds.

Remove the bagels from the water, allowing them to drip dry for a few seconds before placing them 2” to 3” apart on the prepared parchment or parchment-lined pan; you should be able to get six bagels per parchment/pan.

Sprinkle any toppings onto the bagels. Alternatively, dip the bagels into a shallow bowlful of the toppings before returning to the parchment/pan.

Bake the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes, either in two batches if baking on a stone, or rotating the pans halfway through if using baking sheets. The bagels are done when the bottoms and sides are a deep mahogany brown and firm.

Remove the bagels from the oven and cool them on a rack. Store bagels at room temperature for up to one day, or wrap and freeze for longer storage.

We know - this is a lot. Trust us, it's worth the work! Extra thanks to Kristen for doing a good deal of the prep work so we could get to the eating part faster!

Puzzle Me This...

Click the image to do the puzzle

A closer view of the man himself, whoever he is. :-)