Wonderful Donations to OHRH!
Bill Ketchum
The Ketchum Collection
Back in 2000, I joined the Board of the Westchester County Historical Society. I met another Board member, Bill Ketchum, who was the leading expert on Early American Pottery. He wrote 40 books on the subject and was THE source for all information about salt glazed pottery.
Flash forward to 2020 and the first time the Friends group was allowed into Odell House. Scattered all over the house were dozens of beautiful examples of 18th and 19th century jugs, crocks of all sizes and pitchers.
I immediately reached out to Bill, now 90 years of age, and he sent back careful annotations of what each piece was. Soon after that, Erica Stoller, Bill’s wife, contacted me to say that Bill had decided that many of the pieces in his collection would be donated to Odell house! After Bill passed away in March of 2021, several of our Board members went to his home and chose many beautiful antiques that will complement the Odell Collection.
Several pieces from the collection are now part of our display on the second floor of the Greenburgh Public Library on the French American Encampment in 1781.
A group of four volunteers have now photographed, catalogued and packed away the over 100 items in the collection. Our website will soon have a longer article about Bill and the collection but for now, we are sending much gratitude to Erica and Bill for this wonderful donation to our museum.
A colorful set of clay marbles in the Howard Collection
The Howard Collection
This Fall Alice and Ed Howard of Scarsdale called to ask if we might like some of the antiques in their home. They gave us a lovely grouping of 20 items, including a colorful set of clay marbles made in 1870! We think one of Colonel John Odell’s seven grandchildren might have played with such a set! Thank you, Alice and Ed!
And… $25,000 Grant from a Private Family Foundation for Landscape Design
On November 4th, we received word that the Friends have been awarded a grant that will allow us to commission a landscape designer to create a plan for wonderful gardens and event spaces around the house! Combined with the generous donations from individual donors during our fundraising campaign this year, we are now beginning to interview designers and to formulate a plan. There will also be funds for archeological studies of the grounds.
Thank you to all who contributed. If you haven’t yet donated, you can do it now by going to the donations page of our website here. You will see a button to donate by PayPal or credit card and our mailing address to donate by check.
We can’t wait to open the doors to the museum and share these marvelous contributions with the community.