(Images above courtesy of Hagley)
Hagley Museum and Library near Wilmington will host a storytelling series this spring to accompany its exhibition “Driving Desire: Automobile Advertising and the American Dream.” The exhibition is on display in Hagley’s Visitor Center through January 1, 2017.
The programs will explore the collector behind the exhibition, steam-powered cars and a man who still has every car he’s ever owned – going back to 1935.
“The Romance of Collecting: Z. Taylor Vinson’s Auto Mania” opens the series on Thursday, February 11. Max Moeller, curator of Hagley’s special exhibition, reviews the life of Z. Taylor Vinson, who began collecting at the age of four and continued collecting for more than seventy years. His collection spans 1893-2009 and more than 1,900 American and international automakers.
For the second talk, Tom Marshall will reveal the story behind the world’s largest operating collection of Stanley steam cars in “Selling American Innovation,” on Thursday, March 3. The Marshall family of Yorklyn, embraced the new technology of steam-powered automobiles with the first Stanley dealership in Delaware in 1910. Marshall and the Steam Team of steam automotive experts will share stories from his life growing up in a car family.
In the last program, “The Cars of My Life,” on Thursday, March 24, will feature stories from Irénée du Pont, Jr., who has every car he’s ever owned. The first story begins on Christmas Eve 1935, two weeks shy of his sixteenth birthday, when he received his first car, a 1936 F-36 Oldsmobile. John McCoy, curator of Mechanical Exhibits at Hagley, will join him for a conversation.
All these programs are free and open to the public. Reservations are appreciated at 302-658-2400 or at http://www.hagley.org. Programs will begin at 7 p.m. in the Soda House, via the Buck Road entrance.
Hagley is at the site of the original DuPont powder mills.
du Pont Family interests for many years held a controlling interest in General Motors until antitrust issues led to the divestiture of that holding.
