European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                English museum offers lessons in . History by Craig r. Whitney new York times going to England to see an american museum May seem like a strange idea. A but the american museum in Britain at Claverton Manor an 1820 English mansion in the glorious Hilly Countryside two Miles outside Bath offers an aesthetic experience to compare with the City s Royal Crescent and roman Baths. Does that sound chauvinistic part of the attraction is the English setting. But for americans this museum would be Worth visiting if Only to eavesdrop on the bemused com rents of the Many British visitors experiencing its extensive collection of americana ranging from the colonial period to the Early 20th Century. A they have come a Long Way Haven t they Quot said one elderly lady the other Day perhaps having i mind the rather uncomfortable looking folding bed in the museum s living room from an Early 18th-Century House in Lee . Between 70,000 and 80,000 visitors come every year during the museum s seven month season which ends this year on nov. 3. Most of them Are British according to William Mcnaught the director who is a native oregonian. Many Are More surprised by the refinement of the furniture and the 18th-Century Pewter and Silver collections than by the Rusti City of the earliest pieces in this museum which was founded in 1.959 by a British born Antiques dealer the late John Judyn who became a naturalized american and lived in new York City and an Art collector or. Dallas Pratt also of new York. After viewing a splendid Bonnet top mahogany Highboy made in Philadelphia around 1770, for instance another English visitor oozed and ached but found c isolation she observed in the fact that a they were about half a Century behind  no one can expect to catch up with the whole of american history in a museum whose dozens of rooms Are devoted mainly to the decorative arts but this one tries so hard to be inclusive that it draws t attention to its serious gaps. The whole civil War is handled in a tiny diorama display of tin soldiers in the basement. The most conspicuous omission is Black american history represented Only by a few objects including a striking Early 19th-Century portrait of a Man thought to be Daniel Coker a Black american abolitionist from Baltimore that was painted by a Black artist a Joshua Johnson who worked As a free Man in Baltimore until 1825. Mcnaught is thinking about ways the museum might fill this Gap. Native americans on the other hand Are represented by a More extensive collection of sculptures artworks and arrowheads and the museum has made an attempt to explain their linguistic and ethnic diversity. Two years ago the new gallery was opened to House Pratt s collection of historical maps. From july 9 to nov. 3 it will feature a display of Navajo weaving and Indian crafts from the american Southwest. But interiors Are Only half the Charm of this place. The House a a grand two Story Regency mansion of Bath Stone with sweeping High Ceil need rooms a sits on top of a Hill Over the limply Stoke Valley and 1 22-acre gardens rolling Down the Hillside pastures provide a grand View. American Sequoia and Cottonwood Trees grow among the native English Flora Anco some native american roses Are doing their Best to survive the depredations of English Deer and rabbits. Visitors can buy a Light lunch and Tea or Coffee and eat on the Terrace outside on a Good Day and make a whole afternoon of it. The Manor was built by sir Jeffrey Wya Tville the architect of George in son of the King who lost the  to americans in the first place and a plaque announces that sir Winston Churchill made his first political speech there on july 26,1897. But these Are Mere accidents the museum s founders bought the House simply because it was for Sale it was near Bath where Judyn had a country House in the 1950s, and it was big enough to display whole rooms from houses of Many different periods. The English guides who Tell visitors about the rooms and make sure they go through them in proper sequence starting at the top of the staircase on the second floor seem to enjoy the collection As much As tourists do. They take turns explaining different rooms to vary the pitches. A a you Don t want it to be a set Spiel but you want the visitors to get something out of the collection a said Jean Blackwood one of the guides. On a recent Day it was her turn to explain the first room on the tour a keeping room or Kitchen from a House built in Wrentham mass., about 1690. The wooden ceiling beams and floorboards were brought Over from the original and the trestle table is arranged for a Bible Reading though the room is stuffed with More furniture than a Puritan Kitchen would have had. Entering through the staircase that precedes the Lee room next door sceptical britons May find their suspicions about the fragility of civilization in America confirmed by the presence of the a valuables bag Quot at the top of the Stair Landing. This was a Container to hold the family s few precious possessions during an escape from a fire or Indian attack. The room Froiran Early 18th-Century House in Lee ., also has the fold Down bed and an Iron Wireback cast in Oxford n.j., in 1746 that bears the Royal arms. The unpleasantness of 1776 comes to mind in the Perley parlor from the Home of capt. William Perley Leader of the Boxford mass., minutemen who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. The painted Interior produces the illusion of Marble and Wood training and displays an elegant Highboy that is the work of a Rural cabinetmaker from Connecticut. The textile room displays an extensive and interesting collection of quilts and hooked rugs which also seem to upset British notions of the Way things Are with us. A people often get the wrong idea that americans had slaves or something to make these for them Quot said Marjorie Roberts a native of Sheffield England. A Well thy had t got slaves and they were lonely. So they d get together a for gossip for one thing and have quilting  that might have been True of the women who made them in new England the Midwest and the far West. But the collection does include several quilts made by slaves As Well. Down the cantilevered Central stairway and off the Central Hall is the elegant parlor made for Jonathan Deming a prosperous merchant of Colchester  about 1788, and next door to that is a room devoted to the Art of the american cabinetmaker in the 18th Century. Back upstairs the tour goes through rooms of Shaker Pennsylvania German and greek revival. There is also a dark sultry antebellum new Orleans bedroom with an imposing half canopied bed. Outside the Southern railway system has donated the observation platform of a Pullman car from 1896 you reach it after passing through a real working country store. Outside too you might visit the Lively collection of 19th-Century Cigar store figures and children s portraits by travelling painters of the late 18th and Early 19th centuries in the Folk Art gallery in what used to be the Manor s stables. Or you can buy a Tussie Mussie a nosegay for $2.60 at the Herb shop. O a Bath can be reached by British rail from Paddington station London. Trains leave every hour  trip takes about 90 minutes. The one Way fare is about $38, first class about $59. Claverton Manor is near Bath University 2.5 Miles from the Bath spa railway station and can be reached from the station by taxi for about $5. The no. 18 bus from the bus station near the railway station deposits visitors at the Avenue a 10-minute walk away. The fare is $1.60. Until sept. 29 the no. 25 bus will make one return trip a Day leaving at 2 30 . And returning at 4 30 . The round trip fare is $2.60. The museum is open from 2 to 5 . Except monday until nov. 3, reopening on March 28. Gardens Are open 1 to 6 . Daily except monday. Admission to the House and grounds is $7, $4.30 for children. Grounds Only admission is $1.75 grounds and new gallery $3.50. Private visits out of season except in january can be arranged by calling the museum Telephone 225 460503. A Maze constructed of Stone pathways is one of the attractions in the nearby City of Bath. 24 stripes Magazine july 4, 1991 de