Material culture enthusiasts are invited to join curators, conservators, collectors, scholars and aficionados to reexamine forgotten objects and reassess long-known items Feb. 22-26, 2019 at the 71st Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum, “Hidden Treasures: New Findings and Rediscoveries.”

Forum highlights include the keynote presentation “Journal of a Georgian” by independent British researcher Mike Rendell. Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Beth Carver Wees presents “Jewelry for America,” while scholar Sumpter Priddy discusses regional Baroque furniture and social historian Amanda Vickery of the University of London presents “The Rise of the West End: London, the Season and Shopping.” For the Forum’s closing keynote session, renowned decorator Thomas Jayne and Thomas Savage of the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library discuss “Classical Principles for Modern Design.”

Colonial Williamsburg presenters include Carlisle H. Humelsine Chief Curator and Vice President of Collections, Conservation and Museums Ronald L. Hurst, who will share recent additions to the foundation collections, Furniture Curator Tara Chicirda and Senior Furniture Conservator Leroy Graves, Senior Curator of Textiles Kimberly Smith Ivey discussing early American hooked and sewn rugs, Senior Curator of Mechanical Arts and Numismatics Erik Goldstein on “The Myth of the Continental Dollar,” and Curator of Ceramics and Glass Suzanne Findlen Hood on “The Wonders of Glass in Virginia.”

Four optional pre-conference bus trips offer guests an opportunity for expert-guided private tours of historic homes throughout the region. An overnight trip including accommodations begins Feb. 21 and visits Maryland’s Anne Arundel County and Eastern Shore. Three single-day trips offered Feb. 22 visit Virginia’s Middle Peninsula, Monticello and other period homes in Albemarle County, Virginia, and Caroline County, Virginia.

Following the Forum, four optional post-conference workshops, each led by Colonial Williamsburg conservators and curators, examine methods of furniture assessment and 18th- and early 19th-century fashion, glass and silver plate.

The 71st Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum is supported by the Decorative Arts Trust, Skinner, and Jeffrey S. Evans & Assoc.

Additional information and registration are available by visiting colonialwilliamsburg.com/learn/conferences or by calling 800-603-0948 toll-free 9 a.m. 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Registration is $650 and includes four continental breakfasts and coffee breaks, three afternoon refreshment breaks, the opening reception, closing reception and dinner and Colonial Williamsburg admission. A discounted rate of $325 for museum professional and students is available as is a limited number of scholarships. 

Pre-conference trips are $185 except for the overnight Maryland trip which is $590 per-person (single) and $465 per-person (double). For museum professionals and students, the closing reception dinner is optional and $85.  For registrants’ guests, admission to the opening reception is $50 and closing reception dinner also $85. Optional post-conference workshops are $75 per person.

Special rates at Colonial Williamsburg hotels are available to forum registrants by calling 800-261-9530 by Jan. 18.