Posted by Robin on 11/15/2005, 12:23 am, in reply to "Re: furniture?" Unfortunately, what Mrs. Reading told you was not exactly correct. She was a sweet dear lady who wanted the Whaley House to be as real as she made it seem. I was also a visitor my whole life and was led to believe by the Docents then that all the furnishings were actually Whaley property. The Home had furnishings far more lavish than the Whaleys would ever have been able to afford. They were wealthy for about a year. Then they had money problems the rest of their lives. They could barely feed their children at times. The wealthy Whaley family who lived like kings in a brick mansion in the impoverished pueblo of old San Diego is a myth created by Mrs. Reading. They had some very nice things, but they weren't as pretentious as it would look from the way their home used to be displayed. They lived much more simply than you'd think. And nobody kept a weathervane and 20 irons in the kitchen to trip over. The truth of the matter is, that nearly NONE of it was really the Whaleys. What was truly theirs was mixed up with hundreds of furnishing items on loan or donated to the Museum. When the youngest Whaley child died, their daughter Lillian, there was no money left to care for her. She had fallen and could not take care of herself just a month or two before she died. Her niece and nephew had to put Lilly in a nursing home in Lemon Grove. There was no money to pay for this, and so what was left of the Whaley furnishings was sold to pay for Lillian's care. Her niece Mabel and nephew Bruce kept the most special family pieces, and had to part with the rest. They then had to sell the House as it was falling down and a money pit, in what was then not the best neighborhood in town. It was a difficult choice for them to let their ancestral home go to the wrecking ball. Fortunately it was saved by a preservation group. When Mabel and Bruce Whaley discovered the home their grandfather built was being saved and turned into a museum, they very generously donated back to the House the very special pieces that remain there today. When you visit the Museum, the original furnishings are contained within the Parlor, and about 90% of the items in that room are Whaley property. The Dining Room features the family breakfast table. The chairs are a recent purchase by SOHO. The sideboard was loaned by the Whaley family, however there's no guarantee it was Thomas and Annas property, could just have been an antique purchased by the current family. The personal items in the glass case in the General Store were all the Whaleys. The child's doll tea set in the Nursery upstairs was Anna Amelia, Violet and Lilly Whaleys. Also probably played with by Anna Amelia's daughter Mabel and her daughters, Margaret and Marion. Marion died at the age of 3. This tea set may also have been played with by eldest son Francis' daughter Theresa, until she died at the age of 9. There are some precious few Whaley artifacts which will sadly possibly never be displayed in the House. Anna Whaley's black dress, and her daughter Anna Amelia's wedding dress, and a pair of Anna's shoes from Paris, still in the box, probably her wedding shoes, and some of Anna's jewelry remain in storage. The jewelry is a brooch and pair of earrings Thomas Whaley had made for Anna with the image of their baby son, Thomas Jr. before he passed away at the age of 18 months of Scarlet Fever. The director of the Museum disputes whether or not these were really Anna Whaleys as he feels the settings were too late a period from when Thomas would have had these pieces made. However, it is entirely possible that Anna had these reset in a style in fashion at a later period. Women. Always updating fashion and confusing everybody. So who really knows. Since June was prone to exaggeration regarding authenticity of artifacts, you can never be truly sure. Although shortly before I left the Whaley House, I was able to see the brooch and earrings up close and personal, and I can tell you that the baby in that daguerreotype was born to Thomas and Anna Whaley. He is theirs without a doubt. And he was beautiful. Probably the prettiest baby I have ever seen. Whether or not he was baby Thomas and not one of their other 5 children I couldn't say. He looked an awful lot like Francis when he was about 3, it's in their eyes. No one can deny the Whaley children's eyes. They all had large, pale, heavy lidded, almond shaped, deepset and (pardon the pun) haunting eyes. Just like their Mama. The dresses unfortunately were displayed for 40 years hanging incorrectly on manniquins and in direct sunlight...they have disintegrated to the point where they can no longer be safely displayed. They have 'shattered' and are 'melting'. They are silk and silk is a protein, it will not hold up like cotton. There is a slipper rocker which was Thomas's and was purchased in the 1950's at above mentioned estate sale held by his grandchildren. It was a few years ago donated back to the Whaley House. Supposedly it will someday be displayed in the House. I haven't been inside in several months so I don't know if the chair ever made it in. There was lots of restoration work it needed. That will probably be the last genuine furnishing that comes back to the Whaley House. The other furnishings you see in the Museum are on loan from either the County or private individuals. You should start seeing improvements to the interior, as SOHO recieved large grants sometime ago to restore the General Store, the Guest Bedroom downstairs and to rebuild the lean-to kitchen at the rear exterior of the Dining Room. The kitchen reproduction was to begin construction last summer, and the exterior staircase to be removed (not original) however it seems that work has for some reason not begun. But look for it in the future. Call the SOHO offices if you want more specific information on the room restoration projects. 619-279-7511. --Previous Message--
Hi Brian,
: I first started hanging out around the Whaley
: House in early 1980. I used to spend almost
: every weekend volunteering labor and doing
: odd jobs for the Historical Shrine
: Foundation around the property. I spent many
: hours interviwing the guides who worked in
: the house and June Reading, the original
: curator of the Whaley House. June told me
: that most of the furniture in the house
: actually belonged to the Whaley family. They
: had a lot more Whaley family furniture in
: storage that needed to be restored. Most of
: the furniture is from the Civil War era.
: Some of the clothing that was displayed on
: the manakins also belonged to the Whaleys.
:
: Brian
:
: --Previous Message--
: hey!
: ive been to the whaley house 2 times in my
: life, once as a kid on a field trip and then
: one recently with a friend. we couldnt get
: enough! i love the house, and the costumes
: the docents wear are great. after i visited,
: later that week i started looking at
: websites and googling the whaley house. i
: dont believe everything the internet says of
: course and its funny how the different
: stories and information vary on small
: details. i was trying to read back on this
: message board to find out what i could about
: the furniture but then i read that the house
: was hardly furnished at all in the
: beginning. so where did the furniture come
: from that is there now? and how much of the
: furniture and things actually belonged to
: the whaleys? i also read that some of the
: stuff was donated by older san diego
: families. so i was just curious. i love the
: furniture!
:
:
:
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