Glencairn Museum News | Number 9, 2023
A view of the Great Hall taken when Glencairn was a home reveals an eclectic mix of furniture, rugs, artwork, and family mementos.
In 2015, Glencairn Museum embarked on a comprehensive project to digitize the extensive collection of historical photographs within the Bryn Athyn Historic District Archives (for more information, see here). This effort was undertaken to preserve these images and make them easily accessible to the general public. The resulting digital archive, an ever-growing resource, contains a wealth of photographs of Glencairn and other buildings in the Bryn Athyn Historic District, all readily searchable here. Below is a small selection of images capturing Glencairn “as it was.”
Interior Spaces
Figure 1: Beginning in 1948, Raymond was asked to teach a music appreciation course for Bryn Athyn College, a subject for which the Great Hall was eminently suited. The room had been equipped with acoustic ceiling tiles and Pitcairn had a state-of-the-art radio-phonograph system designed for the space (lower left). Several conductors who visited Glencairn were entertained with recordings of their own orchestras, including Leopold Stokowski and Arturo Toscanini.
Figure 2: Members of the Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn family and friends (left), together with the Glencairn staff (right), pose for a group photograph in 1939 in the Upper Hall, which was decorated for Christmas. The Upper Hall was used as a dining room, and during holiday meals, several tables were placed end to end to accommodate dozens of guests
Figure 3: Daily meals in the Pitcairn household took place at a round table placed in the Upper Hall on the south side. The occasion of this photograph was Mildred's 60th birthday, which fell on May 7, 1946.
Figure 4: Over the years, several Miss America winners visited Glencairn. Jane Jayroe, Miss America 1967, was photographed in the Great Hall with a medieval sculpture that the Pitcairn family affectionately referred to as the “Slim Princess.”
Figure 5: Mildred Pitcairn and Deborah Barnes, Miss America 1968, pose in front of an ancient Egyptian libation bowl in the Bird Room.
Figure 6: Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn posed with Dwight D. and Mamie Eisenhower in front of a mosaic featuring a white peacock and an ancient Egyptian libation bowl in the Bird Room. In 1951, Raymond led the "Americans for Eisenhower" committee in Bryn Athyn. This committee sent petitions to the general, who was in Paris at the time, encouraging him to run for office. In 1961, shortly after leaving the White House, the Eisenhowers visited Glencairn for two days to express their gratitude to the Pitcairns and the Bryn Athyn community for their support.
Figure 7: Lachlan and Garthowen Pitcairn shared a bedroom on the third floor near the main staircase. They occupied this room for only a few years before leaving home to serve in the military during World War II. The room had twin walnut beds separated by a telephone table. (See also Figure 8.)
Figure 8: The door visible in the corner of this photograph of Lachlan and Garthowen’s bedroom led to a closet and a bathroom. The niche in the wall was designed to hold a copy of the Bible. Daily reading of the Bible was encouraged in the Pitcairn household, and almost all of the family bedrooms featured a similar niche. Today, this room serves as the Museum’s Roman gallery. (See also Figure 7.)
Figure 9: A view from the fourth-floor hallway into Bethel Pitcairn’s bedroom (1951). Since 1982 this room has served as the Museum’s Egyptian gallery. (See also Figure 10.)
Figure 10: This photograph of Bethel Pitcairn’s room was taken facing the large bay window on the north side of Glencairn. There were two twin beds with a telephone table between them. A built-in dresser with open shelves above can be seen on the other side of the room. (See also Figure 9.)
Figure 11: Karen Pitcairn's bedroom on the fourth floor was just down the hall from Bethel's, near the main staircase. On the left of the photograph is a large window seat, and on the right are twin beds with a telephone table between them. The door in the corner of the right wall leads to the hallway, and the door just beside it leads to her bathroom. Since 1982, Karen's bedroom has served as the Museum’s Ancient Near Eastern gallery. (See also Figure 12.)
Figure 12: This photograph of Karen’s room is looking in the opposite direction from Figure 11 toward the closet door. The right side of the room has a desk and across from it is a dresser. (See also Figure 11.)
Figure 13: In the basement of Glencairn is a room that currently serves as the Medieval European gallery. It was sometimes called the “Club Room” by the Pitcairn family, and served as a space for smaller gatherings, parties, and relaxation.
Exterior Spaces
Figure 14: Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn stand on the south side of Glencairn in spring.
Figure 15: Mildred and Raymond Pitcairn pose on the south wall garden with a pink flowering dogwood behind them. Mildred was a longtime member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The Pitcairns maintained an operating greenhouse next door at Cairnwood, and Mildred often sent flowers from the property to family and friends, including First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Dogwoods were a favorite tree at Glencairn, and in 1956, the Pitcairns arranged for several pink dogwoods to be planted at the Eisenhower farm in Gettysburg.
Figure 16: Grandchildren of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn pose by the south wall of Glencairn in 1964.
Figure 17: Many former students of the Academy of the New Church schools fondly remember the annual spring dance held in Glencairn’s Great Hall in honor of graduation. The students pictured here (and Raymond Pitcairn at the far right) were photographed on the southeast side of the building, which was once covered with climbing roses (early 1950s).
Figure 18: Climbing roses adorn the wall at the southeast end of Glencairn. This is the same wall shown in Figure 17. Some form of pole or trellis supports another climbing rose on the right side of the photograph.
Figure 19: In this view of the north porch and courtyard taken in spring, dogwood trees are in bloom in the two garden beds flanking the fountain. Pruned evergreens, trained as standards, can be seen in the large planters.
Figure 20: Students from the Academy of the New Church attend a spring dance at Glencairn (1940s or early 1950s).
Figure 21: Raymond Pitcairn, in a blue suit, stands in the archway on the north porch. Climbing roses can be seen on the wall of the Cloister.
Figure 22: A rare nighttime view of the Cloister.
(CEG/KHG)