Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library is a world-class cultural heritage institution located in Delaware. It is the former home of Henry Francis (H.F.) du Pont (1880-1969), a respected horticulturist and collector, who transformed his magnificent 175-room mansion into a museum to showcase nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America since 1640. In addition to the period rooms of the house, dedicated gallery spaces display permanent and changing exhibitions developed by our distinguished curators as well as guest curators invited from external institutions. Important exhibitions in recent years include Jacqueline Kennedy and H.F. du Pont: From Winterthur to White House (May 2022 - January 2023), about the partnership between the First Lady and H.F. in restoring the White House interiors, and Ann Lowe: American Couturier (September 2023 - January 2024), on the Black fashion designer who worked for some of the most prominent mid-century figures yet was virtually unknown to the wider public at the time. An upcoming exhibition, Celebrating Masterpieces, will explore past and present definitions of the word "masterpiece" while showcasing our famous furniture collection, which is the largest and arguably the finest in the country.

Winterthur is situated on 1,000 acres of protected meadows, woodlands, ponds, and waterways. H.F. was an adherent to the concept of a “naturalistic garden,” a plant-driven approach to landscape design first written about in William Robinson’s The Wild Garden in 1870. Today, the 60-acre garden he designed is among America’s best, with magnificent plantings and stunning displays of color throughout the year.  The gardens and landscape surrounding the museum are an artistic composition arranged to capture a significant period in the history of American horticulture. This landscape is a significant cultural artefact, and its plants, architecture, and decorative objects are preserved and managed as a collection.

Furthermore, one of the nation's most esteemed independent research libraries and two graduate degree programs make Winterthur an important center for the study of American art and culture in a global context. The Winterthur Library includes more than 87,000 volumes and approximately 500,000 manuscripts and images, mostly related to American history, decorative arts, and architecture. Winterthur, in partnership with the University of Delaware, sponsors the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and the Winterthur/UD Program in Arts Conservation. These programs are widely recognized for their excellence, which is due in part to the students' invaluable access to Winterthur staff, laboratories, and collections.