Henry Francis du Pont

Henry Francis du Pont (May 27, 1880 – April 11, 1969) was an American horticulturist, collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, breeder of Holstein Friesian cattle, and scion of the powerful du Pont family. Converted into a museum in 1951, his estate of Winterthur in Delaware is the world's premier museum of American furniture and decorative arts.

Early life and education Henry was born on May 27, 1880, at Winterthur. He was the only son of Henry Algernon du Pont and Mary Pauline Foster to live to maturity; by the time he was born, his parents had already buried five children. Their only other surviving child, Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield, was a historic preservationist and founding trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

A shy and lonely boy who contrasted with his authoritarian father, young du Pont attended boarding school at Groton School in Massachusetts. After graduating from Groton at the bottom of his class of sixteen, du Pont went on to study horticulture at the Bussey Institution at Harvard University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1903. His best grade at Harvard was a B minus, for a garden study class. His mother, to whom he was close, died shortly before he graduated, which shook him profoundly and deepened his lifelong reticence. His father recalled him home to oversee the estate, a task at which he would excel.

Holstein herd When he bought a herd of cows from E.C. Schroeder in 1917, du Pont began breeding Holstein Friesian cattle, originally bred in the north of the Netherlands and Germany. His father approved of this endeavor, telling him “That’s a splendid idea. It will cost less than maintaining a yacht, and it may result in some good for humanity.” On tax returns, he commonly described as his occupation as "farmer." Following his death in 1969, Winterthur sold du Pont's herd.

Winterthur estate Du Pont became interested in antique furniture in 1923 after visiting the farmhouse of Electra Havemeyer Webb in Shelburne, Vermont, and Beauport, the home of Henry Davis Sleeper in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1951, he established the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate and moved into a smaller mansion on the property, where his daughter, Ruth, continued to live after her father's death. The museum holds the premier collection of American decorative arts in the world. In 1964, du Pont became the inaugural recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award from the American Society of Interior Designers (then called the National Society of Interior Designers). He received honorary doctorates from Yale University, Williams College, and the University of Delaware, along with a Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America in 1956. He belonged to the American Antiquarian Society, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, the American Philosophical Society, and the Walpole Society and served as a trustee of the Whitney Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the New York Botanical Garden, among other cultural organizations. Southampton's Ruth Wales du Pont Sanctuary was named after her. He was buried in Du Pont de Nemours Cemetery.

Legacy Established by du Pont in 1951, the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is the premier collection of American decorative arts in the world. At du Pont's recommendation, Kennedy hired Lorraine Waxman Pearce, a graduate of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, as the first White House curator.

Du Pont organized and chaired A Committee to Save the Cooper Union Museum, which had closed in 1963. In response to the public outcry and the du Pont-led lobbying campaign, the Smithsonian Institution acquired the museum in 1968, relocated its collections to the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, and reopened it to the public in 1976.

At the behest of nephew John du Pont, he donated land for the site of the Delaware Museum of Natural History across the street from Winterthur. It opened in 1972.