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Touring Exhibit Is Museum's Pet Project

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The Associated Press

Published: November 11, 2007

WILMINGTON, Del. - Visitors to Winterthur sometimes experience a "Wow!" moment when touring the museum's permanent and traveling collections, but the newest exhibit offers a bit of a twist.

"Bow-wow!" might be the more appropriate response to "Pets in America," which traces Americans' love affair with their animals from the 18th century to the present.

In what may be a first for Winterthur, visitors can bring their own pet photos or portraits, which will be displayed and archived as part of the museum's record of the exhibit.

The family-friendly exhibit, on view through Jan. 20, is the brainchild of Katherine Grier, a professor in Winterthur's American material culture program.

The show grew from her research into human-animal relationships in the United States while she was at the University of South Carolina, where the exhibit debuted two years ago.

Winterthur is the fifth stop for the show, which is next scheduled to travel to Florida. At Winterthur, it is being supplemented with about 40 items from the museum's collection.

More than 60 percent of American households have pets and spent an estimated $41 billion on their animals this year.

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