Our Collections
Wylie House Museum is extremely fortunate to have many Wylie family artifacts in addition to other period antiques. The descendants of both Andrew and Theophilus Wylie have been generous in donating furniture, glassware, china, paintings, photographs, textiles, and literally thousands of family letters and documents. These materials help us to tell the story of the Wylie families and early Bloomington and IU history and add a special touch to the house. Below you will find a gallery of images of some Wylie artifacts.
The museum also has a rich textile collection that includes table linens, quilts, hand woven coverlets, clothing and accessories from the 19th century. Some of these are Wylie family artifacts and some were donated by others who support our work here. A second image gallery (coming soon) showcases some of our favorite textiles.
Housed in the Morton C. Bradley, Jr. Education Center is a large collection of books owned by Theophilus A. Wylie and his extended family. We have furnished one room on the second floor with these books and furniture that belonged to the family. While the books have been cataloged using our museum collection software, they are not yet in IU-Cat. Many of the books are in somewhat fragile condition, but we are slowly working toward having the needed conservation work performed on them so that interested researchers could use them on-site. Thanks to the Bradley bequest and another gift from a descendant of Andrew Wylie, we also have an amazing archival collection of family correspondence, photographs, and ephemera. The letters are being transcribed, finding aids are available, and some of the letters have been digitized and are available to view at Archives Online at Indiana University through the IU Digital Library Program.
IU student interns, graduate assistants, and volunteers, mostly from the School of Library and Information Science, have helped us catalog, document and house these collections and we are grateful for their eager and enthusiastic help. We encourage them and other IU students and faculty to study our collections and use them in their research projects and teaching. When IU classes visit the museum, we often pull out materials that are not otherwise on display which will help us speak to the special interests of a particular class. Faculty members interested in bringing their classes or selected students to the museum are invited to contact our Curator of Education, Bridget Edwards, for further information.
Photo Gallery: Wylie Artifacts
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This sideboard came down the Ohio River with Dr. and Mrs. Wylie, then overland on a wagon when they moved from Washington County, PA to Bloomington, IN in 1829. -
Painted chair with rush seat belonged to Andrew and Margaret Wylie. It was donated to the museum by one of their great-granddaughters in 2004. -
Bronze copy of the Pantheon is actually an inkwell that belonged to Andrew Wylie. The roof lifts off to reveal two cobalt blue glass vials for ink and a small shaker for fine sand. Wylie great-great-grandchildren donated this item to the museum in 2006. -
This lovely rocking chair once belonged to Margaret Wylie, Andrew's wife. It was donated by a great-granddaughter in 2004. We had it reupholstered. -
Small case was for holding calling cards. It belonged to one of Andrew Wylie's 5 daughters, Elizabeth Wylie McCalla. -
Small leather and velvet sewing box that belonged to Jane M. Wylie, youngest child of Andrew and Margaret. Inside is an assortment of small sewing tools and small compartments for storing thread, needles and other paraphernalia. -
This tall chair with woven splint seat was used by the Wylie family when Andrew and Margaret had toddlers at home up until the 1990s when direct descendants donated it to the museum. -
Margaret Wylie had a lot of sewing to do for her family of 12 children. This sewing table belonged to her. Inside there are compartments for various small projects and sewing tools, as well as holders for spools of thread. -
Clocks and watches were not so common in Andrew Wylie's day. Sundials like this one were sometimes used to tell time. -
One of Andrew's daughters, Margaret, married a minister and went with him to China in 1850. She sent back these and other carved soapstone pieces for her sisters and parents. -
Irene Wylie, 9th child of Andrew and Margaret, owned this small silver coin purse. -
One of two surviving chairs from a set of 12 that belonged to Andrew and Margaret Wylie. -
A gathering or egg basket that once belonged to Margaret Wylie. -
These eye glasses once belonged to Samuel Brown Wylie of Philadelphia, father of Theophilus A. Wylie. -
Mahogany chest with lyre top and mirror that once belonged to Theophilus A. Wylie's parents in Philadelphia. It was sent to Theophilus and Rebecca in Bloomington in 1852. -
Portrait of Theophilus A. Wylie, painted by Charles B. King in 1832 when Theophilus was 22 years old. -
Theophilus took some painting lessons as a young man and sketched and drew (often in his books) his whole life. This ink and watercolor he titled "The Fiddle Master." He passed his artistic talent on to several of his children and grand-children. -
Clay pipe that belonged to Theophilus A. Wylie. -
Rebecca Dennis Wylie's father was Col. Richard Dennis. While serving in the US Navy, he traveled to New Orleans where he purchased this large French urn for his daughter Rebecca. -
Rebecca and Theophilus' oldest son, Richard, showed considerable artistic talent. His life was cut short when he died of disease while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. This is one of his paintings. -
Samuel Brown Wylie bought a large double set of Meissen ironstone china in 1830 for his new Philadelphia house. This large tureen is one of the surviving pieces that were bequeathed to Wylie House in 2004. -
Margaret Wylie Mellette was the second daughter of Theophilus and Rebecca. She took up china painting after her four sons were grown and painted this IU cup and saucer for her sister Louisa Wylie Boisen. -
Two grandsons of Theophilus Wylie became commercial artists. Anton Boisen, who made this pencil drawing, also had artistic ability, but he drew only for his own amusement.
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