Research + Documentation Efforts

Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance has completed several important research projects and site documentations.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECTS

Art Professor Emeritus Ed Worteck photographed countless images of Painter's Folly, Helen Murray Sipala, and her collection of Wyeth ephemera, as well as architectural documentation. Worteck's Painter's Folly photographs were made available to Chadds Ford Township for documentation, grant writing, and future research.

CHAIN OF TITLE

Pam Cawood Rizzo, a student at the University of Delaware's Center for Historic Architecture and Design, completed a comprehensive Painter's Folly Chain of Title in May 2025 that includes a historic narrative, tax data, historic photographs, and deed information. This project laid an important foundation for Painter's Folly's ownership history, changes in parcel size, and the site's integrity.

CO-STEWARDSHIP MODELS

Emma Leuschner compiled a list of current public-private partnerships for historic sites in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Leuschner worked with the Delaware County Planning Department to determine the number of co-stewarded historic sites in the same county as Painter's Folly. It was determined that 18 historic sites in Delaware County are municipally owned but operated by a separate organization, such as a historical society or other nonprofit. This information was shared with Chadds Ford Township officials via public comment at the 16 July 2025, Painter's Folly public meeting. The Delaware County Planning Department provided Chadds Ford Township with additional information regarding the agreements at those sites during a private meeting in Fall 2025.

PHMC STATE HISTORICAL MARKER

Chadds Ford Township approved Emma Leuschner to pursue a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission State Historical Marker application for Painter's Folly in May 2025. Leuschner submitted the pre-application paperwork to PHMC in January 2026 and received pre-approval in March 2026. Chadds Ford Township is applying for a Certified Local Government mini-grant in 2026 for the marker. This project is ongoing.

PAINTER'S FOLLY: A NARRATIVE HISTORY

Between June and September 2025, Emma Leuschner researched, wrote, and published Painter's Folly: A Narrative History, which covers the history and significance of the property's previous owners and residents. This research underscored Painter's Folly's close relationship to the other Chadds Ford historic landmarks, such as the Brandywine Battlefield Park and Kuerner Farm. The paper is publicly accessible on the Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance website.

HELEN SIPALA ORAL HISTORY RECORDINGS

On 31 July 2025, Ed Worteck and Emma Leuschner interviewed historian Thomas Wood for an oral history project on Helen Murray Sipala. Dr. Robert Kodosky, the West Chester University History Department Chair, recommended Wood for this project based on Wood's expertise in conducting oral history interviews. Following an initial interview, Leuschner and Worteck hired Thomas Wood to interview and record Helen Murray Sipala on her life, friendship with Andrew Wyeth, and their relationship at Painter's Folly. Interviews were conducted on 8 August 2025, 13 August 2025, and 19 August 2025. The recordings are held in perpetuity at the University of Kentucky's Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and are available to scholars and researchers. Thomas Wood gave the Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance two copies of the recordings on thumb drives. The Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance website includes a page that directs researchers to the repository website. https://www.kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7vzzjmr7cks  

HELEN SIPALA PHOTO/DOCUMENT ALBUMS TO THE BRANDYWINE MUSEUM OF ART

In July and August 2025, Ed Worteck coordinated with Dr. William L. Coleman (Wyeth Foundation Curator and Director of the Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center) and Karen Baumgartner (Collections Manager for the Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center) for the Brandywine Museum of Art to scan Helen Murray Sipala's collection of document albums. The photo and document albums were compiled during Wyeth's visits to the house, at social events he organized at Painter's Folly, and from personal messages sent to the Sipalas by Andrew and Betsy Wyeth, as well as other Wyeth family members. There are additional records of conversations and messages from Wyeth's only authorized biographer, Richard Merryman, who used Painter's Folly to relay private messages about the biography directly to Andrew Wyeth. The document scans are held in the Wyeth Study Center archive for future research.

HELEN SIPALA DIARY + ALBUMS TO THE DELAWARE ART MUSEUM

In November 2025, Ed Worteck and architectural historian W. Barksdale Maynard arranged for Helen Murray Sipala's 445-page diary and full collection of document albums to be accessioned in the Delaware Art Museum archive and made publicly accessible for research. Worteck wrote the collection description for Delaware Art Museum archivist Rachael DiEleuterio. Emma Leuschner and Worteck assisted Helen Murray Sipala in transferring materials to DiEleuterio on 12 November 2025. This project underscores the significance of Painter's Folly's history and ensures that critical primary documents related to Andrew Wyeth, Helen Murray Sipala, and Painter's Folly are professionally maintained and accessible for further research.

PAINTER'S FOLLY: A CATALYST FOR REVOLUTIONARY MEMORY AND AMERICAN ART

In early 2026, Emma Leuschner authored a 13,000+ word essay titled “Painter’s Folly: A Catalyst for Revolutionary Memory and American Art.” The paper traces the profound legacy of the c. 1856 Italianate residence in Chadds Ford, originally built by Samuel H. Painter and later home to illustrator Howard Pyle during his transformative Chadds Ford summer schools (1898–1903). Leuschner argues that Painter’s Folly served as a catalyst for the Howard Pyle School of Art and the development of the Brandywine School style, shaping the careers of artists such as Frank Earle Schoonover, Newell Convers Wyeth, and Andrew Wyeth. The essay was added to the Howard Pyle Manuscript Collection at the Delaware Art Museum and nominated for the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s 2026 William A. Pencak Award. Leuschner will present the paper at the 2026 Pennsylvania Historical Association's conference.

DIGITIZING THE ATWATER-CLEVEAND PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION

PFPA has acquired a collection of 900 Atwater-Cleveland family photographs, spanning from the 1840s to the 1960s. Many were taken at Painter's Folly and offer a rare window into the Chadds Ford landscape at the turn of the twentieth century. We're currently digitizing the collection before donating it to a permanent archive.

The Cleveland-Atwater era was one of the most transformative chapters in Painter's Folly's history. Dr. Arthur Cleveland, a laryngologist on staff at Presbyterian Hospital and the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, became owner of Painter's Folly and its 500 surrounding acres in 1903. A former ward of Joseph and Eliza Turner of Chadds Ford, he also served as President of the Birmingham Township Board of Supervisors. Together with his father-in-law, Richard Mead Atwater, Dr. Cleveland ran Lafayette Dairies — one of only two local dairies selling milk in glass bottles. The Cleveland-Atwater family's holdings — including Washington's Headquarters, Lafayette's Headquarters, Painter's Folly, Windtryst, Turner's Mill, and Red Barn Farm (Kuerner Farm) — placed the family at the center of the very debates that led to the creation of today's Brandywine Battlefield Park, formally established with the Brandywine Battlefield Bill of 1947.

THE WYETH INTERVIEW PROJECT

The Wyeth Interview Project is an ongoing oral history and documentation effort by the Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance. Since launching, we've spoken with more than ten of Andrew Wyeth's former models and friends across Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maine, gathering firsthand accounts that have never been recorded. The work continues on a rolling basis — each conversation shapes the next, and the archive grows as more subjects come forward. We're documenting everything according to ethical oral-history standards, with an eye toward preserving these voices, especially the women's, for scholars and the public alike.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance co-founders Emma Leuschner and Ed Worteck continue to develop research on the history and importance of Painter's Folly, building a library of documents, photographs, and oral history interviews. This research supports preservation efforts for Painter's Folly and provides evidence of the landscape and building's importance as a crucial site in American history and the development of American art and the Brandywine School of Art.