A Tour of Stowell Galleries

Concept for writing a picture book called ‘A Tour of Stowell Galleries’, which can also be a website with links to each room using my photos and descriptions. Maybe have a ‘pick your path’ multiple choice option at the bottom of the page, when there is more than one way to go to another room.

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FORWARD

This virtual tour of Stowell Galleries is idealized based on the historical reality I experienced, and also includes the angle our Museum of the Middle Class realized a few years later. The idea here is if we had started the Museum earlier, we could have had more money to sustain our house-hold bills.

The year is 1999, and instead of being forced to go to college, I earned a living wage working for my parents in our family businesses. In this alternative history, I was able to be there full-time to assist my father as Mayor of Harpers Ferry and help him to step down after his second term. As a self-taught artist I was able to assist my father with his drawings, and work on perspectives with him; and also help drive my mother back and forth to work (or we would have had 2 cars since they saved not paying my tuition). I negotiated between my parents when they argued, and this allowed me to be a successful archivist because I had to be able to push past their failures to resolve disagreements and make decisions for the future which often meant cleaning or throwing out junk we were not going to use to make room for new items that we could use. I was not graduating with a Masters Degree in Architecture, but I was also not in debt and actually had a savings account. Well the main point is that I am able to describe rooms better in hind-sight after years out of school to independently study and build on what we had as a family; so I would not have actually been able to write this in 1999 because my focus was on college and I felt too financially oppressed to initiate projects like this at the time. It was not until 2008 that I wrote a book with Dad, but perhaps technology played more a role in this fate than my college debt or education. The most important thing now, is for me to make the book; and then base a website on the book.

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INTRODUCTION

Kip Stowell greets you in the circle driveway, in back of Stowell Galleries.

“Hello! Welcome to Stowell Galleries! My wife Nena and I bought this house in the 1970s as a place to raise our son, and we have enjoyed filling it with arts and antiques from our adventures. Now that I am retired from my job with the National Park Service, and am stepping down as Mayor of Harpers Ferry, I am finding more time to spend with my family and polish the silver and get to all the chores I was avoiding. Hah, actually I am able to work on more art and architecture projects; my wife and son were able to convince me that there is plenty to do together as a family.”

Kip welcomes you to the back porch of the house.

“The Kaplons built our house in 1908. Abe Kaplon owned a department store down-town and was able to order this house from a Sears-Roebuck catalogue. The construction involved the Wizard Block Machine, which as a metal mould-press for the concrete blocks to be cast on site. The Kaplon family was Jewish, and we have some photos and letters from them; I met Francis Kaplon, who was Abe’s out-going daughter who leased this property to us.

We will use the back door, it should be unlocked. I only carry a key for the back-doors, because we use them more often than the front door. We will skip the door to the kitchen, and take you into the back hall foyer, where there is more standing room and we can hang up coats and jackets, and get you to sign our guest book.”

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FOYER

Kip opens the back door to the Foyer. It is a heavy wooden door with an upper glass window.

[more later]

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