Mary Tillinghast

Miss Mary Elizabeth Tillinghast (1845-1912) has worn many hats: painter, architect, muralist, tapestry, stained-glass and mosaic artist to name a few. In 1893, she was a medal recipient of The World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, i.e. the Worlds’ Fair in Chicago, resembling in what an 1896 article described her as, “the most versatile artist we can boast among women in this country.” Being an independent female artist in the 19th Century, she understood the art industry would reject her if she did not work tirelessly in her trade and be different amongst her colleagues. The story of Mary Tillinghast resonates with the story of progress for women to this day. Her indomitable grit and will power characterizes the Gilded Age in America, and her works resonate the American Renaissance as her massive windows were installed in not only in the newly built mansions in America, but in religious institutions quintessential to the our country’s pillars founded over 100 years ago. Born to New York’s upper-class society in the 19th Century, her career was mostly spent in-between her studio in Greenwhich Village or in Europe. Not only does her spirit live in New York, but she has been brought back to life (symbolically speaking that is) in the most unusual place: San Juan, Texas. Her story and the story of her patron, Mrs. Sage, have been re-envisioned at the Gelman Stained Glass Museum as two of her windows commissioned by Mrs. Sage in 1906 have been installed in their permanent home, for the world to enjoy. Soaring over 30 feet by 15 ft wide, we have two of her windows that were originally installed at the First Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, New York. In a recent LIVE installation, the museum featured Tillinghast in “And All That Glass,” to recreate the same buzz and excitement of a memorial window dedication in the 1900s in honor of Tillinghast’s legacy. We invited the public to step-into the Gilded Age and envision themselves as spectators to this behind-the-scenes installation of “, as one would have done 100 years ago. The most frequent question asked by visitors at the museum, “How did all these windows become part of the collection?” The short answer: Time. Nothing can escape time. Time has a tendency to erase memories and demolish longstanding pillars in our community, such as the First Presbyterian Church. Time has also somehow erased Tillinghast’s memory from the archives, but with these newly installed windows, they have traveled across time (over 100 years) and across the country to their final destination: The Gelman Stained Glass Museum. A setting as magnificent as the First Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, New York. A museum that will memorialize Tillinghast’s indomitable spirit, leaving lessons for any aspiring young females, “what one little woman can do when she makes up her mind to it.”