About Us:
The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, guests will enjoy seeing the Public Hospital exhibition area on the south side of the building. This modern space contains a three-part exhibit that graphically shows the different theories about mental illness and methods of treating it that were in fashion from the opening of the Public Hospital until it was destroyed by fire in 1885. The building was reconstructed by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1985 and today the exhibition contrasts the treatments and doctor-patient relationships popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
New exhibits on view at the DeWitt Museum are: Pounds, Pence and Pistareens: The Coins and Currency of Colonial America, and Canisters, Caddies and Chests: Fashionable Tea Containers of the 18th Century.
The Museum Store offers a range of books, music, jewelry, gifts, and accessories reflecting the museum's wonderful collection of 18th- and early 19th-century decorative arts.
