07/08/2025
Big news! After a two year effort a portrait of Jefferson’s founder, Joseph Whipple (1738-1816), was returned to us as a permanent loan from the National Park Service (NPS) at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Previously on display in our old museum, the NPS asked for it back as the church building lacked proper climate control. We were given the ability to reapply for it if we were able to find a suitable building. Long story short, our new home at the Jefferson Community Center fits the bill, and after a number of processes and paper work it was returned to us two weeks ago by the NPS, delivered to Jefferson from Philadelphia by a fine art transportation company.
Our plan is to install the portrait in our new museum as the centerpiece of our Joseph Whipple exhibit. There is much to tell about him, and we are delighted to have this piece back in Jefferson to augment our display.
The NPS staff relayed to us that the portrait (23” X 27” framed) was created by Stephen James Ferris (1835-1915) in 1876, and was based on an 1805 engraving by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin. Ferris believed he was painting a portrait of William Whipple, Joseph’s older brother and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He sold the painting to the City of Philadelphia for exhibit at Independence Hall, and the mistaken identity wasn’t discovered until the mid 20th century. The City of Philadelphia managed Independence Hall as a museum until 1951 when the building and its contents (including the Whipple portrait) became the responsibility of the National Park Service. The Whipple portrait hasn’t been exhibited in Independence Hall since the late 1950’s according to the staff there.
We are fortunate to have this piece for our museum and the mistaken identity is actually a stroke of good luck for us here in Jefferson. Joseph Whipple, who was a customs agent in Portsmouth, was responsible for settling and naming the community in 1796 after an effort of several decades. We will have much more information on Whipple in our exhibit.
We also have more news about additional Joseph Whipple items, but we will save those to share on another day!
