Biltmore’s archival team works to catalog, manage and preserve Biltmore Estate’s historical records, including drawings, photographs, books, manuscripts and oral histories.
The photo above demonstrates that Cornelia Vanderbilt was a typical teenager. Although we don’t know exactly when, she painted this on the door of her bedroom during the period after George Vanderbilt died, when she and her mother Edith were living in what had been the Bachelor’s Wing of Biltmore House. The room is now part of our archive and is not open to the public.
Here are a few more of their current projects…
Owen Gudger served as Asheville’s postmaster from 1913-1921. A big fan of George Vanderbilt, he wrote this book recounting George Vanderbilt’s contributions to farming, forestry, and sustainable development. Biltmore Associate Archivist Winnie Titchener is responsible for cataloging and preserving documents such as this.
A rare postcard of the Vanderbilts’ cabin on Mount Pisgah, Buck Spring Lodge. The lodge was demolished in 1963 after the National Park Service bought the property for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Biltmore Archivist Jill Hawkins collects and catalogs pieces of Biltmore history such as this.
This series of diaries−kept by Eleanor Waddell Stephens while she was a college student in the 1920s−provides insight into life at Biltmore. Eleanor was the daughter of Biltmore’s electrical engineer Charles Waddell, and the family lived on the estate. She went on to work for the Asheville Citizen Times and helped found the school now known as Carolina Day School.
Read blogs on Biltmore’s Curators and Conservators to see what they are working on.