Susan Gray Detweiler, longtime curator of the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Americana art collection in Wyndmoor, died at age 85 at her home in Chestnut Hill, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Detweiler oversaw the Wyndmoor collection for more than three decades and she is the author of an award-winning book about George Washington’s china.

She was very passionate about the preservation of American art and ceramics, especially U.S. presidential china.

She also was a former curatorial assistant at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Detweiler became a national authority on presidential china, conducting in-depth interviews with several first ladies and White House curators, and often was asked to speak all over the country including Philadelphia, Washington, and Atlanta.

She penned many essays and contributed to books and TV documentaries on design and the arts, but her most well-lauded work was her book, George Washington’s Chinaware published in 1982.

The book won literary awards from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and the Decorative Arts Society.

Detweiler also served as executive director of Friends of Independence National Historical Park in the 1980s.

She and her family spent time living in Worcester Township before moving to Chestnut Hill.

Read more about Susan Gray Detweiler, longtime curator of the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Americana art collection in Wyndmoor, in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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