Collections

Decoys

Shelburne Museum’s unparalleled collection of 1,400 wildfowl decoys was established with a 1952 gift of more than 400 superior examples from Joel Barber, a New York City architect, artist, and carver. Barber’s groundbreaking book Wild Fowl Decoys (1934) was the first to identify the importance of decoys as a uniquely American art form.

Since then, the Museum’s decoy collection has grown to be one of the finest and most comprehensive in the country. It includes examples by prominent carvers John Blair, Charles Sumner Bunn, Anthony Elmer Crowell, Lee Dudley, Joseph Lincoln, Don Preston, George Warin, Shang Wheeler, and Gus Wilson. Decoys from Maine, Long Island, Chesapeake Bay, Illinois, Quebec, and other regions are exhibited.

Wildfowl decoys are exhibited in Dorset House, newly reopened to the public following a four-year meticulous renovation. Significant upgrades to its heating, cooling, lighting, security, and fire protection systems have been supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and generous donors.