7:40 a.m., Nov. 20, 2009----The University of Delaware's New Castle County Alumni Club will hold its annual behind-the-scenes holiday event at Winterthur Museum and Country Estate.

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The event will begin with check-in at 11:15 a.m., followed by brunch at 11:30.

Debra Hess Norris, a University graduate who is the Henry Francis du Pont Chair of Fine Arts, chairperson of the Department of Art Conservation, and vice provost for graduate and professional education at UD, will make remarks at noon. Norris is recognized internationally for her expertise in the field of art conservation.

After brunch, alumni can enjoy private conservation laboratory tours by UD graduate students enrolled in the world-renowned Winterthur Program. Guests will be divided into two groups, with one touring at 1 p.m. and the other at 2 p.m. Note the time you prefer upon registration.

At 3 p.m., there will be a free concert by the University's Pearl String Quartet.

The event is limited to 80 participants. Cost of $35 per person includes brunch, private tour of the conservation laboratories and a garden and galleries pass.

When you are not on the conservation laboratory tour, feel free to take the 30-minute ride on the garden tram or explore the galleries, which features the “Faces of a New Nation” exhibition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. View masterpieces portraying the men, women, and children of early America, from paintings by the first immigrant limners at work on these shores to the work of highly professionalized artists who worked in the country's major cities just before the Civil War. These stunning paintings depict not only people from a particular time and place, but they also reveal the values of the nation across a span of nearly 150 years.

Winterthur is the only venue for this select group of portraits from The Met, which represents many of the young country's great artists, including John Smibert, John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, and Samuel F. B. Morse.

Optional Yuletide at Winterthur tours at 1 and 2 p.m. are an additional $5 per person. Call (302) 888-4600 for advance Yuletide tour ticket sales. Mention you are attending the UD alumni brunch to receive the discounted rate of only $5 per ticket. (Regular price is $22 per ticket.) You will receive your Yuletide tour ticket at the event.

Yuletide at Winterthur showcases Henry Francis du Pont's ancestral home in seasonal splendor. This year's Yuletide tour features rooms decorated to reflect various seasonal vignettes, including the perennial favorite, Winterthur's magnificent dried flower tree.

For details, contact Sandra Tilford in the Office of Alumni Relations at [stilford@udel.edu] or (302) 831-3629.