John Updike Childhood Home / The John Updike Society

Description:

John Updike, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and one of America’s greatest writers, lived here from “age zero to thirteen” and famously said it was where his “artistic eggs were hatched.” The house itself is architecturally and historically important. Built in 1884 by Shillington namesake Samuel Shilling for his son, Howard, the house was restored recently to look as it did inside when Updike lived here with his parents and maternal grandparents from 1932-45. Restoration detective work led to the exposure of original period wall coverings that have been replicated, as well as restored architectural features.

 

The Updike house, which has a Pennsylvania Historic Marker and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, features ten rooms of exhibits and wall hangings that tell the story of Updike and the influence that Pennsylvania had on his writing.

 

For tours: mlester@albright.edu; for everything else: jplath@iwu.edu

 

Updike originally wanted to be an artist, and several displays celebrate that, while others are devoted to his first art teacher, Clint Shilling, who was world-renowned for his stage backdrops used by theaters and opera houses. Among items on display are Shilling’s easel, one of his paintings, objects from his studio, and the sideboard from his house across the street from the Updikes, where young John took art lessons.

 

There’s folk art here too, like a coffee table made from Berks County Almshouse shutters salvaged by an Updike classmate before it was razed, or a rope bed tole-painted by young Updike and his mother, or a coverlet made locally that’s been in the Updike family for more than 170 years. There’s also furniture that came out of the nearby Plowville farmhouse where Updike’s mother, Linda, grew up, and relics and artwork related to Updike that appear throughout the house. Unique to the museum are large one-of-a-kind original cartoons by Updike, as well as a portrait of Updike done by Ernest Hemingway’s grandson, Edward.

 

Updike’s writing “task” chair is here on display in his childhood bedroom, along with childhood toys and books, clothing he wore as a toddler, and a framed Lank Leonard comic strip that young Updike requested and received when he wrote a fan letter.

There are handwritten notes and manuscript pages on display, books with Updike’s corrections and notes in them, and numerous personal items—including the recorders he played when he was in a recorder group in Ipswich, Mass. From a Doris Day letter to a piece of chalk tray from Updike’s teacher-father’s homeroom, there are plenty of unique exhibit items to surprise and delight.

 

The John Updike Childhood Home is owned and operated by The John Updike Society, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization with members in 17 countries and 35 states.

 

 

The John Updike Society holds conferences every two years, and membership/participation is open to anyone with an interest in Updike. See the society’s webpage for details.