Donald H. Cresswell, antique map and print expert and former owner of the Philadelphia Print Shop, has died at 84
He was also a featured appraiser for ‘Antiques Roadshow’ on PBS TV between 1998 and 2014.
Donald H. Cresswell, 84, of Gwynedd, renowned antique map and print expert, former owner of the Philadelphia Print Shop, teacher, librarian, lecturer, author, and volunteer, died Thursday, June 19, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at Gwynedd Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in Lansdale.
Born in Washington, D.C., Dr. Cresswell grew up amid some of the nation’s most iconic buildings and artifacts, and he developed a keen appreciation and unique expertise in American history and antiquarian maps and prints. He earned four degrees in English literature and American studies at three colleges, and taught history and antiquarian classes at Moore College of Art and Design and Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.
He was a visiting lecturer in the historic preservation program at the University of Pennsylvania, onetime chair of the membership committee of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and elected to the American Antiquarian Society in 2003. He was featured often in The Inquirer, and his articles, chapters, and book reviews appeared in American Maritime Prints, the Map Collector, Journal of the Print World, and other publications.
Part of his doctoral dissertation included research on drawings and prints regarding the American Revolution, and it was published by the Library of Congress in 1975 as The American Revolution in Drawings and Prints.
He co-owned the popular Philadelphia Print Shop with Chris Lane from 1982 to 2014 and was sole owner until he sold it in 2020. The shop was a longtime anchor on the historic commercial stretch of Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill, and he and Lane published several print catalogs, antique collectors guides, and Prints of Philadelphia in 1990.
He had an eye for detail and told The Inquirer in 1985 that he was shown an unsigned print called Marsh Wren and knew right away it was by one of his favorite artists. “The exactness, the quick plot of the wren after the spider, and the loving depiction of the flower all conspire to proclaim one more triumph for John James Audubon,” he told writer Margaret Kirk.
Lane said Dr. Cresswell was an “ebullient” business partner with a “curious mind who liked to dig into history.”
He was a featured appraiser on the PBS TV show Antiques Roadshow between 1998 and 2014, and traveled the country to all kinds of antiquarian shows and exhibits. He was affable and good at sales, and famously brokered acquisition No. 100 million for the Library of Congress in 1993.
In the 1970s and ’80s, he worked as the library director at Belmont Abbey, rare book librarian at the University of North Carolina, and catalog editor and appraiser for a book and print firm in Philadelphia.
He was on the board at Bartram’s Garden and belonged to the Philadelphia Club. “He was a happy, outgoing guy,” said his son Robert, “always ready to engage.”
Donald Howard Cresswell was born May 20, 1941. He palled around with his cousin, Sonny, as a boy and graduated from St. John’s College High School in Washington in 1959.
He earned a bachelor’s degree at Belmont Abbey in 1965, a master’s degree in English literature at the University of Cincinnati in 1968, a master’s degree in American studies at George Washington University in 1971, and a doctorate in American studies at GW in 1977.
He married Mary Ann Schick in 1969, and they had sons Robert and Jonathan, and lived in Washington, North Carolina, Ardmore, and Chestnut Hill. After a divorce, he met Nancy Nitzberg at an antiquarian show, and they married in 2018 at the Philadelphia Club, and lived in Elkins Park.
“He was friendly, outgoing, intelligent and warm,” his wife said.
Dr. Cresswell enjoyed action movies and told his young sons memorable made-up bedtime stories about science fiction swashbucklers and Star Wars characters. “He loved being a dad,” his son Robert said.
He played tennis and basketball, and his book collection grew to be a sizable library. He supported local fundraising events, played Santa Claus at Christmas one year, and won Ernest Hemingway look-alike contests.
He read constantly and studied the lives of American historian Henry Adams and Abraham Lincoln. His son Robert said: “He was most himself making grits, smiling, singing along to Emmylou Harris, and looking forward to a day of work.”
In addition to his sons, wife, and former wife, Dr. Cresswell is survived by two grandchildren and other relatives. A sister died earlier.
A celebration of his life was held July 27. He donated his body to the Humanity Gifts Registry of Pennsylvania.
Donations in his name may be made to the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107.