"After Strawberry Mansion was sold to the Fairmount Park Commission in 1867, its rich history lay dormant under various new cloaks, including a dining establishment. It wouldn't be until 1926 when a group of leading city women, headed by Mrs. J. Willis Martin interceded on its behalf. Mrs. Martin was a civic leader in the city of Philadelphia. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain for her work with Bartram's Gardens. She was even named as one of "The Nation's Twelve Greatest Women" by the New York newspapers in 1922.
"Mrs. Martin, along with women from various other women's committees in the city, formed a unified committee, The Committee of 1926, to act as the stewards of the house and restore it to its former glory. They were given an initial grant of $36,000.00 from Joseph V. Horn, owner of Horn and Hardart Baking Company and later famous for the Automat restaurant. Each room in the house was conceived of as a museum space and the decorations and artifacts were collected by the various women's groups who were in charge of specific rooms. Certain rooms were also designed with a functional purpose in mind. In these rooms parties, teas, luncheons and weddings could be held. The women of the Committee of 1926 thenceforth dedicated themselves to the preservation of the history and heritage of Strawberry Mansion and do so to this day."
Bibliography:
"The Committee of 1926." Accessed December 22, 2011. http://www.historicstrawberrymansion.org/.
From the guide to the Committee of 1926 of Pennsylvania records, 1926-1995, (Strawberry Mansion)
