The
Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker
Collection
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike,
302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Andrews, Edward Deming,
1894-1964.
Title: Artifacts and printed ephemera in the Andrews
Memorial Shaker Collection
Dates: circa 1800-circa 1965
Call No.: ASC Artifacts
Acc. No.: [various – see detailed
description]
Quantity: 10 boxes
Location: 29 G 3-4; map case 1,
drawers 4-6; Downs Collection office
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
A group of artifacts and ephemera from the eastern Shaker
communities, including labels, seed packets, stationery, knobs, pegs, a doll,
and a few items used by the Shakers.
Seed packets and labels for herbs, herbal remedies, medicines, food, and
other goods are the largest portion of this collection. Most were gathered from New Lebanon, New
York, but others came from Canterbury, New Hampshire; Watervliet, New York; and
Hancock, Massachusetts. In addition to
the labels for herbal remedies and extracts, there are labels for beverages,
brooms, cloaks, chairs, etc. There are
two styles of cloak labels, both woven, one for E.J. Neale cloaks from Mount
Lebanon and the other for cloaks made at Sabbathday Lake. A few containers are also found, such as
paper boxes (folded flat) and a bottle containing an asthma cure.
An interesting assortment of labels was printed for
the New Lebanon Church family sisters.
These labels were tied together into a little book and presented with a
poem signed E. In his poem, E. tells the
sisters to let him know when they need more labels printed. These labels could have been affixed to
boxes, cupboard doors, drawers, or bottles, and were labels for clothing,
preserves, sewing notions, stationery supplies, and other items.
In addition to decal labels for chairs, there are
found artifacts pertaining to the Shakers’ exhibition of their wares at the
Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Brother R.
M. (Robert M.) Wagan, foreman of the chair factory at New Lebanon, preserved
his pass to the fair and the bronze medal awarded to him for the excellence of
the Shakers’ work. As well, there are
examples of the tapes used to weave the seats of the chairs. Nothing is known about the origins of the woven
tapes or swatches of Shaker-woven fabrics found in this collection. A note with one group of the tapes hints that
not all of them were woven by the Shakers.
Among the paper ephemera are blank reward of merit
cards and a blank school report card.
Other stationery was used by various industries and communities. Blank forms used for the indentures of minors
and forms for those leaving the Shakers are also found. When someone left the Shakers, he or she
signed one of these forms to acknowledge receipt of money and to discharge all
other claims against the Shakers.
An important artifact testifying to the Shakers’
beliefs is a fragment of the marble tablet used to mark Mount Horeb, the feast
grounds at Tyringham, Massachusetts. The
stone is illustrated and its modern discovery is chronicled in Fruits of the Shaker Tree of Life, pages
45-50. Music was also important to the
Shakers, and a ruling pen used to draw staff lines in blank books is
found. (Recordings of Shaker songs are
found in the Media section of the Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection.)
Four framed items are also in this collection. Of most interest is the watercolor by Benson
John Lossing of the interior of the meeting house in New Lebanon, executed in
1856. Also found are a photoprint of an
unknown Shaker brother, a drawing of an unknown Shaker sister, and a print of
one of Charles Sheeler’s paintings, this one featuring a Shaker oval box.
A curious artifact is a phrenology head, made of
plaster with paper labels (amativeness, parental love, combativeness, etc.)
attached to various parts of the brain.
Some Shakers had an interest in phrenology, and it is believed that this
head was owned by them.
The doll in this collection is a Barbie doll by the
Mattel Corporation, dressed in an outfit similar to those worn by Shaker
sisters. It is not known who dressed the
doll. In the same box as the doll are
found additional items of doll clothing and pattern pieces for making men’s,
women’s, and boys’ clothing.
Most of Edward and Faith Andrews’ collection of
furniture and other Shaker goods was donated to Shaker Community, Inc., and are
on display at Hancock Shaker Village. Other
items were donated to Winterthur Museum and may be viewed on a guided tour.
The chapter on Artifacts in The Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection, compiled by
E. Richard McKinstry, gives more details on items in this part of the Andrews
Memorial Shaker Collection.
ORGANIZATION
Grouped by type of item: boxes, labels, seed
packets, other paper items. Three-dimensional
items are in a separate box. Oversize
and framed items are in map case drawers.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Gift of Mrs. Edward D. Andrews.
RELATED
MATERIALS
See also ASC 1086 for labels for Shaker Apples. These were probably box labels.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Hollister, Alonzo Giles,
1830-1911.
Lossing, Benson John, 1813-1891.
Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965.
Wagan, R. M.
White, A. J. (Andrew Judson)
Topics:
Shakers.
Shakers – Agriculture.
Shakers - Clothing and dress.
Shakers - Industries.
Shakers - Massachusetts - Tyringham.
Shakers – Poetry.
Emma J. Neale & Co.
Centennial
Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)
Apostasy – Shakers.
Awards.
Boxes.
Buttons - Specimens.
Canning and preserving.
Cloaks.
Dolls.
Food industry and trade - United States.
Herbs.
Herbs - Therapeutic use.
Patent medicines.
Pens.
Phrenology.
Pins and needles - Specimens.
Printing plates.
Religious articles.
Report cards.
Rewards of merit.
Seeds.
Selling - Seeds.
Shaker chairs.
Shaker textile fabrics.
Stationery - Specimens.
Stone.
Storage.
Textile fabrics - Specimens.
Blotters.
Indentures.
Labels.
Rewards of
merit.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 29 G 3-4; map case 1, drawers 4-6; Downs Collection
office
Box 1: Boxes,
labels, and seed packets
Folder 1: Box:
Dried Sweet Corn (SA 1043.3)
Folded box
for Shaker’s Dried Green Sweet Corn, prepared and for sale by D. C. Brainard,
Shaker Village, Mount Lebanon, N.Y.
Includes
directions for how to prepare the corn, and how to make succotash and corn
fritters. Back of box decorated with
picture of corn stalk and ear of corn.
The box was
made by B. Osborn of Newark, New Jersey, 1873 or later.
Folder 2: Box:
Sugared Nuts (SA 1684)
Folded box
printed on two sides with label: Sugared Nuts by the Society of Shakers, Mount
Lebanon, Columbia Co., N.Y.
String handle
still intact. The box itself was made by
the National Folding Box Co. of New Haven and New York.
Folder 3: Box lid (SA 1456)
Box lid, now
flattened, printed on top with a picture of Native Americans trading with a
white man smoking a pipe. The lid was
for a box of hooks and eyes.
The
underside of the lid now bears a notice about a “Catalogue of Herbs, prepared
by the United Society, commonly called Shakers….” The Shaker community is not mentioned. The notice has been glued to the box lid.
Folder 4: Labels,
assorted (SA 1417.1-.11)
Rose water; gold thread; extracts of gentian, marsh
mallows, sarsaparilla, tomato white hellebore, and wormwood.
From New
Lebanon, Mount Lebanon, Watervliet, and Canterbury.
The labels are
printed on colored paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 5: Labels, assorted (SA 1675-1680)
Oxalic acid; rose water; extracts of bittersweet,
motherwort, and sarsaparilla.
From New Lebanon.
The labels are
printed on colored paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 6: Labels, assorted (ca.123 items, some
duplicates, mostly without accession numbers)
Almost all the labels are for various herbal extracts,
too numerous to list, but including aconite, boneset, cassia, golden seal,
Indian hemp, ladies slipper, myricin, queen’s delight, stone root, unicorn,
etc. Includes some cut or partially cut
sheets. Also labels for peach water,
cherry water, and rose water.
One uncut label is for fine, between, and common
shirtings, nitrate of iron, and crude tartar.
The labels for syrup of sarsaparilla note that the
concoction was prepared at New Lebanon.
The labels are
printed mostly on white, some on colored paper, mostly with lines for borders,
but some with decorative borders.
Folder 7: Labels, assorted (transferred from
museum, museum no. 1961.352.1-.2, .4-.14, .16-.38, .40-.43) (.39 remains in
museum; .3 is not listed anywhere; .15 is missing)
More labels
for herbs and herbal extracts, including tomato, wild lettuce, butternut, white
hellebore, motherwort, etc.
One piece of paper has labels printed on both sides, one
side for elm flour and the other side for quince and raspberry jellies, and
cherry, grape, pineapple, strawberry, and plumb sauces.
The paper
printed for pulverized sage is large enough that it could have been used to
wrap the contents.
All these
labels are from New Lebanon. One label
could be used on any extract; the text reads “prepared in vacuo at the
Laboratory of the United Society, D.M., Shaker Village, New Lebanon, N.Y.”
The labels are printed
on colored paper, mostly with decorative borders.
Folder 8: Labels,
assorted (SA 1689.20, .25-.27)
Twenty-eight
labels for Apple Jelly made by the North Family, Mount Lebanon (SA 1689.27),
and one label for Pulverized Sage, from New Lebanon (SA 1689.20). (See museum acc. 1961.352.1 for another
example of the sage label.)
Also, strips
with the names of raspberries, quinces, cherries, and other small fruits (SA
1689.25). Some of these are printed on
the back of a label for Shakers’ Apple Sauce, made by G. W. Jones of Mount
Lebanon. Another kind of label is for
Apple, Crab Apple, Raspberry, Quince, and Plum Jellies; this is also on the
back of a Shakers’ Apple Sauce label (SA 1689.26).
Folder 9: Labels: assorted (SA 1047.1-.11)
Ten labels
are from Watervliet, and include borage (4 for this), bugle, frostwort,
hardhack leaves, and heart-ease. These
labels are centered on a piece of paper which could have been used to wrap a
small quantity of the herb. An uncut
sheet has labels for 8 other herbs.
One label is
for Syrup of Bitter Bugle, prepared by B. Hinkley, M.D., in the New Lebanon
community.
The labels are
printed on colored paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 10: Labels, assorted (SA 1572-1582)
Labels for
various extracts: butternut, cicuta, deadly nightshade, henbane, horehound,
sarsaparilla, and wolf bane, all prepared in New Lebanon.
The labels are
printed on colored paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 11: Labels, assorted (SA 1627-1635)
Labels for
various extracts: butternut, dandelion, deadly nightshade, myricin,
sarsaparilla, and yellow dock, all prepared in New Lebanon.
Also a label
which could be used on any extract; the text reads “prepared in vacuo at the
Laboratory of the United Society, D.M., Shaker Village, New Lebanon, N.Y.”
The labels are
printed on colored paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 12: Label:
Poppy extract, from Shaker Village, N.H., T. Corbett (SA 1045)
Pale
pink paper; decorative border.
Folder 13: Labels:
mostly cologne (SA 1046.1-.11)
Labels for
cologne water, lavender water, Hungary water, and rose water. Also a label for bittersweet.
Five labels are
from New Lebanon and Mount Lebanon; the others do not specify a Shaker origin.
Many of the
labels are printed on colored paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 14: Label: Pulverized Sage, from New Lebanon
(SA 1419)
This label
is large enough that it could have been used to wrap the contents. Printed on blue paper, with decorative
border.
For another
sample of this see museum accession 1961.352.1.
Folder 15: Labels: Peach Water, Wintergreen (SA
1453-1454)
The Peach
Water was made by W. H. Sparrow at Harvard, Massachusetts. Printed on white paper, decorative border.
The
Wintergreen was from New Lebanon, N.Y. Printed
on yellow paper, decorative border.
Folder 16: Label: Corbett’s Shakers’ Compound (SA
1455)
Thomas
Corbett’s Shaker Compound Wild Cherry Pectoral Syrup was prepared at Shaker
Village, New Hampshire. This label would
have been wrapped around a container of the syrup.
Folder 17: Labels: Whiskey, Buckthorn syrup (SA
1673-1674)
The
Buckthorn Syrup was made at Shaker Village, Mer. Co., N.H.
The whiskey
label does not list an origin, but has the same decorative border as the syrup. Both printed on yellow paper.
Folder 18: Labels: Witch-hazel; Rose Balm (SA 1681,
1682)
The Shaker
Witch-Hazel does not list a community of origin.
The Imperial
Rose Balm was made at New Lebanon, and the agent was Thomas Estes.
Both labels are
printed on cream paper, with decorative borders.
Folder 19: Labels: Marjoram, Sage (SA 1734, 1735)
C. Miller of
Shaker Village near Albany, N.Y., prepared these herbs; his agent was Boyd
& Dyer of New York City.
The labels are
printed on colored paper, with lines for borders.
Folder 20: Label: Genuine Shaker Healolene (SA
1740)
This was
prepared by the North Family of Mount Lebanon.
A blank space was left in which to record the price.
The labels are
printed on cream paper, with purple ink.
Folder 21: Label: Shaker Apple Sauce, East
Canterbury, N.H., with picture of an apple (round label, printed in black on
cream) (SA 1042.6)
Folder 22: Labels: food (SA 1043.1-.2; SA 1043.4 is
in oversize; see also SA 1043.3)
Shakers’
Apple Sauce, N.F. [North Family], Mount Lebanon, N.Y., and Shakers’ Dried Green
Sweet Corn, with directions for use, available from Robert Valentine, Mount
Lebanon.
Both printed
on colored paper with decorative borders.
Folder 23: Labels: sheets of uncut food labels (SA
1044; 94 labels)
For such foods as Apple and Raspberry Jellies and
Cranberry, Quince, Peach, and Citron Sauces, as well as others. No Shaker community listed; however, the back
of some of these lists is printed with a label for Elm flour from New Lebanon. The pink paper is printed on the back with a
label for Superfine Flour of Slippery Elm, which was used for medicinal
purposes (the recommended way of preparation is printed on the label).
The labels are
printed on cream and colored paper; the elm flour labels have decorative
borders.
Some sheets have
been partially cut.
Folder 24: Labels: Elderberry wine (D.M., Mount
Lebanon, N.Y.), and Shakers’ Apple Sauce (N.F., Mount Lebanon, N.Y.) (SA 1049.3-.4)
Folder 25: Labels: sheets of uncut food, clothing,
and notion labels, dated 1856 (SA 1050)
Sheets of
labels are tied together into a little book, with a poem on the cover addressed
to the Sisters at the Office, the gist is which is that E (the writer) hopes
the enclosed labels will be useful “in marking clothes & jars and pot,” and
please let E know when they need more. A
number of the sheets are partially cut.
The clothing
labels were for items such as drugget or worsted trowsers; summer or winter
footings; summer, winter, fine, or wollen [sic] shirts; winter or summer coats;
pocket or silk handkerchiefs; woolen stockings; various kinds of mittens and
gloves; and drugget, cotton worsted, worseted, light colored, drab, and blue
gowns.
Food labels
were for such items as cherry, peach, cherry, and other kinds of preserves; and
currant, apple or raspberry jelly. A
number of these sheets are cut.
Notion
labels were for thimbles, buttons, needles, hooks & eyes, clasps, buckles,
cotton or brown linen tape, wollen [sic] ferret, carpet binding, pins, listing;
and machine, white, blue, brown linen, silk sewing, or worsted thread.
Folder 26: Labels: general (SA 1051)
Uncut and a
few cut sheets of labels, for phials, corks, pills, dentistry, spones [sic],
seeds, gums, bandages, writing paper, mineral, labels; various items of
clothing; various sewing notions; and leather, plasters, letters, envelopes,
surgery, animal, recipes [spelled recepies], scraps, gold leaf, tin foil, and
writing ink.
Folder 27: Labels: cloaks (SA 1040.1-.8)
Woven labels
for Shaker Cloaks, from E.J. Neale & Co., Mount Lebanon, N.Y. Woven with picture of one of the buildings at
Mount Lebanon and front and back views of a woman wearing one of the
cloaks. Four of the labels are mounted
on cards, the others are not, and there is one card without a label attached.
Although
presumably these labels would have been sewn into the cloaks, it is also
possible that those mounted to cards were used as advertising bookmarks.
Folder 28: Labels: Shaker chairs (SA 1039, 2
labels)
Decals for
marking Shaker’s No. 7 chairs, Mt. Lebanon, N.Y., trade mark. Gold decals; design includes picture of
rocking chair
Folder 29: Labels: brooms (SA 1567)
One cut
label and a sheet of uncut labels for Shaker Parlor Broom, made by or available
from Thomas Estes, New Lebanon, N.Y. The
brooms were “warranted not to get loose from the handle.” Printed with decorative border.
Folder 30: Labels: gloves (SA 1747, two labels)
Labels for
“The only genuine Coon Fur & Silk Gloves made by the Shakers at Mount
Lebanon, Sam’l Budd, Madison Sqr., N.Y., sole agent for the U.S.”
One label is
printed on yellow paper, but the other is on loosely-woven fabric.
Folder 31: Seed packets: peas (SA 1042.1-.4)
Early
Washington Peas (3 packets) and Blue Imperial Peas (1 packet), both kinds from
West Pittsfield, Mass., both kinds with planting instructions, printed on seed
packet.
Folder 32: Seed packets: assorted (SA 1420.1-.4)
Beet
(Champion Yellow Globe Mangel Wurzel), Parsnip (Sugar or Hollow Grown), Tomato
(General Grant), and White Marrowfat Bush Beans, from New Lebanon and Mount
Lebanon (North, South, and East families are represented). All but the beet packet include planting
instructions.
Folder 33: Seed
packets: assorted (SA 1689.2-.6)
Royal White
Bush Beans; Lettuce (green head; packet with seeds); Turnip (purple top
rutabaga; 35 packets); Early Washington Peas; and Blue Imperial Peas (13
packets).
From
Enfield, New Hampshire; West Pittsfield, Mass.; and New Lebanon (North Family).
All packets
printed with planting instructions.
Box 2: Seed packets
Folder 1: Seed packets: assorted (1689.1,
.12-.14)
Cucumber;
Parsnip (long white); red onion (2 different kinds of packets).
From West
Pittsfield, Mass., and New Lebanon, North family. One of the red onion packets does not list a
community, nor does it have planting instructions, which the others do.
Folder 2: Seed packets and price tags: assorted
(1689.7, .10, .15)
Beans, Peas
(early frame), cabbage (early York), two from New Lebanon, the bean package not
printed with a community but with the price 6 cts.
All 3 of
these packets are filled with printed numbers (20, 1 00, 2 50), which are most
probably price labels. An example of
each number is attached to the packet.
(see also SA 1689.30-.32)
Folder 3: Seed packets: assorted (1689.8, .9,
11)
Beet (white
sugar and white French sugar) and lettuce (Frankfort-head), all from New
Lebanon. The bag for White French Sugar
Beet is printed with the price of 20 cts.
Folder 4: Seed packets: assorted (1689.16-.19,
.21-.24)
Radish
(scarlet, turnep-rooted, with seeds); radish (white Spanish), radish (white
turnip); turnep [sic] (rutabaga); flat turnep [sic]; bell pepper (4 packets);
squash (winter hubbard); English sage (2 packets).
From New
Lebanon; English Sake and Flat turnep do not specify a Shaker community.
Folder 5: Seed
packets, glued and ready to label and then fill (SA 1689.28)
Empty seed
packets, not printed (86 packets). These
are smaller than the packets which are tied together (SA 1689.29)
Folder 6: Seed packets: glued and ready to label
and then fill; the packets are tied together (SA 1689.29; 47 packets). These are larger than the packets in previous
folder (SA 1689.28)
Folder 7: Seed packets: red onion, white French
sugar beet, 1 pt. beans (early White Mountain bush). (SA 1049.5-.12)
All with
planting instructions, all from New Lebanon.
Box 3:
assorted items
Folder 1: Price tags, cut (SA 1689.30-.32)
Unprinted
packets holding cut price tags, $1, 50 and 50 cts, 37 & 1-2 (see also SA
1689.7, .10, .15)
Folder 2: List: Shakers’ Garden Seeds, Address
D.C. Brainard, Mount Lebanon, Columbia Co., N.Y. (SA 1753)
Printed list
for packages of seeds for peas, beans, carrot, corn, onion, beet, radish, and
turnip (several varieties of each kind).
No date.
Folder 3: Lists
of seeds (SA 1759.1-.2)
Includes the
bottom part of the list above (SA 1753), plus two different lists which are
stuck to each other and are only partial.
Folder 4: Tag:
Shaker Village, N.H. (SA 1418)
The top half
of the label is blank; the bottom half is printed: From [blank], manufacturer
and dealer in Washing machines, Brooms, Band and Strap Hoops, Shaker Medicine,
&c., Shaker Village, N.H.
The price $2.00
is written in pencil on the back.
The tag itself
was made by T.O. Metcalf & Co., Tag Manufacturer, Boston.
Folder 5: Advertisement: Mrs. Wm. Merriam’s
Cough Syrup, available from Merriam & Frost, Springfield, Mass., 1874. (no accession number)
Printed on both
sides. Not Shaker related.
Folder 6: Printed letter: from A. J. White of
New York City, who sold The Shaker Extract of Roots, to his agents, August 11,
1881. (SA 1745)
Inquiring
whether the agent needs additional supplies of the advertising booklet “Life
Among the Shakers.”
[See ASC 1254,
which is probably a copy of the booklet meant, although ASC 88 and ASC 89 bear
the same title and also include information about this extract.]
[see also SA
1048.2, below]
Folder 7: Ink blotter, with advertisement (SA
1571)
Shaker
Society, Manufacturers and Dealers in Ladies’ Work Baskets, Gifts, Souvenirs,
P. A. Stickney, Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
Printed with
a picture of a farm, but not a Shaker farm.
Folder 8: Envelopes (SA 1238.3-.5)
Envelope
addressed to Elder of the South Family, Mt. Lebanon, printed with return
address of Berkshire Industrial Farm, Canaan Four Corners, postmarked 1905.
Envelope
addressed to D.C. Brainard, New York City, forwarded to Mount Lebanon, from
Buffalo, N.Y., 1886.
Envelope
addressed to Thomas Pyre, Agawam, Mass., printed with return address of
Benjamin Gates, Mount Lebanon, postmark does not include year. On back: notes about charging James Bently,
James Carrel, and Ann Brady for yarn.
Folder 9: Stationery: sample (SA 1683)
Sample of
lined writing paper from The Shaker Society, D. C. Willson, Trustee, Lumber and
Farm Products, Sabbathday Lake, Maine, 193-, with telephone number
Folder 10: Woven
tapes (cloth) (SA 1694)
A board on
which are mounted 8 samples of striped cloth tape woven by the Shakers; various
colors and widths.
Folder 11: Woven tapes; cloth samples; pins (SA
2030)
Six swatches
of cloth woven by Shakers, all reddish-brown woven with blue.
Eight
snippets of cloth tape woven by Shakers, various colors, two olive green, one
yellow, one gold, one red, one deep orange, one orange and blue chevron
pattern, one black with cream stripes along edges.
Paper of
pins from Henry Hales, pin-maker in London.
The pins are only 1.5 cm. long (including the round head). Most of the pins are still attached.
Folder 12: Woven tapes; cloth sample; cloak label
(SA 2031)
The cloak
label is pinned to the cloth sample, which might not have been woven by the
Shakers as they did use commercially available cloth for their cloaks. The label reads Shaker Cloak, L.M. Noyes,
Agent, Sabbathday Lake, Me., and has an intertwined S and C trade mark.
The note
with the tapes reads in part “they [the Shakers] wove some tapes themselves,”
thus hinting that perhaps not all these tape samples were woven by the Shakers,
although they were all used by them. The
tapes are solids and stripes.
Folder 13: Silhouette: Alonzo Hollister
Silhouette
done by Helen and Nel Laughon (“Silhouettes from Chiswick”) for Faith Andrews,
1980. The silhouette was done from a
photograph as Brother Alonzo died in 1911.
Folder 14: Centennial Exhibition, 1876: admission
tickets for Robert M. Wagan. (SA 1036)
Two pieces,
one an exhibitor’s pass for Wagan, the other his photo identification, although
his name is not on that piece. Wagan
exhibited Shaker chairs at the Centennial fair.
Also filed
with these items are two papers by Kate LaPrad about exhibitors at the
Centennial Exhibition.
Folder 15: Centennial Exhibition, 1876: medal
awarded to Robert M. Wagan. (SA 1289)
Just the
medal, in a case, no certificate.
Folder 16: labels removed from the picture “Shaker
near Lebanon, State of New York,” when the picture was sent to an exhibit
sometime after 1963.
Box 4: legal
size items
Folder 1: Labels:
wine (SA 1695)
Uncut sheet
of labels for cherry, elderberry, grape, and currant wines; blackberry syrup,
bourbon whiskey, St. Croix rum, brandy, gin, ginger, and peppermint.
These labels
were printed on the back of a larger sheet of paper which had been printed to
announce a meeting of some sort, with opening and closing songs, readings, a
composition, a recitation, and a question.
Folder 2: Labels and advertisements: medicine
(SA 1048.1-.5)
Two labels
for Mother Seigel’s Extract of American Roots (made by A.J. White of London);
also in the folder is a label or ad for The Shaker Extract of Roots, formerly
known as Seigel’s Curative Syrup, price 60 cents, sold by A.J. White of New
York. [See also SA 1745, above.]
Also an
advertising card for Shakers’ Tooth-ache Pellets.
Also a picture
of Campanula medium calycanthema, printed in gold ink on blue paper.
Folder 3: Seed packet: large bag (SA 1049.13)
Large brown
bag on which is printed: “While we exercise the greatest care to have all Seeds
pure and reliable, we wish it distinctly understood, that no warrant is either
expressed or implied. If the purchaser
does not accept the Seeds on these conditions, they must be returned at
once. From Shaker Seed Co., Mount
Lebanon, N.Y.”
Although the
bag is from Mount Lebanon, it found its way to Canterbury, where it apparently
was used to hold pattern pieces for bonnets.
Folder 4: Sign: Shaker School (two copies) (SA
1691 and SA 1288.23)
No place, no
date. SA 1288.23 has a sketch on the
back, a room with a fireplace, book shelves, and a grand piano. Also written on the back is Wm. Lincer, Falls
Village, Conn., Canaan 114-12.
Folder 5: Printed forms: assorted forms from
various communities (SA 1288.1-.22, .24)
Related to education: Rewards
of merit (4, not filled in); a report card for the New Lebanon Shaker School,
printed 1858 (not filled in; for filled-in report cards see ASC 867 and 868); and a sheet
printed with multiplication and numerations tables, months and days, two poems,
perhaps the printed cover from a blank book.
From Ayer, Mass., Shaker
community: bill head and bill for J.C. Jilson, successor to A.L. Walker, barks,
roots, pressed and sweet herbs, hops, etc. (2 pieces); blank stationery for
John Whiteley, Manufacturer of Shaker Brooms, Dish and Floor Mops, &c.,
187-
From West Pittsfield
[Hancock], Mass.: envelope printed with return address of Sophia Helfrich,
Shaker Cloaks Made and Sold. Written in
pencil on back: notes about furniture.
From
New Lebanon: stationery for The Lebanon Shakers, North Family, 193-, with
telephone exchange (West Lebanon, N.Y., no number listed).
From Mount Lebanon: two
sheets of stationery for Church Library, Society of Shakers, 18--, decorated
with picture of village.
From
East Canterbury, N.H.: a blank agreement form apparently used by parents to
entrust children to the community, for which the parents were to pay, dated
190-; and a blank receipt for payments made by the Shakers, in which the person
who received the money released the society from other demands.
From unspecified New
Hampshire Shaker community: a declaration of trust form, in which a person
accepts being a trustee for the Shakers, 19--.
For
any Shaker community: a form to be signed by those leaving the Shaker covenant,
acknowledging receipt of cash and releasing Shakers from other claims.
Blank
forms which could be used by anyone (not just Shakers): a property deed
(written on back: John Manord will discharges from his heirs), and 3 copies of
indenture forms to be used to indenture children, 18--.
Portion of paper, on one
side is an engraving of R.H. Macy & Co. store in New York City, and the
word University. On the other side is
handwriting, but the ink is smeared, faded, and difficult to read. The words Shaker,
Ann Lee, and property are legible.
Stationery for
Shaker Community, Inc., Hancock, Mass.
Folder 6: Stationery (SA 1765)
Order form
for Shaker Seed Company, wholesale and retail dealers in garden seeds, dried
sweet corn, and all Shaker products, Mount Lebanon, N.Y., 18--
The following
boxes are inside a larger box:
Box 5: pill
bottle
Bottle for The Shaker Asthma Cure, Manufactured by
the Society of Shakers, D.C. Brainard, Mount Lebanon, Col. Co., N.Y., price
$1.00. (SA 1769)
Also the box for
the bottle and the lid to the box.
The bottle
contains the original contents and is still corked. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE CORK.
The label on one
side of the box is torn.
Box 6: doll
A Barbie doll dressed in an outfit similar to that
of Shaker sisters. Additional items of
clothing and pattern pieces for making men’s, women’s, and boys’ clothing are
with the doll. It is not known who made
the costumes.
Box 7:
assorted artifacts
Knobs, nails, parts of a loom, buttons, a rock.
The buttons and the metal and ceramic knobs were
likely not made by the Shakers but only used by them.
Box 8:
assorted artifacts
Shaker pegs, wooden screws.
Box 9: box,
pen
Pen for ruling music staffs, has 5 points; marked 2,
Dresden, picture of a lyre. The initials
AL are written on the handle. (SA 1429)
Wooden box, lined with paper, used by Charles
Crossman to house the metal engraving plates in Box 10 (see below) (SA 1758.30)
Bottle of Shaker Rose Water, from Sabbathday Lake,
Maine; label includes zip code so post-dates 1965. (SA 2046)
Box 10:
metal
engraving plates: vegetables and flowers (SA 1758.1-.29)
These engraving plates, 17
vegetables, 10 flowers, an arrangement of fruit in a bowl, and a cold frame,
were used by Charles F. Crossman to print seed catalogs for the New Lebanon
Shakers. See Box 9 for the wooden box
used to house these plates.
On shelf:
The Lord’s Stone, from Mount Horeb, Tyringham, Mass.,
1843 (SA 1294)
Dr. and Mrs. Andrews relate
their discovery of this stone in Fruits
of the Shaker Tree of Life, pages 45-49.
The stone is also pictured in that book.
In office of
Head of Downs Collection:
Phrenology
head. White plaster head with paper
labels (amativeness, parental love, combativeness, etc.) attached to various
parts of the brain. (SA 2045)
On front of head is a label
which reads “Phrenology”; on back is a label which reads “Approved by Fowlers
& Wells, Phrenological Cabinet, 308 Broadway, New York.”
Some Shakers had
an interest in phrenology. In Fruits of the Shaker Tree of Life, Dr.
and Mrs. Andrews write that they found a phrenology head in a nurse-shop, but
do not say in which community. They
mention numbers on the head, rather than labels, but it is believed that this
head is the one acquired by them.
Oversize item
(in folder on shelf)
Shakers’ Apple Sauce, G. H. Cantrell, Mount Lebanon,
N.Y., printed in gold ink on blue paper (SA 1043.4)
Oversize item
(in map case 1, drawer 5)
Gravestone rubbing: Mother Ann Lee, born in
Manchester, England, February 29, 1736, Died in Watervliet N.Y., Sept. 8, 1784
(SA 2034, gift of Dale Covington)
Framed items
(in map case 1, drawer 4)
Benson J. Lossing watercolor, “Interior of the
Meeting House” [New Lebanon, N.Y.], Aug. 18, 1856 (SA 1438)
Charles Sheeler print: interior with Shaker oval box
(SA 2070)
[see
Art in America, no. 1, 1965, p.
90-95]
Framed items
(in map case 1, drawer 6)
Shaker sister, subject and artist unknown, origin
unknown (SA 2081)
Shaker brother, subject unknown, large print, on a
stretcher, not in frame, origin unknown (SA 2082)