The Winterthur Library

 Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE  19735

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)