COFFEEPOT; artist unknown; American; mid-nineteenth century; painted tin.
TRAY; made by Loveridge, England; painted papier mache Chipp. Gift of Willy and Maie McLean.
PANEL FROM MISSISSIPPI RIVER BOAT; artist unknown; nineteenth century; wood with paint and gold leaf.
BOX; artist unknown; Pennsylvania; circa 1800; painted wood.
homes in rural areas, bartered at the back doorstep for a pair of handknit mittens or a bundle of rags for the papermakers. Furniture like the chest from the Connecticut River Valley (see page 32)or a looking glass born in a cabinetmaker and japanner's shop in Boston or Philadelphia, represent the best to be found in the early homes of wealthy merchants along the seacoast. The Society's collection of artifacts and research materials were accumulated in a variety of ways: by bequest of Society members and friends, direct gifts from individuals or Society chapters, and curatorial purchases. In 1947, the Society(then still the Esther Stevens Brazer Guild) received its first gifts from Ann Boerntrager and Esther Oldham,daughters of Mrs. Arthur Oldham, a close friend of Esther's. They presented the group with a collection of signed pieces from the Greenville shop of tinsmith Aaron Butler. In 1948, Dr. Clarence Brazer gave the Guild his wife's patterns and research material. After his death, his heirs presented the Society with country tinware from Esther's famous "tin pantry!' The Society also was able to purchase additional pieces from the Brazer family. In 1959, another portion of the Oldham collection became available and was purchased by the Society. In 1964, Walter Wright, one of the Society's members and a teacher of outstanding artistic talent, presented his patterns of original designs to the Society; that same year the organization bought forty-three pieces of painted tinware from the estate of collector and member Clara McCaw. Over the years the Society's collection has also benefited from gifts given in memory ofdevoted members,including,but not limited to, Mildred Abbott, Bernice Drury, Sara Fuller, Charlotte Gordon, Evelyn Holmes, Terry Jay, Constance Klein, Clara McCaw, Marjorie Milliman, Thelma Riga, and Violet Milnes Scott. Pattern collections that have supplemented the Brazer-Wright files now include a wide variety of carefully documented patterns from the late author and teacher Ellen Sabine and a quantity of patterns that originated in the studio of Gina Martin, a long-time teacher and researcher. The latter comprises meticulous recordings of country tinware designs as well as about two hundred documented copies of stenciled and brush-stroke-painted walls. The research resource files also include tinsmith ledgers from the shops of Zachariah Stevens and Aaron Butler, nineteenth-century tinware catalogues, a catalogue of Victorian stencils, hundreds of the stencils used by early artisans Summer 1991
to ornament chairs and other objects with bronze powders, photographs, and books. In addition, there are files of information on the decorative arts, Brazer memorabilia and research notes, and sketches of painted furniture done by Esther Brazer. Dr. Brazer contributed glass slides ofPennsylvania painted six-board chests that he had studied, and author Shirley DeVoe's research files are part of the collection. There are tracings of chair backs taken by a turn-of-thetwentieth-century restorer who copied every old stenciled chair design he could find, and, finally, from Gloversville, New York, a letter from a woman to a family member in which she explains that she cannot lend her "wall pattrens (sic)" because they had become "all torn up" and needed recutting. Thus, we learn that not all wall stencilers were itinerant men! This wealth of research files and artifacts is now lodged in the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City, and plans are underway to introduce a far wider audience to the treasures that these important collections contain. As the Society moves into a new phase of its evolution with its agreement with the Museum, all involved now look ahead with enthusiasm to sharing the accumulated wisdom and beauty inherent in these unique acquisitions. MARGARET COFFIN is former Director of the Museum of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration and author of American Country Tinware and Borders and Scrolls: Early American Brush-Stroke Wall Painting, in addition to many articles on early decoration. All objects shown are from the Historical Society of Early American Decoration Collections in the Museum of American Folk Art. NOTES 1. Esther Stevens Brazer,"My Story:' manuscript found in Esther Brazer's desk after her death; published in The Decorator, Vol. 5, no. 2,October 1951. 2. Esther Oldham,"Antiquing with Esther and Mother:' The Decorator, Vol. 1, no. 2, May 1947. 3. From the "Memorial Dedication" in Early American Decoration:A Comprehensive Treatise, probably written by Dr. Clarence Brazer (Springfield, MA:Pond Ekberg Co., 1947). 4. Ibid. 5. Edith Holmes,"Esther Stevens Brazer:'The Decorator, Vol. 1,no. 1,October 1946. 6. Everett N. Robinson, "A Tribute to Esther Stevens Brazer, Researcher' The Decorator, Vol. 5, no. 2, October 1951. 7. From Brazer,"My Story': 8. Nina E Little, from a lecture given at Kingston, Massachusetts, on September 29, 1949, and published in The Decorator, Vol. 4, no. 1, Winter 1949-50.
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