Editorial Reviews
Review
"Edward S. Cooke has written an exhaustive and sophisticated interdisciplinary study comparing and contrasting the 'social economy' of furniture and furniture makers in two western Connecticut communities... Cooke has combined the social and economic historians research in traditional records with material culture's analysis of artifacts. The synthesis is certainly more than the sum of its parts... Thoughtful and challenging." -- H. Roger King, History
Book Description
In Making Furniture in Preindustrial America Edward S. Cooke Jr. offers a fresh and appealing cross-disciplinary study of the furnituremakers, social structure, household possessions, and surviving pieces of furniture of two neighboring New England communities. Drawing on both documentary and artifactual sources, Cooke explores the interplay among producer, process, and style in demonstrating why and how the social economies of these two seemingly similar towns differed significantly during the late colonial and early national periods.
Throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century, Cooke explains, the yeoman town of Newtown relied on native joiners whose work satisfied the expectations of their fellow townspeople. These traditionalists combined craftwork with farming and made relatively plain, conservative furniture. By contrast, the typical joiner in the neighboring gentry town of Woodbury was the immigrant innovator. Born and raised elsewhere in Connecticut and serving a diverse clientele, these craftsmen were free of the cultural constraints that affected their Newtown contemporaries. Relying almost entirely on furnituremaking for their livelihood, they were free to pay greater attention to stylistically sensitive features than to mere function.
Making Furniture in Preindustrial America : The Social Economy of Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut (Studies in Industry and Society, 10)
Making Furniture in Preindustrial America: The Social Economy of Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut (Studies in Industry and Society, 10),Edward S., Jr. Cooke,The Johns Hopkins University Press,0801852536,18th century,19th century,Antiques / Collectibles,Business/Economics,Connecticut,Furniture,Furniture Arts And Crafts,General,History,History - General,House & Home,Industries - General,Newtown,Woodbury,American history: c 1800 to c 1900,Economic history,Furniture & cabinetmaking,Manufacturing industries,USA
Book Advices:
Recommended Books