Signpost is a free ezine from Bob Dillon Windsor Chairs. It is the
mission of this monthly ezine to explore the history and contruction of
Windsor chairs as well as other aspects of life in early America. For more
information please go
to Signpost Info.
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE, see below.
***Signpost***
Issue No. Seven -- August 9, 2000
Contents:
- News
- The Bow-back Windsor
- Thomas Jefferson from Infoplease.com
- Punchline by Ray Pearson
NEWS:
Here we are for issue number seven. My next project is to take a vacation, so if I don't respond to your emails right away you will know that I am still basking in the sun somewhere.
Here's an early warning: I have started work on my new price list. It's been a few years since my last price hike so I'm increasing them by about 10%. If you were thinking of putting in an order, now might be the time.
I continue in this issue my series about the different styles of Windsor chairs, this time with the bow-back, the workhorse of the type. I've made more of these than any other, no doubt because those who buy chairs in sets so often choose these as side-chairs.
Last month I included a short piece about the Declaration of Independence. Now I follow that with a brief biography of it's author, Thomas Jefferson.
And finally, some comments and quotes from writer Ray Pearson. Mr. Pearson's email is included if you care to contact him.
Until next time,
Bob
Based on an oriental design, the bow-back was first made in England and then, in the 1780s, in Philadelphia. It was an immediate success and quickly became the Philadelphia chairmaker's most popular product, both locally and for export. In fact, it was the most numerous of 18th century Windsors, especially the side-chair, the arm-chair being much less common.
New York chairmakers began making bow-backs in the mid-1780s. The abundance of surviving New York chairs indicates that they were very popular there, too. But bow-back arm-chairs from New York are especially rare, suggesting they may have been an experiment which led to the continuous-arm.
Many bow-back were also made in Southern New England (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts), and fairly often as arm-chairs.
Bow-backs from Philadelphia characteristically were made with bamboo-turned legs and stretchers. Arm-chairs had curved arm-posts and rolled or serpentine arms. On the best, the transition from bow to arm is very smooth, with the beading on the bow continuing onto the arm (but not on the bow below the arm). The overall effect is an imitation of a continuous-arm, and may have been an attempt to compete with them. (Continuous-arms are not known to have been made in Philadelphia.) Unpainted mahogany was sometimes used for the arms, and occasionally for the arm-posts as well.
Bow-back arm-chairs from New York typically had flat, rather short and undecorated arms, similar to a sack-back's, while New England chairs had serpentine arms with ram's horn ends and beading continuing from the bow, occasionally in unpainted mahogany. Bow-backs from both regions often were braced, while bracing was rare in Philadelphia.
Near the end of the 18th century a few sets of bow-backs were made with ladder- or ribbon-backs. Often called the Trotter type, they were fashioned after formal Chippendale chairs made in Philadelphia by Daniel Trotter.
Thomas Jefferson
Courtesy of Infoplease.com
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13 (April 2, old style), 1743, at Shadwell in Goochland (now Albemarle) County, Va. A William and Mary graduate, he studied law, but from the start showed an interest in science and philosophy. His literary skill and political clarity brought him to the forefront of the revolutionary movement in Virginia. As delegate to the Continental Congress, he drafted the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, he entered the Virginia House of Delegates and initiated a comprehensive reform program for the abolition of feudal survivals in land tenure and the separation of church and state.
In 1779, he became governor, but constitutional limitations on his power, combined with his own lack of executive energy, caused an unsatisfactory administration, culminating in Jefferson's virtual abdication when the British invaded Virginia in 1781. He retired to his beautiful home at Monticello, Va., to his family. His wife, Martha Wayles Skelton, whom he married in 1772, died in 1782.
Jefferson's Notes on Virginia (1784–85) illustrate his many-faceted interests, his limitless intellectual curiosity, his deep faith in agrarian democracy. Sent to Congress in 1783, he helped lay down the decimal system and drafted basic reports on the organization of the western lands. In 1785 he was appointed minister to France, where the Anglo-Saxon liberalism he had drawn from John Locke, the British philosopher, was stimulated by contact with the thought that would soon ferment in the French Revolution. In 1789, Washington appointed him Secretary of State. While favoring the Constitution and a strengthened central government, Jefferson came to believe that Hamilton contemplated the establishment of a monarchy. Growing differences resulted in Jefferson's resignation on Dec. 31, 1793.
* * * * *
"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
John F. Kennedy, at a dinner for Nobel laureates, 1962* * * * *
Elected vice president in 1796, Jefferson continued to serve as spiritual leader of the opposition to Federalism, particularly to the repressive Alien and Sedition Acts. He was elected president in 1801 by the House of Representatives as a result of Hamilton's decision to throw the Federalist votes to him rather than to Aaron Burr, who had tied him in electoral votes. He was the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, which he had helped to design.
The purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803, though in violation of Jefferson's earlier constitutional scruples, was the most notable act of his administration. Re-elected in 1804, with the Federalist Charles C. Pinckney opposing him, Jefferson tried desperately to keep the United States out of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, employing to this end the unpopular embargo policy.
After his retirement to Monticello in 1809, he developed his interest in education, founding the University of Virginia and watching its development with never-flagging interest. He died at Monticello on July 4, 1826. Jefferson had an enormous variety of interests and skills, ranging from education and science to architecture and music.
Died: The Fourth of July, 1826
"Thomas Jefferson"
Infoplease.com.
© 2000 The Family Education Network.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0760627.html
(July 14, 2000)
Punchline
by Ray Pearson
And now the news:
A small two-seater Cessna 152 plane crashed into a cemetery early this morning in central Sweden. Swedish search and rescue workers have recovered 3000 bodies thus far, and expect the number to climb as digging continues into the evening.
This may help you:Here's a quick way to ensure you're not eating too much in a meal: Take a look at your plate. Do the various portions touch one another? Is the gravy spilling from your potatoes to your chicken? Then you're eating too much. Give food portions plenty of space on the plate to make sure you aren't overeating. And, no seconds!
The reason the teenage bridegroom was crying is because the bride got a bigger slice of the wedding cake than he did.
Inner peace isn't the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.
She asked her husband to help straighten up the house. "Why," he asked, "is it tilted?"
The maternity shop sign announced: We are open on Labor Day.
While I was reading the paper I commented to my wife: Do you know women speak 30,000 words each day while men speak only 15,000. She pondered this for a moment and said, "Well it's no wonder, each time I tell you something I have to repeat it."
I said, "What?" (from reader, Jerry Nygard)
For every action, there's an equal and opposite government program.
Some ladies maintain that if a woman steals your husband, the best revenge is to let her keep him.
This may help you: Patent leather handbags and shoes can be quickly brightened with a polish of milk. Apply with a soft cloth and rub into a shiny, like-new finish. Can't vouch for this as I've never tried it.
If quitters never win, and winners never quit, who came up with "Quit while you're ahead."
No husband was ever shot while doing the dishes.
Occasionally, wouldn't you guess that God is saying, "Quit praying! Get moving!"
Jules Renard says: "Love is like an hour-glass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties."
If you are trying to find a faultless friend, give up the search.
Plato argues in his Republic that the first stories children hear should be ones containing examples of good deeds, kindness and virtue.
He said when he went to his class reunion his classmates were so bald and fat they hardly recognized him.
This just in-- A Yale University study found that people feel smarter, more capable and even more sociable when their hair is neat and combed. Researchers questioned 120 people and found that men, even more than women, feel out-of-sorts on a bad hair day.
If you're looking for a thin book to read, try: "Al Gore: The Wild Years."
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
In closing, remember, one of life's important lessons is to remember who passed the ball to you when you scored.
Ray Pearson can be reached by email at rnjpearson@aol.com
Sources
- The Windsor Style in America, Charles Santore, Courage Books, 1997
- Infoplease.com
- Ray Pearson
Further Links:
Comments? Questions? Send email. I will
publish your letters in the next Signpost, as space allows.
To
UNSUBSCRIBE please email with "unsubscribe" in the
subject box.
To SUBSCRIBE I need only
your email address. A name would
also be nice but is not required.