Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters (American Association for State and Local History) [Hardcover]

Rosemary Troy Krill (Author), Pauline K. Eversmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0742503135 | ISBN-13: 978-0742503137 | Edition: Revised

Winterthur Museum is world renowned for its decorative arts collections and its strong interpretive programs. During the half century since Winterthur opened to the public, its staff has worked to compile comprehensive training materials for Winterthur interpreters, culminating in the Handbook for Winterthur Interpreters. Now, Winterthur educators Rosemary Krill and Pauline Eversmann have adapted that guide for general use. Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters is an indispensable guide for anyone involved with interpretation of decorative arts collections.

Krill and Eversmann first define and elucidate the principles and goals of interpretation, explain how to look at objects, and help the reader to understand style. Then in later chapters they provide comprehensive descriptions and explanations of many items in styles ranging from seventeenth-century Mannerist to Empire, or Late Classical. Included are furniture, ceramics, textiles, paintings, pictures and prints, glass, pewter, and clocks, as well as other objects. Their interpretive approach situates each type and style within the social, economic, and cultural contexts of its time. More than 180 photographs drawn from the dazzling Winterthur collections help to illustrate details, and extensive bibliographies provide additional resources for further research and study. This book is an absolute must-have resource for curators, educators, interpreters, and students of decorative arts.

Published in cooperation with Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

Editorial Reviews

Review

With Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters, authors Rosemary Troy Krill and Pauline K. Eversmann have produced a guide with broad appeal. Historic house interpreters comprise the primary audence, but any student of material culture will find it useful for understanding American decorative arts within a proper historical context....The handbook presents an organized and multidisciplinary approach to a very broad subject. (Marshall, Patricia Phillips North Carolina Historical Review )

The details in the chapters on specific items... offer new information for even veteran interpreters while the introductory chapters help to explain the vital and exciting role museum interpreters play in the enjoyment and understanding of our past. The layout allows for easy reference on specific topics and the chapter-specific bibliography allows for further study on one's own... Given the fact that few institutions have the in-house resources of the Winterthur Museum, this book will be very useful, especially for smaller institutions looking for some basic reference works without having to purchase an entire library. (Bruce A. Whitmarsh The Public Historian )

Those who teach or are students in courses on American decorative arts, antiques collectors, museum educators, interpreters, and others will find this work useful and challenging...Early American Decorative Arts is a helpful guide to how we can look at and understand historic furnishings of all time periods. Museum curators and educators will find its ideas about interpreting museum exhibitions through interactive analysis of objects and their histories by guides and visitors especially intriguing. (Mary S. Hoffschwelle North Dakota History, Vol. 70, No. 2, 2003 )

The book is of exceptional interest as a comprehensive history of the decorative arts on the East Coast of the USA. (Glenn R. Cooke Museum National )

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Altamira Press; Revised edition (January 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742503135
• ISBN-13: 978-0742503137
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,648,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters., May 27, 2009

By 

Eric Williams (South-Eastern Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters (American Association for State and Local History) (Paperback)

Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters. Author: Pauline K. Eversmann. 320 pages. Revised edition, 2000.

This book was recommended to me by a fellow guide at Waynesborough. Wow!!! Rarely to you read a book which is as broad in its approach, as deep in its information and yet so eminently readable. This book answered questions and made me ask even more. It has and will continue to make me a better tour guide.

The book was put together as a training guide and reference for guides/interpreters at the Winterthur Museum. The book opens with an introduction and is then organized both by period and by specialized topic. The introduction sets the format for each section which follows it. The introduction has separate chapters on the task and theory of interpreting the decorative arts, how to look at objects, understanding the style in which the object was used, the making and marketing of objects and finally owning using, and living with the objects. These chapters are condensed in each further section to provide the format. These initial chapters start dry but as you read you will uncover interesting facts and issues which shape how objects came to be and how they were used through generations. Factored into this is the influence of road networks and transportation, literacy, family size and mortality, British mercantile rules and traditions, specialization, material availability, religion and many other factors which I had not considered. Wow!!! This has already changed the way I talk about certain rooms at Waynesborough

Each section follows the same format, has notes, and a bibliography which makes it ideal as a reference guide. The format for each selection provides a holistic approach to studying and interpreting the material both in the book and at what ever site you are interpreting. The section begins with a visual appreciation of what the object is and changes in that object. The focus is on lines, colors, materials etc. This is followed by a section on style as it applies to the object through time and use which then goes into how the various objects are actually manufactured and then marketed. During the sections on the manufacture of various metal objects I was nodding along with the text recalling my metallurgical art classes and work in the foundry. Once the object has been identified, manufactured, and marketed it then goes on to what it was like to live with the object and then a conclusion and bibliography. The same format is used for eras or style sections i.e. Queen Anne, William and Mary, Chippendale, Federal, Adam etc.

The section by section bibliography is worth the price of the book for further research and dabbling.

The only problem with the book is that the text describing an object is not always on the same page as the photo of the object which causes some page flipping.

This book is a must have for interpreters, guides, tourists who like old houses or students of colonial American history. The insights it provides to how people lived and what they lived with is phenomenal.