Woodworker's Journal 1985-9-1, страница 30

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Furniture Periods and Styles

The

Shakers

Writing Desk

History teaches us that America was, for many religiously oppressed peoples, the promised land. It was specifically the promise of freedom of religious expression. Today, we sometimes find it difficult to understand some of these religions with their strange dogma and queer practices. One of the most unusual and enigmatic of these religious groups was the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers. They were also a people who left behind what is now recognized as one of the most important and artistically influential bodies of work produced in America,

The Shakers were founded in England in the middle 18th Century. In 1774, Mother Ann Lee, spiritual leader of the Shaker sect, and eight followers left Manchester, England to seek a new start in America. Like the Quakers, from whom their name derived, the Shakers were pacifists who espoused a simple, communal, almost monastic way of life. They did not smoke or drink, avoided amusement, theater, and secular politics, and most importantly they were celibates. This last point is of particular note, because it meant that no Shakers could be born into the community. Still, young men, women and children were admitted into the communities, as converts, orphans, or children of converts, a fact evidenced by the considerable number of children's furnishings in the re

stored Shaker villages .

The Shakers, like many other religious groups of the period, sought to establish self-sufficient communities that were religious, political, and social Utopias, This idea appealed to quite a number of like-minded individuals, and Shaker settlements were established in Mt. Lebanon and Watervliet, New York; Harvard and Hancock, Massachusetts; and Enfield, Connecticut, Later communities were formed in Sabbathday Lake, Maine; Canterbury, New Hampshire; and as far west as Pleasant Hill and South Union, Kentucky.

The Shakers' devotion to self sufficiency, and the fact that all their energies were channelled into creativity, as opposed to procreation, gave rise to a surprising number of inventions, various craft and business enterprises, and a great volume of furniture and cabinetwork. They are said to have invented the circular saw, the self-feeding surface planer, and the automatic washing machine, among other devices. Although at their peak in 1850, the Shakers numbered only about 6,000 individuals, their influence on design was and still is as important as any movement in American history.

The Shakers believed that their work was a reflection of their lives. They valued hard work second only to their devotion to God. Indeed, they regarded work as a form of worship, and it