Production v Community II

We have discussed community chairs, so we though we would take a little time to discuss production chairs. As previously covered, production chairs are Shaker chairs that were produced for the "world" rather than for use within a Shaker community. The selling of chairs to the world was one of the largest cottage industries that helped the Shakers thrive economically. As also previously discussed, the Mount Lebanon Community (or New Lebanon Community as it was previously called) in New York, between Albany and Massachusetts, was the earliest and most prolific community that manufactured chairs and sold them to the other communities and the world.

One of the earliest references to the sale of a chair was an entry on September 25, 1789 in the diary of Brother Joseph Bennet, Jr. which records the sale of 1 Great & 6 Small Chairs to Brother Elizah Slosson of the Second Family. But there are also records of the same time period showing sales to the outside world. These hand-produced chairs all shared similar characteristics discussed in earlier blogs. But each was also unique because of the 100% hand craftmanship and craftsmanship by different members from ALL families at Mount Lebanon. It continued much this way until about the 1850s. We would call chairs produced during this time (1780s-1850s) early community chairs. Sometime in the 1850s, the South family at Mount Lebanon became the primary manufacturer of chairs and the leader of the chair business for the Shakers, both chairs for the communities and chairs for the outside world. More standardization occurred because the chairs were all produced at one chair factory at Mount Lebanon, by the same craftsman, using some early mass production techniques as well as utilizing mass marketing. Chairs were offered as large, medium and small and seats could be ordered in splint, tape or with cushions (for an extra cost). As discussed in earlier blogs, it was at this time that "buttons" or "tilters" were also offered as an option. The chairs still have the same characteristics as the early community chairs just sometimes a little more refined and standardized. We would call these simply "community" chairs.

Then in 1863 a major change took place in the Mount Lebanon community as well as in the Shaker chair business. The Church family was separated and the new South Family was created and put in charge of the chair business with Brother Robert M. Wagan as the new manager of the business. Brother Wagan was born in New York City on May 24, 1833 and joined the New Lebanon community on October 11, 1840. Under Brother Wagan's leadership, the business began to grow. As the business grew, even more standardization was needed and it was at this time (in the 1860s) that we begin to find some references to chair sizes using the same numerical system we are accustomed to today with Shaker chairs, 0 being the smallest and 7 being the largest. In the early 1870s, with the increase in business, a new chair factory was commissioned. It incorporated new technology to help with more mass production and even provided housing for workers so the factory could be more productive. With more mass production and uniformity came a greater adoption of the numbering system and by 1874 there was a very uniform catalogue marketing system with a full utilization of the number designations. It is chairs from this time forward that we refer to as "Production" chairs. One distinction is the elimination of the scribe marks on the back posts which were made by the craftsman to guide the placement of the slats, later done mechanically. Also, the hand-chaumfered back slats previously fit into squared slots on the back posts, but this was replaced with rounded back slats fitted into slots with rounded tops and bottoms which could be accomplished with a boring machine.

The chairs still evolved over time with the use of increasing modern machinery and by about 1877, after a series of transitional chairs, what is known as the "Wagan Standard" was produced. These chairs featured heavier, bolder and more rigid proportions than the earlier and transitional rockers. Standard acorn pommels, which were comparably easily executed with a grooved collar appeared. Curved arms with protrusions for the elbows and wrists were typical of shaker chairs, but became more refined and standardized. Vase turning on front posts between the seat and arm became the norm, and simplified and standardized mushroom-shaped tenon caps were utilized. All these are hallmarks of the typical "Wagan" production chair. This led to such popularity that Shaker chairs started being imitated, and they began to apply decals to the chairs to identify "authentic" Shaker chairs.

We have only scratched the surface on Shaker chairs. There is so much more to learn, but we think we covered a good bit for now. We will learn more in future blogs. Pictured with this blog is the smallest of all the production chairs, a size 0. Isn't it awesome?! It's exactly like its larger brothers (or sisters). We would like to thank Charles R Muller and Timothy D. Reiman for their awesome book "The Shaker Chair" from which we took some of the history to bring you this blog. Please browse our collection and see if you can now identify the community and the production chairs. Feel free to email us with any questions!