Introduction

I have been building chairs since 1999 and Windsors since late 2001. Chairmaking lends itself to two other interests: photography and the study of 18 th century American history. As of this posting I have measured more than 125 original Windsor chairs and have a photographic chair archive of more than 12,000 images. Initially this effort started as a way to enlarge the number of chairs that I could build. After being downsized two years ago and finding that our society doesn't embrace older workers, I used this work as a cathartic exercise. People sometimes asked how many chairs have I measured and why was I doing it. My answers also evolved as I was learning and growing. When I reached the 50 milestone I said to enable me to build reproductions and share those measurements back with the organization that owned the chair. Being honest I realized I'd never build reproductions of every chair I measured but I continued on as I was meeting more and more interesting people while I was staying out of trouble while at the same time making interesting discoveries. For one speicific finding I was soon seeing other same style chairs made by the same chairmaker, some who branded their chairs but many who didn't. With that I started seeing value in my database that would allow me to go beyond the important survey work done by Nancy Goyne Evans and Charles Santore whose research was done back in the 1970s. I have a BS in physics so my technical credentials are strong which influences the way I think and work. I wondered if by analyzing a chair's measurements could one objectively determine who made the chair, especially if it was unbranded. Some professionals working in the furniture field could subjectively observe and analyze a chair and venture a an opinion of who mostly likely made it. I thought I was too uneducated in this field to ever be able to do that. But could measurements provide another tool that would augment what the subjective process has been doing for years and allow me to draw my own conclusion. Initial reaction to that idea from one furniture professional was that was in a way of speaking a wsate of time. But I figured if it failed I still gained by the overall undersatnding of Windsor chairs I was gaining. Fortunately I had the discretionery time to devote to this unusual undertaking. In the end I have measured more Windsors than the late John Kassay whose work I really admired. With measuring as many chairs as I did from the outset I started realizing that I was beginning to truly understand this furniture art form. The time and discipline to measure them along with sketching became an on-the-job training program that accelerated my insight and understanding. After doing the data collection on the chair I'd take pictures. At first I'd take 25 to 30 pictures, eventually that grew to a hundred or more with many being macro close-ups showing the handiwork details. Again my original objective for the study was to improve my chair building skills. At that point it was impossible to stop increasing my curiosity and the list of questions I thought of and wanted to find answers for. Field work as I called it was only the beginning. After completing my field work as I started calling the measuring and picture taking sessions, I would spend time consulting the books written by Evans and Santore and others and seriously studied the pictures I downloaded from the camera to my computer. Eventually the time I spent in home study - analysis became about a 2:1 ratio with the time I spent in the field (minus travel). To my surprise with repeat studies of a particular chairmaker's chair style on addditional chairs I began to be able to subjectively look at a chair and say this chair was made by ........ The process I was pursuing helped me develop a skill I thought was out of reach for someone who came to this party so late in his career. Living outside Philadelphia has given me opportunities to study many Joseph Henzey made Windsor chairs as well as some from Lancaster County, PA. I can't prove this statement but I do believe that I have measured, photographed and studied more Henzey-made chairs than anyone else. In the case of one particluar early Lancaster County sack-back I disocvered at the Reading Public Museum in Reading, PA, I have seen and studied 5 other sack-backs made by this same unknown Lancaster County chairmaker. There's an article or two to be written about these chairmakers and the evolution of their handiword skills and the development of their sense of Windsor style. They were in many ways exactly like us. They started off as beginners or apprentices, worked into good chairmkers, then developed themselves, in some cases, into master Windsor chairmakers. About a year ago I started to experiment with organizing the measurement data into an array or database. I believe that Mirosoft Excel and Access software packages underneath operate on the same architectural basis with one being better suited for certain data functions than the other. Excel seems to be better at numerical number crunching and Access to organizing the data so it can be internally linked in relationships. But both can do the other function sometimes with difficulty. Having experience in both I liked the visual feedback that Excel allows so I can easily large numbers of measurements without having to take the time to view the data tables located down a level or two in the program. I could more easily experiment with calculations obtain quick feedback and then try other approaches. I used a variety of simple statistical functions to apply to the numerous common details obtained from several other same style Windsor chairs. Initially I focused on sack-backs and the bow-back armchairs. I excited to say that the model is working. As time permits I am continuing to refine, challenge the results and expand its reach. All this occurred while I was going from a list of 50 chairs that were measured to a hundred. My initial goal of using this work to become a better Windsor chairmaker worked and to get a picture of the handiwork skill varaition between different chairmakers was achieved. Several new goals emerged so the work of measuring so many chairs went from being a reflection of my compulsion driven personality and catharsis of being downsized at age 58 (I do have serious compulsive aspects to my personality) to having a real basis in research. I was now seeing things that Evans and Santore were unable to see in their monumental-overview studies. I plan an article about the model and the findings and conclusions I am making with it. That's enough on that. I suspect the model will play a supportive role in whatever Windsor chair articles I do once the work is published. Periodically I'll add other threads to this one as I have time as there are several other efforts I have underway all stimulated by this effort. I wanted a forum to describe my unusual and humble beginnings and explain that I'm not completely crazy, just a little. Through it all I have studied Windsor chairs at several wonderful facilities and institutions like: the Reading Public Museum; the 1728 John Bartram House and Gardens; Independence Hall; the Betsy Ross House; and Carpenters' Hall; the Camden, Chester, Germantown, Lancaster and York Historical Societies; in Germantown - Benj. Chew's family summer home at Cliveden, the Deshler-Morris House (first White House), the Wister family's summer house at Grumblethorpe, James Logan's house at Stenton and the Wistar-Haines' family summer home at Wyck; Haddonfield Friends School in Haddonfield, NJ where I found two branded William Cox chairs and one unbranded Henzey bow-back armchir under 2" of dust in their attic (they were slated to be sold in a flea market along with 15 other 19th century chairs!). Getting permission to closely study important, old artifacts is no easy task. So please don't expect to walk in off the street and say hi to a curator and ask I'd like to touch and measure your Windsor chairs. It doesn't work that way. I'll broach that subject later. That's enough for now....enjoy Windsor chairs.