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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Today, we think of technology in terms of computers and phones, not in terms of furniture. However, innovations in furniture crafting, and even the furniture itself, used to be one of the main forms of technology in early New England. Nancy Carlisle, the Senior Curator of Collections at Historic New England, gave a presentation on the early history of New England furniture at the Westwood Historical Society, offering insight into how furniture impacted not just where we sat, but many more aspects of community and life.
Carlisle’s specialty is furniture. She has appeared on PBS discussing the evolution of kitchens and their uses, and frequently gives talks for Historic New England all over the state. She covered six styles in this presentation, bringing her audience up to the 1840s, promising that there would a more in-depth look at later furniture at another time. She began by discussing the innovative technology of the watermill, which allowed for the creation of furniture bigger than a single man. She also debunked some myths many have about early New England. “In the 17th century, they lived in houses with very small windows, so they had very bright furniture, otherwise it would blend in and get in the way and you’d trip over it,” she explained. “We think of it now as dark because of the way it’s faded, but it would have been brilliantly colored when it was made.”
Discussing the Queen Anne period, Carlisle touched on how these trends in furniture affected much more than just the actual physical pieces in homes. “William Hogarth, in the 18th century, came up with the idea of the perfect curve. This applied to furniture, corsets, men’s calves, etc.,” she said. This perfect curve was not just for the legs of chairs, but for the shape of people’s bodies as well. In the late 18th century, the Federal Style moved in to fashion, and changes in fashion matched the change from curvaceous to linear. Women’s necklines became much straighter than they were before. These styles were all encompassing.
Pieces from the Queen Anne period have sold in recent years for two to five million dollars, demonstrating the furniture’s clear relevance to today’s market. Carlisle showed a picture of an intricate desk, and called it the first modern computer. “There were no file drawers and no filing cabinets and the notion of filing is new itself. So organized pieces like this were like the first modern computers; they aided heavily in organization.”
Historic New England will have a new home in Milton opening in May of next year, where Carlisle and many others will continue to speak and explore the history of this area.
