Neoclassicism in the New Nation

Expanding Markets, 1790-1820

Outside of Boston and Salem, the neoclassical style was also embraced by consumers and cabinetmakers in areas west and south of the hub.

In the countryside, many furniture makers alternated furniture making with seasonal agricultural tasks. Responding to local taste, they often created individualistic, delightful versions of the new style, which were ultimately indebted to English designs but also influenced by Boston furniture of the era. Artisans frequently employed cherry as a primary wood in their furniture, and also made use of inlaid decoration in both pictorial and patterned form.

Selected Bibliography

• Baron, Donna K. “Furniture Makers and Retailers in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Working to 1850.” Antiques 143, no. 5 (May 1993): 784-95.
• Colglazier, Gail Nessel. Springfield Furniture, 1700-1850: A Large and Rich Assortment. Springfield, Mass.: Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, 1990.
• Hall, Elton W. “New Bedford Furniture.” Antiques 113, no. 5 (May 1978): 1105-27.
• Jobe, Brock, and Clark Pearce. “Sophistication in Rural Massachusetts: The Inlaid Cherry Furniture of Nathan Lombard.” AF 1998, 164-96.
• Jobe, Brock, Jack O’Brien, and Gary R. Sullivan. Harbor and Home: Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts, 1710-1850. Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2009.
• Zea, Philip. Useful Improvements, Innumerable Temptations: Pursuing Refinement in Rural New England, 1750-1850. Deerfield, Mass.: Historic Deerfield, 1998.
• Zea, Philip. “William Lloyd and the Workmanship of Change.” In Rural New England Furniture, 60-75.