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History
Department hosts early American furniture lecture
Heather E. Linde ‘04
Jay Robert Stiefel, an expert in early American furniture
and decorative arts, delivered a lecture on Oct. 22 in Falvey Memorial
Library. The lecture was sponsored by the history department.
The presentation, titled “Scucheons and Inges: Artisan Workshops
in Colonial Philadelphia,” focused on colonial furniture in Philadelphia
and its significance in John Head, the joiner’s account book. As
a Philadelphia joiner from 1718-1753, John Head recorded his daily transactions
in this intriguing artifact’s 231 pages, which contains 35 years
of purchases, dates, names and payments for all goods and services provided
directly or indirectly by John Head.
Stiefel explained the significance behind his presentation title as well
as elaborated on his fascinating discovery of John Head’s account
book. The title of his lecture, “Scucheons and Inches” is
noticeably missing several letters which parallels his own struggle to
decipher John Head’s confusing notations. The account book was discovered
in a curled walnut, slant-front desk on ogee bracket feet with serpentine
interior which was previously owned by John Head, Jr. After discovering
the joiner’s account book, Stiefel began to decipher the difficult
script.
“The previously unrecognized English joiner, John Head emerged as
the most prominent, identifiable furniture maker in Philadelphia prior
to 1750. His account book is a rare survival and one of the treasures
of the Library of the American Philosophical Society. And it is [used]
for deciphering Philadelphia furniture history and the roles of many craftsmen
and merchants,” said Stiefel.
Jay Robert Stiefel is an attorney who studied history at the University
of Pennsylvania and Christ Church, Oxford. He also studied decorative
arts with the Attingham Trust.
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