Incollect Magazine - Issue 6

96 www.incollect.com With a small but noteworthy selection of Windsor forms now assembled, Dietrich began sharing his collection with the public. He did this in a novel way when he began to loan a large portion of his Windsor collection to the annual St. Peter’s in the Great Valley Antiques Show & Sale located near Arkadia. He did so four times between 1991 and 2001, writing an overview of Windsors and entries for one of the show catalogues himself. By doing this, Dietrich gave visitors to the show the chance to closely inspect masterful examples of the Windsor form in America while he continued to support and raise the profile of a beloved local institution. This article is the tenth in a series featuring the Dietrich American Foundation’s collection and is intended as a type of crowd sourcing exercise. Please share information with the author (contact details are below), which will be provided as learned. To learn more about the Dietrich American Foundation, visit dietrichamericanfoundation.org . Christopher Storb is a furniture conservator, woodworking historian, and wood artist. Please send comments and related research to cstorb@gmail.com or call 610.212.5528 . 1. Nancy Goyne Evans, American Windsor Chairs (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996), 79–81. Philadelphia chairmakers began producing Windsor chairs about twenty years after they were first introduced in England. 2. Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury (Old America Company, 1928). Nutting illustrates over one-hundred and eighty American and English Windsors. 3. William Macpherson Hornor, Jr. Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture (self published, Philadelphia, 1935). 4. J. Stogdell Stokes, “The American Windsor Chair,” The Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin (December 1925). 5. Charles Woolsey Lyon, advertisement, The Magazine Antiques , September 1963. 6. Nancy Goyne Evans, American Windsor Furniture, Specialized Forms (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1997), 146. 7. Charles Santore, The Windsor Style in America (Philadelphia: Running Press, 1981). 8. Wallace Nutting, Furniture Treasury (Old America Company, 1928), fig. 2507. Left, Fig 7: High-back Windsor armchair with bracing spindles, Philadelphia, 1765-1770. The arms are joined to the turned back posts in the manner of contemporary formal walnut and mahogany cabriole leg armchairs. The arms are attached with screws through the back of the post and the screw heads are covered with a wood plug. Photo by author. Right, Fig. 8: High-back Windsor highchair, Philadelphia, Penn., 1755–1765. Yellow poplar, maple, hickory, oak. H. 40, W. 18¾, D. 18¾ in. The first Windsor highchairs made in America were derived from Philadelphia high- back armchairs like that seen in fig. 7. Faux painted wood graining has been applied over the original green paint. Photo by author.