Photograph, Cabinet

Description

This view shows the meeting room in the Church Family's new dwelling completed in 1876 following the fire that destroyed their old dwelling -- "The Great House." Against the far (west) wall of the room there are several No. 3 side chairs that have tell-tale rectangular seat stretchers associated with chairs made at the South Family in 1887 with perforated plywood seats that are known to have been used after that date in the Meetinghouse. Unless the Shakers had purchased seats of this type and had the South Family make chairs for the meeting room at an earlier date, the presence of these chairs suggests that the photograph was made after the fall of 1887. While this copy of the photograph is not sign by the photographer, Warren F. Broderick, in his finding aid titled, J. E. West's New Lebanon Shaker Community Photographs, 1870-1910, identifies this image as the work of James E. West, a photographer well known for his work at Mount Lebanon. This collection of negatives belonging to West is in the collection of the New York State Museum, where this particular images is identified as negative number 46 and the copy photograph made from it as photograph number 114.