Broom

Description

Broom corn broom with heavy string and stitching. Clusters of bristles inserted into a wooden bar, with corn bristles and sides and ends of bar covered with leather, secured by tacks. Loose tenon bridled into round, pine handle and held by steel rivet and ferrule. Lower end of the tenon mortised into the top of the broom bar and joint pinned. Head stiffened with a bent, cylindrical piece of wood which passes through the handle at the top.

Notes

Broad bottomed, heavy brooms such as this one were not used for sweeping, rather, with their canvas and felt covers they were used for polishing floors. Although this type of broom is made of the same materials as a common Shaker flat broom--broom corn, linen cord, and a wooden handle, it is constructed in such a way that the attachment of the broom corn to the wood cross piece keeps the broom flat rather than needing to be clamped flat in a vise and sewn with multiple courses of cord to hold its shape. After their use in the Shaker community, these brooms became part of the Shaker handicraft collection in the museum maintained at Darrow School, which had purchased Church Family property at Mount Lebanon. A photograph taken in 1936 by Darrow School senior, Winthrop B. Coffin, shows the broom missing its cover among other objects in the museum. Reference: The Peg Board (New Lebanon, NY: Darrow school, 1935), p. 34.