Sign, Trade

Description

Rectangular wood sign with a border that protrudes out 3/4". Letters are painted in white, "CHAIR SHOP". The current text was probably painted over old lettering; there are remnants of an "E" (after "CHAIR") and of a "P" (after "SHOP").

Notes

This trade sign hung above the entrance to the South Family chair shop at Mount Lebanon. Although the height of production was in the late 19th century, chair making in the South Family continued into the 20th century, most famously by the last member of the family, Sarah Collins. The South Family chair shop was initially planned and established by Robert Wagan (1833-1883). A bridge joined the chair shop to the South Family laundry building, which housed the sales room for chairs and later the shop where Collins worked. The Emma B. King Library has numerous photographs showing Sarah Collins working in the chair shop. Among the photos are two views of the exterior of the chair shop, one taken in the 1920s and the other taken several years later. In both pictures, Collins is shown standing in front of this trade sign, but the words on the sign were different. In the earlier picture, the sign advertised the "Chair Store," the lettering of which is still faintly visible beneath the present wording. In the second photograph, taken in 1930 or 1931, the sign reads "Chair Shop," so the sign was changed sometime before 1930-1931. To learn more, read this blog post: https://www.shakermuseum.us/the-history-of-a-sign/