Object Story: High-back Windsor Armchair with Writing Arm - Body
High-back Windsor Armchair with Writing Arm
You may not think that a mere piece of furniture could represent the complicated spirit of American equality. It’s just something you sit on, right? But surprisingly, the Windsor chair shows us a great deal about who we are and what we value.
The Windsor first gained popularity as a garden chair in England in the late seventeenth century, and it was a chair to be used outside. Windsor chairs were comfortable, lightweight, and easy to move. Due to their relative affordability, they could be easily replaced if damaged by weather.
Wealthy American colonists, always looking to London’s elite society for shopping trends, started importing Windsor chairs for themselves in the 1720s. The chairs quickly became all the rage, especially as the newly expanding middle class looked for ways to emulate the tastes of upper classes. American chairmakers re-engineered the chair and stripped away many of the decorative or fanciful elements. They focused on function, comfort, mass production, and affordability.
Innovators in America made the Windsor chair affordable and simple to construct. Each piece of the Windsor chair, from the seat to the legs, could be fashioned separately, making the chairs much easier to produce than they were with previous methods of construction. This meant that the chair also required less-skilled labor than what was necessary for fancier chairs. By the 1750s, thousands of Windsor chairs were being mass-produced by furniture makers in Philadelphia and sold throughout the colonies. This chair, formerly lawn furniture for the wealthy in England, had been reclaimed by Americans and made affordable to the masses. It was known as the “people’s chair.”
The Windsor chair was present as Founding Fathers wrote the country’s constitution. Just like democracy, the people’s chair was for everyone, which typically meant property-owning white men in the late 1700s. | Edward Savage, Engraver and Robert Edge Pine, Congress voting the Declaration of Independence, 1800. Image: Library of Congress.
Competition Led to More Innovation
By the 1770s, furniture makers in New England and New York were making fancier, improved Windsor chairs to compete with the first American versions produced in Philadelphia. These had innovative features like continuous arms built from a single piece of wood, decorated chair legs, and accessories like this writing desk.
High-back Windsor armchair with writing arm
Attributed to Ebenezer Tracy, Sr. (American, 1744-1803), High-back Windsor armchair with writing arm, Lisbon, Connecticut, late 18th century, wood and green paint. Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection, L2015.41.112
Ebenezer Tracy of Connecticut
This high-back Windsor chair is believed to be crafted by Ebenezer Tracy–one of the most skilled and prolific Windsor chair makers in all of Connecticut. Today, furniture made by Ebenezer Tracy and his descendants–particularly Windsor chairs–are highly prized works and some of the most sought-after furniture pieces from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Widely Popular
These chairs were so popular that they were specifically known as Windsor-Chair makers in the census. There were more than 2,700 Windsor chair makers documented through the 1840s. Here is just one newspaper report from 1789 listing the number of Windsor chairs exported from Delaware.
Affordable by Design
One of the reasons that Windsor chairs were more affordable is their materials. The seat, arms, legs, and spindles were made from different materials that could be made quickly and cheaply. Then they were painted all the same color—usually red, green, or black—so that no one would know what the materials were.
Variety of Types
The range and variety of Windsor chairs is significant. There are hundreds of designs and variations ranging from the carving of the legs, arms, and “ears” of the chair, to the size, shape, and type.
Questions for Discussion
- The Windsor chair production in the United States pre-dates the Industrial Revolution. How might Windsor chairs signal an important change in manufacturing?
- How does your furniture reflect other values in your household? You can tell what is important by noticing how much space or money is devoted to certain activities. Are there chairs that are used only for specific tasks? Think about where you sit to eat dinner, do homework, watch TV, or play video games.
- How many seating options do you have in your house? Are there seating options that “belong” to one person? Does your furniture reflect some hierarchy in the house or does it reflect equality among members of the household?
- How might the production of the Windsor chair as the “people’s chair” signal a change in the way people thought about access to goods?
- Make a contemporary connection: When the flat screen TV first became available in 1997, it was 42” and sold for $15,000! It was associated with wealth and status. Today, a better version can be acquired for less than $200. Does increased access to these goods make us feel more equal to those with more purchasing power? Does it make us happier?