1. Potthast Bros., Inc., patented the slogan “The True Antiques of Tomorrow” (no. 13082) on March 10, 1931. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Interesting Facts: Inside Secrets of Selecting Furniture Correctly,” 1935, p. 21; collection of author. 2. Interest in preindustrial craft methods and indigenous styles was at the core of the arts and crafts movement and of the Potthasts’ philosophy. Several prominent craftsmen, including L. & J. G. Stickley, made reproductions of antique furniture before turning to the Mission style. See Wendy Kaplan, “The Art That Is Life”: The Arts & Crafts Movement in America, 1875–1920 (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1987), for more on the relationship between the arts and crafts movement and the colonial revival. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Interesting Facts,” p. 21. Although the Potthast brothers married other German-Americans and maintained social connections within Baltimore’s large German-born population, the furniture produced and sold by their firm was thoroughly American in design. William B. Rhoads, “The Colonial Revival and the Americanization of Immigrants,” in The Colonial Revival in America, edited by Alan Axelrod (New York: W. W. Norton, 1985). Kenneth L. Ames, “Introduction,” in ibid., pp. 13–14. 3. Ames, “Introduction,” pp. 13–14. For more on Hagen, see Deborah Dependall Waters, “Is It Phyfe?” in American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England for the Chipstone Foundation, 1996), pp. 63–81. 4. Letterbook 1: 1908–9, letterbook 2: 1914–17, letterbook 3: 1919, letterbook 4: 1920–21, letterbook 5: 1926–32, ms2183, library collection, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. Additional correspondence is in ms 2659. Harry B. Leopold (1891–1977) worked as a news photographer for the Baltimore Sun and the now defunct News American. He also operated a commercial photography business. Leopold’s work illustrates many Baltimore buildings and businesses. His obituary was published in the July 22, 1977, issue of the Baltimore Sun. Sample book of photographs, Potthast family collection. 5. One brochure titled “Replicas from Collectors’ Antiques” (ca. 1930) serves as a virtual bibliography for the firm’s sales literature. It cites Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), George Hepplewhite’s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788), Thomas Sheraton’s The Cabinet-Maker & Upholsterer’s Drawing Book (1793), and the Society of Upholsterer’s The London Cabinet-Maker’s Book of Prices (1788). This brochure also states that “[in addition to museums] there is . . . another genuine source of much reliable information that is available through distinguished authorities—writers of furniture history with many illustrations in their books.” 6. Additional references include “Sheraton, 1751–1806,” and “Hepplewhite, 1780 a.d.” Robert and Elizabeth Shackleton, The Quest of the Colonial, 3d ed. (1906; reprint ed., New York: Century Co., 1921). 7. Jane S. Smith, Elsie de Wolfe: A Life in the High Style (New York: Atheneum, 1982). Elsie de Wolfe, The House in Good Taste (New York: Century Co., 1915), pp. 260–61. 8. Letterbook, 1907, p. 305, Potthast family collection. Mrs. Barbara White interviews with the author, Baltimore, Maryland, spring 1999. Mrs. White was the granddaughter-in-law of C. Wilbur and Edith Miller. No records supporting a business relationship between Edmunds and de Wolfe have surfaced, but it is possible that she was involved in the design of the Millers’ chairs. This important suite of furniture represents the zenith of the colonial revival style and some of the finest custom designs of Potthast Bros., Inc. 9. Gregory R. Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, 1740–1940: The Collection of the Maryland Historical Society (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1984), pp. 210, 213. 10. Das Neue Baltimore, translated by Sister Benedicta, SSND (Baltimore: German Publishing Company, 1905), p. 174. This publication highlighted German-American businesses in Baltimore after the 1904 fire that destroyed seventy city blocks, more than fifteen hundred buildings, and twenty-five hundred businesses. For details of the fire, see Robert J. Brugger, Maryland: A Middle Temperament 1634–1980 (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), p. 416. 11. For more on William Camp, see Gregory R. Weidman, “The Furniture of Classical Maryland,” in Classical Maryland, 1815–1845: Fine and Decorative Arts from the Golden Age (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1993). The Camp chest sold at Richard Opfer Auctioneers, Timonium, Maryland, in July 1994. Potthast Bros., Inc., to Mrs. Geo. H. Hills, Fall River, Massachusetts, May 23, 1907, letterbook, 1907. 12. Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, p. 235. 13. O. A. Kirkland Auctioneer, Catalogue of the Celebrated Dr. William H. Crim Collection of Genuine Antiques, Baltimore, April 22–May 2, 1903. Potthast, Bros., Inc., “Interesting Facts,” illustration, p. 21. 14. Kirkland Auctioneer, Crim Collection, lot. 774. 15. Report of the Maryland Commission to the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition (Baltimore, Md.: Williams & Co., 1908). Built in 1801, Homewood is owned by Johns Hopkins University and has been open to the public as a historic house museum since 1987. The Maryland Building from the 1907 Jamestown Exposition survives along with twelve of the original twenty-one state buildings. All are currently used as admirals’ housing on the Norfolk Naval Base. C. F. Meislahn & Co. (w. 1887–1941) of Baltimore produced the interiors of the Maryland Building. The firm had made architectural models and done work for the 1904 restoration of the senate chamber in the Maryland State House in Annapolis in an effort to return the room to its Revolutionary era appearance. Report of the Maryland Commission. Loan inventory, letterbook, 1907. 16. Report of the Maryland Commission, pp. 38–42. 17. Letterbook, 1907. 18. Potthast Bros., Inc., to Tiffany Studios, New York, October 5, 8, and 19, 1907, letterbook, 1907. 19. Baltimore City Directories, 1928 and 1930. 20. Potthast Bros., Inc., “The ‘Antiques of Tomorrow’ Produced by Potthast Bros. Inc.,” Baltimore Magazine, September 1938, pp. 21–23. Theodore J. Potthast, Jr., and Marie Corcoran Potthast, “Potthast Bros., Inc.: A Brief History,” unpublished manuscript, 1990, n.p. Other Potthast genealogical information was derived from company letterheads, labeled family photographs, and interviews with various family members. 21. Potthast and Potthast, “Potthast Bros., Inc.” 22. Fred Judd, “The Wonderful Potthast Past,” Baltimore Evening Sun, October 3, 1985. 23. Lucien Rhodes, “Handmade Furniture: Potthast Closes after 85 years,” Baltimore Sun, February 3, 1975. Judd, “The Wonderful Potthast Past.” 24. American Art Association, Colonial Furniture: The Superb Collection of the Late Howard Reifsnyder, New York, April 24–27, 1929. American Art Association, Colonial Furniture, Silver, and Decorations: The Collection of the late Philip Flayderman, New York, January 2–4, 1930. 25. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Replicas from Collectors’ Antiques,” ca. 1930. 26. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Reproductions That Are An Investment,” ca. 1930, p. 4. 27. Edgar G. Miller, Jr., American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs (Baltimore, Md.: Lord Baltimore Press, 1937). The Potthasts’ shop copy of this book is in a private collection. 28. Susan G. Tripp, “Homewood in Baltimore, Maryland,” Antiques 133, no. 1 (January 1980): 248–57. Examples of similar chairs, or possibly others from this set, were in the Crim sale. This may have given the Potthast craftsmen additional exposure to this form. 29. Mrs. Muth was a descendent of Charles Carroll of Homewood. Theodore J. Potthast interview with the author, summer 1995, Baltimore, Maryland. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Interesting Facts:,” p. 18. 30. Potthast Letterbooks, passim. 31. Theodore J. Potthast interview with the author, summer 1995, Baltimore, Maryland. Potthast Bros., Inc., “The ‘Antiques of Tomorrow,’” pp. 2–4. 32. Potthast Bros., Inc., “The Metropolitan Museum,” ca. 1930. The Metropolitan Museum of Art deaccessioned their sideboard at Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Silver, Folk Art, and Decorative Art, New York, June 19, 1996, lot 179. For more on this sale, see Maine Antique Digest, August 1996, 20-E. The opening of the American Wing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art stimulated interest in antique furniture and fueled the demand for reproductions. The Potthasts’ library includes a copy of R. T. H. Halsey and Charles Over Cornelius’s Handbook of the American Wing (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1924). In 1936, the price of the “Metropolitan” sideboard was $415. Potthast Bros., Inc., “44th Anniversary—Expansion Sale.” 33. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Mount Vernon,” ca. 1930. In 1936 the price of the “Mount Vernon” sideboard was $240. Potthast Bros., Inc., “44th Anniversary—Expansion Sale.” 34. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Interesting Facts.” Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, pp. 14, 213–14, nos. 221, 252. 35. Ibid. 36. Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, pp. 259–60. Potthast Bros., Inc., “Interesting Facts,” p. 2. 37. Theodore J. Potthast interview with the author, summer 1995, Baltimore, Md. 38. The Maryland Historical Society purchased a Potthast card table (67.57.11) in 1967, probably because it belonged to H. L. Mencken (1880–1956)—a journalist and essayist known as the “Sage of Baltimore.” For more on the card table, see Weidman, Furniture in Maryland, p. 258. The society’s collection of Potthast furniture also includes a “Crim” chair (57.3.6) and a “Key” chair (57.3.4). Both were added to the collection in 1957, while the Potthasts were still in business. Early on, the society recognized the significance of Dr. Crim’s collection and sale and the importance of the Potthasts’ decision to reproduce objects owned by him. For more on the sideboard, dining table, card table and chairs, see acc. 79.75.1–5, Maryland Historical Society.