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American by Design: Isaac Kaplan's Furniture for the Colonial Revival

American Furniture 2017

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Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    A Kaplan Furniture Company craftsman uses a gouge to carve details into an ornamental furniture feature, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Isaac Kaplan surveys his workers inside his Osborne Street workshop, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Workers prepare components for several types of furniture, including pediments for bonnet top highboys, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    A craftsman in Kaplan’s workshop sands a Chippendale-style ribbon-back chair (also called a ladder-back chair with pierced rails), Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.) The unfinished quality of the chair demonstrates that this piece was in its early stages of preparation. It might then be taken to the carving department before being varnished.

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Blueprint for “Duncan” table, Kaplan Furniture Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1930–1940. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Detail of a blueprint for “Colchester” bureau, Kaplan Furniture Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1928–1940. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Promotional brochure for the Kaplan Furniture Company, 1926. (Courtesy, Cambridge Historical Commission.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    “The Bonnet Top Highboy” from Kaplan Colonial Line of Furniture. Promotional brochure, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1926. (Courtesy, Cambridge Historical Commission.)

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    Photograph showing Kaplan Furniture Company employees at Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts, c. 1930–1940. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 10
    Figure 10

    Label for the Phillips Mahogany Double Bureau from the Beacon Hill Collection, Kaplan Furniture Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1930–1940. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 11
    Figure 11

    Design for “Colchester Mirror,” Kaplan Furniture Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1928–1940. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 12
    Figure 12

    Kaplan Furniture Company parade float, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 13
    Figure 13

    Cover image for The Beacon Hill Collection of Early American Furniture (Cambridge, Mass.: Kaplan Furniture Company, c. 1930) (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    A Beacon Hill Furniture workshop kit, Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 9, 1955. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 15
    Figure 15

    Display window for the Kaplan Furniture Company’s Beacon Hill Collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1930–1950. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Page from The Beacon Hill Collection as Interpreted by B. Altman & Company (Cambridge, Mass.: University Press, 1940), p. 181.

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    The “Beacon Hill Collection Showroom,” New York World’s Fair, New York, New York, 1939. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Kaplan Furniture Company, promotional brochure, Cambridge, Massachusetts, c. 1950. (Courtesy, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.)