Mahogany sleigh bed. Sleigh-shaped bed with a headboard higher than footboard. Outcurved top rails. Cyma curved footboard. Headboard has side pieces with cyma curves. Low to ground. Side rails have curved top edge. Feet are rounded blocks that are caster
Provenance
Buchanan, James
to Johnston, Harriet Lane (niece)
to Kennedy, May (cousin)
to Taylor, Mrs. Edmund R. (Julia) (May's sister)
to Taylor, Mr. Edmund R. Taylor Jr. (Julia's grandson)
Walnut bed finish bleached by sun exposure, especially on back & headboard and footboard. Minor scratches on the wood througout.
Object ID
W.1989.344.001
Notes
Belonged to James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston. According to letter from donor's wife, 'there is no written authentication of its origin, but my husband received the bed from his grandmother, Mrs. E.R. Taylor of Charles Town, Jefferson County, W. V
Mr. and Mrs. Edmund R. Taylor, Jr. donated a set of 8 linen handtowels marked with Harriet Lane Johnston's monogram and a letter from Francis Scott Key to James Buchanan at the same time of the bed donation. A campaign card was also donated at this time.
The matching sleigh bed is currently (2022) owned by Evelyn Byrd Hutton (evelynbyrdhutton@gmail.com), a sister of Betsy Henry Lehman & daughter to Reginald Buchanan Henry, Jr.
Gilded, ogee-molded frame with applied acanthus leaf design at two bottom corners. Top crest heavily molded with applied relief. Two sides have c-scroll with top crest of shield, shell, foliate floral design. Garlands of flowers across with central appled bunch of grapes. Crest curves out and forward.
Chair's green paint was striped in 1976. Unknown if paint was original.
Object ID
W.1974.028.001
Notes
Original accession number W.35.28, would lead one to believe the James Buchanan Foundation obtained the chair in 1935; however, teh file holds letters written by the donor, Mr. Russel, that are dated 1974. The Accession Record is, therefore, inaccurate.
Research required to authenticate object connection with Elizabeth Speer Buchanan. The donor's 14 May 1974 letter states that the chair "came from the home of James Buchanan. When his Mother died at Cove Gap, PA." It should be noted that primary sources indicate that Elizabeth Speer Buchanan died on 14 May 1833 at 9:00 AM at the home of her daughter in Greensburg, PA.
Sheraton/Empire Tabernacle style mirror. Gilt mirror with a flat molded cornice with projecting breaks at the corners and fourteen pendent sphere. Double pilasters have decorative captials, beaded reeds and a rope motif terminating with urn-shaped bases. Frieze has foliate carvings.
Bottom mirror's silvering is delaminating from exposure to moisture; some chipping on the gilt frame.
Object ID
W.1935.042.001
Notes
Mr. Robert K. Cassatt's (donor) aunt was Miss Annie Buchanan. Annie was Robert's mother's sister and niece to James Buchanan. This mirror formerly hung at Wheatland.
Bought at sale by Dr. Metzger who gave chair to Mrs. C. F. May. Mrs. May presented chair to Wheatland in memory of her husband. According to Board Minutes, this only concerns the straight char and not the rocker.
Commonly known as a lamp stand due to its principle use; its four legs made it safer than the earlier candle stands. This mahogany table top is nearly square and of a plain design. The skirt is three inches deep and contains a single drawer that is almost the full width of the skirt. The extant pull is a reproduction; the original would have been plain with a small brass knob. The table is supported by four tapered legs with a ring turning at the top of each and a raised band six inches above the end of each leg.
Oval top empire-style table with side skirt. Skirt has beaded top and bottom. Table divides to accomodate four leaves. Four-sided reeded central pillar with two turned feet underneath and four c-scrolled supports. Solid base with four radial, long legs w
Undocumented stories claim that this table was ordered by William Jenkins in 1828, the year he had the Wheatland mansion built, and that it has conveyed to each subsequent owner with the deed. The table dates from the first quarter of the nineteenth century and might attributed to the Bachman cabinetmakers.
The tiger maple washstand's splash back has a scroll-cut design combined with a fleur de lis carving at its center. The sidewalls also have a scroll cut and a rounded corner at the front. Both front legs have an inward curve ending at the lower shelf terminating with an inward scroll design. The top shelf apron has a full-width drawer and two hexagonal molded clear glass pulls. The two back supports are vase-shaped legs with ring and ball turnings at the lower shelf. All four legs below the bottom shelf have ring and ball turnings that terminate on ball feet.
Smithgall family history tells us that the washstand passed to Charles Lee, the donor's son before the piece transferred to Wheatland's collection. Mary Smithgall Lee received it from her father, Charles Smithgall who received it from the estate of his grandfather, John Smithgall. John served as a gardener in the Quartermaster Department of the 90th Pennsylvania Infantry under Breveted Lieutenant Colonel James Miles Moore in Washington D.C. during the administrations of James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln. John Smithgall died in Washington on 12 December 1865; his grave is at the National Military Asylum Cemetery. Mary Smithgall, a daughter of John Smithgall, worked as a domestic for James Buchanan at Wheatland.
Grained pine bookcase. Ring and bun feet. Has bottom cabinets with double doors, butt-hinged, not knobs or handles. Plain keyholes, central rectangular panels on each door. Upper case has sliding doors with glass, 12 panes each. Six shelves on each side.
This artifact was accessioned twice [36.20 and 89.150]. 89.150 accession form said that artifact has Buchanan ownership, however, only criteria used for this declaration was the Leslie Illustration.
Two Greek Revival Chairs, rush seats, painted back rail. Cabriole front and back legs with gold stringing. Front and back has single stretcher, each side have double stretchers. American
Top of desk is slanted. Top lifts to reveal a compartment fitted with pigeon holes and drawers. Cabinet supported on four heavily turned legs which are reminiscent of late Sheraton style. Piece is simple and forthright in its design and construction; pro
Empire mahogany side chair with a wide curved tablet top back splat and a horizontal foliate carved center splat. The upholstered seat is supported by sloping rounded side rails. At the apron corners are carved florets above the urn-shaped turnings and reeded front legs terminating with bun feet. The back legs are square saber styles.
A Federal era washstand with a top and lower shelf. Top shelf has a centered opening to support a wash basin with two square pockets at the back corners to store a bar of soap and/or a shaving mug. The wood splash back is three sided and scroll cut with a raised back; the sides slope down to rounded shoulders at the front skirt that has bead trim both top and bottom. The top shelf surmounts four square blocks that transition to double ring and ball turned uprights. The lower shelf is mounted 18.5" below the top shelf with a full width drawer on its skirt with a wooden mushroom-shaped drawer pull in the center and double-bead trim at the bottom. The lower shelf surmounts four square blocks that transition to double ring and ball turned legs that terminate on peg feet.
American Empire side chair designed in the Klismos-style; chair style shaped after ancient Greek designs. Distinguishing features include sabre-like tapered legs, curved tablet backrests and curled stiles. The mahogany veneer back top rail has a rolled tablet crest. The upholstered slip takes the same shape of the straight front skirt that has a molded design as do the flat front of the front legs.
American empire-transitional Victorian armchair. Walnut frames the upholstered back and crest, arm rests have upholstered cushions terminating in a wide scroll surmounting the seat frame that features a serpentine apron. Brocade front legs feature ring-turnings; back legs are squared and canted. Back has slightly arched crest, back rails join to legs that terminate in casters.
Hepplewhite Pembrook Oval Table. Two drop leaves, when opened, are supported by pivoted shaped brackets. End skirts are straight with one containing a full-width drawer. The four slender tapering legs have satinwood inlay at the upper end.
Fixed leaf top table with serpentine drop leaves at each sides. Beaded molding on both skirts with drawer on one side. Brass molded handle plate with dogwood blossom decoration, bail handle. Legs are reeded with bun foot.
