Sheraton-inspired mahogany veneer night table with satinwood inlay accents that outline the apron, drawer and keyhole, as well as the legs. The table top has eight sides and surmounts four saber legs that also support a lower inward-curved shelf.
Named for its principle use, this mahogany table top, with its oblong top and bead molded edge, was typically found at the side of a bedstead. The table's skirt is three to four inches deep and contains a single drawer that is the full width of the skirt. The drawer has two original brass knob pulls and a top centered brass escutcheon keyhole. The table is supported by four round tapering legs with ring and ball turnings at the top and two sets of ring turnings approximately two inches above the tapered feet of the legs.
Provenance
Alexander Speer, maternal first cousin to James Buchanan
Oval, cut photo glued on paper with two bands - concentric, one thicker than the other, around photo. Photo shows four children - three girls sitting in a row, one boy standing to their left, 3/4 front, facing girls. Each girl is holding a different doll.
Photo of Schlauch siblings taken by their father. Written on wood backing the photo: "Ed Schlauch (with drum)/ Alice O. Schlauch (Zell)/ "Lill" Schlauch (Hoover)/ Ida Schlauch (Haag-Steel)/ Taken by their father." Unknown in which direction the girls are named. One can assume the names in parentheses are later married names of the females.
White mat around photo is tan with age, lines of dust in corners and around edges of frame that is open in back. One piece of wood partially covers the back with exposed space on both lengthwise edges.
Wood frame with dark glossy finish and gold painted edge next to glass. Wood exposed on all corners, many scratches throughout.
Shaving stand is comprised of a mahogany veneer; the mirror attached to the top has a veneered bull-nose frame supported by ring and vase-turned stiles set into the top with tenons at a backward cant. The skirt has two half-drawers; however, the brass knob drawer-pulls are missing. The stand is supported by four ring and ball turned feet
Bowfront mahogany veneer chest of drawers in the Hepplewhite style. Four drawers have progressing depths from the top to the bottom, each with overpressed drawer pulls two per drawer. At the top center of each drawer is a brass escutcheon keyhole. The top of the chest and each drawer are decorated with satin wood inlay. Chest is supported at its base by four french feet which feature a slightly outswept bracket foot combined with a valence skirt.
Provenance
Dr. Alexander Speer (James Buchanan maternal cousin)
Scale, balance, weights, and case. Item a: Box / case is rectangular, wooden with hinged lid, hook clasp. '$2' written on bottom in ink. Inside bottom has coarsely woven green burlap glued down. Label on inside lid. Label is yellow with black print and r
Copy of painting of Harriet Lane. Brownish-green background, lighter to lower right. Harriet Lane is seated, torso 1/4 to her left, head facing forward. Right hand in lap holding handle of gold fan. Left hand holding white handkerchief resting on table top.
Donor commissioned copy based on original portrait by G. C. Munzig in 1899. Original portrait gifted to Mr. Speer through his aunt, Mary Clarke Speer Denny, who was a companion to Harriet Lane Johnston. This copy was painted by Ted Morrow of Baltimore, Maryland. He also painted two other copies.
Plaque to commemorate James Buchanan's Presidency of the United States, as well as the Chairs he held while serving as a Free Mason in Lodge Number 43, Lancaster, 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.
Rectangular tray. White porcelain with gold trim, raised pink tray with support openings for a white ink well and a white pounce sander. Scalloped edges form handles on both ends of the raised tray and continues along the oblong tray that held pens. Scalloped edges feature gilded edges on white background bordered by a wide cobalt blue band gilt floral decor. The center of the pen tray is white with a pink, blue and white flower motif.
Provenance
James Buchanan
To Rev. Edward Y. Buchanan (brother)
To Lois Buchanan Cassatt (daughter/JB niece)
To Edward Buchanan Cassatt (son/JB great nephew)
To Lois Buchanan Cassatt Thayer (daughter/JB great, great niece)
Lignum vitas wood caster with round, bowl-like top, pierced for shaking out pounce. Base is ring-turned tapers smaller to broad top, flat bottom. Small, shallow dotted pattern in two bands near bottom. Lip at top has thin groove. Top screws onto base that would be filled with pounce, which is a fine powder made from powdered cuttlefish bone. Pounce was used both to dry ink and to sprinkle on a rough writing surface to make it smooth enough for writing.
Esther 'Hetty' Parker, James Buchanan's housekeeper, chose this among several other household items that Buchanan noted she was to be allowed to choose after his death. Miss Hetty gave this to the daughter of her neighbor. Miss Steckman donated this to the Wheatland collection in 1938.
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.
School Masters Desk. Turned legs, slantied hinged desk top, panel in center of interior, three drawers, three open pigeon holes, pigeon holes are topped by two small drawers on either side.
James Buchanan was the second owner of this desk; he gifted the desk to a domestic servant (name unknown) who was the third of eight owners not counting the museum.
Four sheets of stamps, framed. 60.15.1: Japanese 1960 stamps celebrating 100 year anniversary of Japanese Delegation visit to the US in 1860. (30 'cent' stamps) Height: 10.25' Width: 9.75' 60.15.2: Japanese 1960 stamps with ships. (10 'cent' stamps) Heig
Assumed to be traveling dress from latter part of 19th century.
84.41.1 is long-sleeved contoured woman's top of durable ribbed fabric. 2 bust-darts on both sides with stays from the waist up in all 4 darts. Collar and buttonhole panel, center front, of dark brown fabric. 13 hand-finished 1-inch buttonholes on right front. 11 buttons on right front. Buttons are covered in dark brown with 4-pointed brown stars in center. Set-in sleeves with 2 seams and tiny gusset at armhole. Cuff of same fabric is attached and folded up. Edge trimmed in a dark brown ribbed tape and 3 matching buttons on upperside of wrist and cuff. Front opening at waist opens like an upside-down "V." Center back seam runs from neck to hem. 2 seams run shoulder to hem; 2 additional seams run from armholes to hem.
Inside: Double construction with light tan fabric. One stay (4.5 inches long) is stitched to the center back seam from waist up. 4-inch wide pieces with 4 eyes on left and 4 eyes on right front, both contain vertical stays. Seam edges are overcast. On lower right front below buttonholes is an additional button hole on the inside only.
84.41.2- Long skirt of brown durable ribbed fabric. 1 1/2-inch wide waistband of same brown polished cotton as lining. At center front a 3-inch length of brown tape is sewn on the inside of the waistband creating a loop. A 9.5-inch placket in back is closed with a single black metal button and buttonhole. Center front is flat with 2 pleats. Top skirt measures 29 inches long. In back, top skirt is full, gathered and hiked up and tacked in center area. Underskirt upper portion is lining fabric. In the back (16.5 inches above hem) a casing holds brown fabric tape that has been pulled to gather fabric. The lower edge has a plain flat inner hem trimmed in a light brown tape. The portion of the underskirt that shows is 12 inches long with a 3-inch flat upper section; a 2.5-inch wide gathered section. The lowest 6.5-inch section is edged in dark brown trim with 1-inch box pleats about every 2 inches around the bottom edge. A 1/2-inch wide dark brown tape is sewn 1-inch above the hem edge around the entire skirt.
Inside, about 12 inches below the waistband is back, a band of brown fabric, 17 inches long is tacked to the lining in 3 places. On the right seam of the lining is a 'pocket' (17 inches long and 6 inches wide). Opening is a narrow 3 inches.
Small, cotton, pink child's dress. Drop-waist. From approximately the turn of the century. Trimmed with machine made lace. Square neckline. Buttons down back made of mother of pearl. Button holes hand made. Large tuck from cap of shoulder down front.
9in set in sleeves with lace trim 2.25in from cuffs. Same lace trim sewn on waist seam, around neck opening and on pleated skirt 6 in above hem. Machine made but for white cotton tape had stitched insde at skirt hem, seam where bodice and waist are joined. Pink cotton fabric tape hand stitched inside neck edge,. 8 back closure button holes are hand sttitched, 8 2 holed .25in shell buttons sewn on back. Front hem tear repaired.
Upholstered wingback commode chair has four turned Sheraton legs. Has replacement of original soiled handsewn homespun linen (remnants in this file), now an orange fabric with potted and vining flower design. Solid pinewood seat under cushion has center hole with fitted removable wooden disc.
This chair was from the Pownall home at Gap, where it was used by Dickinson Gorsuch, Maryland slaveholder, during his recovery from wounds sustained during the Christiana Riot of Sept. 11, 1851. His father and two others were killed during the skirmish at the home of freedman William Parker, and Dickinson was transported to the Pownall home for recovery. William Parker later published his story in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1866, making it highly publicized.
This incident "is an important example of the struggle over the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act and the escalating tension between the North and the South. This act gave slave owners broad powers to recapture runaway slaves". (ExplorePAhistory.com)
Polaroid photos of chair before re-upholstery, in file.
Likely Lancaster or Chester Co.
Provenance
Provenance: Chair owned by the Pownall family & given in 1973 to the Lancaster County Historical Society by Mrs. Levi Pownall of Lancashire Hall (569-7279).
It was initially loaned to the Heritage Center (# L.77.9 and # 161.64.80) but soon donated to HCLC. Board minutes of Dec. 8, 1975 include Richard F. Smith's Museum Committee report noting a donation of a "Sheraton armed wing chair commode, used by the Pownall home in nursing Dickinson Gorsuch following Christiana Riot in 1851." Later unsigned note (Bruce Shoemaker?) states John Aungst of LCHS was consulted & chair was removed 11/9/84 from list on LCHS loan form, settling an apparent question of ownership.
