Americana Insights 2023

Americana Insights 2023 edited by Robert Shaw

Americana Insights 2023 offers authoritative scholarship on the evolution of American folk art and material culture from the colonial period through the early twentieth century. This peer-reviewed volume assembles essays by established scholars examining regional artistic practices across New England, the mid-Atlantic, South, and Midwest.

The collection addresses portraiture, decorative furniture, textiles, jewelry, and works on paper with rigorous historical analysis. Featured studies include examinations of colonial revival hooked rugs, the Beardsley Limner's Connecticut portrait practice, Rufus Porter's dual career as artist and entrepreneur, New Hampshire paint-decorated case furniture, incarcerated artisans' cutwork from Eastern State Penitentiary, tavern signage, folk jewelry conventions, Thomas Earl's calligraphic mastery, and nineteenth-century signature quilts. As the sole interdisciplinary publication dedicated exclusively to traditional Americana, this volume provides essential primary and secondary source material for scholars, curators, and serious collectors seeking to deepen their understanding of American material heritage.

Contributors: Deborah M. Child, Pamela and Brian Ehrlich, Cynthia Fowler, Emelie Gevalt, Mark D. Mitchell, Eileen M. Smiles, Laura Fecych Sprague.

Hardcover, 8.5 x 11 inches; 288 pages.