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This summer during the second week in July, the Society of Deerfield Industries is to hold a very special exhibition. For the past two years the regular annual exhibit has been omitted, war demands leaving very little time for patriotic women to spend at Arts and Crafts. Moreover the high price of materials and the difficulty in obtaining materials at any price has seriously lmited the supply of hand-made products. The shops have been kept open, however, and considering the unusual condi tions, a gratifying amount of sales have been made. Now, as QYY is ness is returning to a more normal state, the demand for the hand woven articles is rapidly increasing and the attention of the Deerfield crafts women quite naturally turns exhibi tionward. Already needles are ply ing and looms are beating on order that this year’s showing shall sur pass all others in the amount and the qualities of its wares, for it is 20 years ago this summer that the first exhibit of handicrafts was held in Old Deerfield. The story runs somewhat in this wise: ‘Twenty, years ago at the time the Arts and Oras Societies were be ing started in all the large cities, a number of public spirited women sug gested to Mrs. Madeline Yale Wynne, who made beautiful jewelry, to Miss Frances and Mary. Allen and Miss Coleman, who took, unusual photo graphs, and to the blacksmith who did wonderful things with iron, and the doctor who, spent his odd mo ments at his work bench, and to some elderly; women who made rag rags and all the other people who made things with their hands that they should gather all these things in one place and hold an exhibition. This was in the summer of 1899, and one morning in August,a large blackboard by the door of the Village room, invited all passers by to come in and see what Deerfield people were doing. It was a remarkable showing. The walls were covered with photo graphs by the Allen sisters and Miss Coleman, embroideries from the So ciety of Blue and White, already es tablished, braided and woven rugs and netting. The shelves were filled with palm-leaf baskets, made by wo men who in their childhood had braided hats. A few daring spirits who had in some degree mastered the difficult weave, had succeeded in con structing scrap-baskets of various shapes and sizes. The floor space was occupied by a bridal chest, wonder fully joined by the Deerfield doctor, a pair of andirons cleverly wrought by the village blacksmith, and a case of beautiful jewelry, the work of Mrs. Wynne’s own hands. Everything in the room represented the thoughtful, conscientious effort of..the contribu tor, and the result was most satis factory. People came in great num bers, they looked and admired, and so many sales were made that the exhibitors felt repaid for their trouble and were eager to do it again. The second year, people at home had prepared more of less work but Mrs. Wynne was very anxious to in terest the girls home for the summer vacation, so she announced that she was ready to form a class in raffia basketry.A great many people join ed the class and in a few weeks the exhibition came off. ‘Raffla baskets proved a hit, not only were they all sold, but they were ordered agaln and renga its PIPA Ie tae eee Ae aa es eats netting had “expanded, and occupied one corner of the room and here all day long Mrs. Henry held groups of listeners spell-bound while she relat ed to them the history of ‘‘moon shine” and “matrimony” 45 applied to intricate designs in testers and counterpanes. At the close of the second exhibit there was a marked change in the at titude of the people. Already the se rious side of the project was pre senting itself. A great many orders had been taken, who was to see that they were properly filled? More or ders would follow, to whom should they come? Questions were coming up every day that must be settled. So it came about that in August, 1901, un meeting of all the Craftsmen and others interested in the’movement was called for the purpose of orga nizing a saciory, Mrs.Madeleing Te Reang Ger cuign elect ed president ie held that “office un til her death in January, 1918, and it is due to Mrs. Wynne’s courage, jus tice, inspiration and tact that the so ciety has been able to keep its ideals, ‘its high standards of workmanship as well as its sound ,business manage ment. ‘ . Twenty years have wrought many changes in the Deerfield exhibition. The Village room no longer holds all that the society has to offer. Each craftswoman (with one or two excep tions) exhibits in her own home, The “Bed Room Corner,” now occupies the beautiful wide hall in Mrs. Hen ry’s house. Long ago Mrs. Ashley proved that the raffia basket had pos sibilities which no one but an artist and a skilled workman could hope to realize,Miss Susan Hawkes has revived the table covers in patterns so curious and quaint one can hardly believe they were not actually taken from great-grandmother's chest. The Allen photographs are too widely known to need more than a reminder that the Misses Allen were charter members of the Deerfield Industries, whose name in order to include them, should be Arts and Industries. Down Albany row, back of the common, Mrs. Stebbins has a new and com plete stock of reed, palm and willow baskets, for which her shop has be come famous. Just beyond in a tiny cabin, Miss Lawrence makes a special ty of bath-mats, table runners and rugs. Mrs. Thorn will have an inter esting collection of hand weaving— plain and in colors—of runners, cov ers and pillow-tops. At the South end at the “Sign of the Loom,” will be found rugs, couch and table cov ers together with the Pocumtuck blankets, for which Miss Arms is making a flattering reputation. Mrs. Mary Childs, on Memorial lane, has the shop for souvenir hunters, post cards, linen threads, curios, small ware and an occasional antique. Mrs. Hyde, at the Doll House, takes us back to Puritan days with her dolls in tableau and picture and story, and the model of the “old Indian house.” It is interesting to note that al most every craft represented in the original exhibit of 1899, will be found expanded and mutiplied in the exhib it of 1919. All will miss the jew elry as well as the iron mongery and cabinet work. From time to time va rious other crafts have drifted into Deerfield to remain for a year or two and then drifted on again. One or two shops are temporarily closed ow ing to war conditions. But to the lover of beautiful and unusual things the Deerfield Industries this year will offer a rare treat, worthy of its tradi tions, worthy of its promise and in every way a fitting memorial to the hopes and aspirations of its founders.
Newspaper Details
Greenfield Gazette and Courier
Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
Sat, Jul 05, 1919
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Lee M.
CT, USA 22 May 2026
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