Litchfield County Furniture and Furniture Makers, 1780-1830

Exhibition Lecture Series

The Litchfield Historical Society will present a four part lecture series as part of the society’s year-long celebration of Litchfield County Furniture and Furniture makers. All lectures will begin at 5:30 at St. Michaels Church House, 25 South Street in Litchfield. The society will hold a reception at the museum following each lecture.

The series will begin on Friday May 9th when Thomas Kugelman presents “Collecting Connecticut Antiques Today.”


Thomas P. Kugelman is co-author with his wife, Alice K Kugelman, and furniture consultant Robert Lionetti, of the encyclopedic volume, “Connecticut Valley Furniture: Eliphalet Chapin and his Contemporaries 1750-1800,” recently published by the Connecticut Historical Society. The Kugelmans were also co-curators of the highly acclaimed 2016 exhibition by the same name, seen at the Concord Museum and in Hartford. They are lifelong collectors and independent furniture scholars who, in 1990, created the Hartford Case Furniture Survey, a long-term, open-ended project to learn about the region’s eighteenth-century cabinetmakers, how to identify their work, and its importance as part of the rich cultural heritage of the Connecticut valley.

The reception following this lecture is sponsored by the Hog River Journal

The lecture series is designed to complement the Litchfield Historical Society’s latest exhibition, To Please Any Taste: Litchfield County Furniture and Furniture Makers, 1780-1830. This exhibit not only focuses on identifying style, construction techniques, and regional attributes, but also interprets the furniture as a reflection of th economic and social changes in Litchfield County during the decades from 1780-1830.

The next lecture will be May 16th with William Hosley speaking on Hartford’s Role in the Origins of Antique Collecting in America. On Friday May 30th, Lynne Brickley will offer: Litchfield’s Colonial Revival Collectors and Dealers. The series concludes on June 6th with Briann Greenfield who will speak on Jewish Antique Dealers in New England.

The exhibition includes over thirty examples of Litchfield County furniture. In addition to pieces from the Litchfield Historical Society’s collection, furniture from the Yale University Art Museum, Connecticut Historical Society, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford Steam Boiler an AIG Company, Connecticut Landmarks, Salisbury Association, Torrington Historical Society, and Winterthur as well as pieces from private lenders will be showcased in the exhibition.

The exhibit will be on display from April 19 through November 30, 2018. An exhibition catalog and CD database will accompany the show. Please call the Litchfield Historical Society at 860-567-4501 for further information or to be added to our email list. Check the Society’s Web site, www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org, for more information on upcoming programs and events.