Americana Insights

Happy National Connecticut Day!

This portrait of General Samuel McClellan was done by the artist Winthrop Chandler (1747–1790) in Woodstock, Connecticut. Chandler was an American portrait and ornamental painter active in late-eighteenth-century New England. Born on his family’s farm on Chandler Hill along the Connecticut–Massachusetts border, Chandler became known primarily for portraits of family members, neighbors, and other local residents. His approximately fifty known portraits are distinguished by their flat, linear style and direct, realistic treatment of his sitters.

In addition to portraiture, Chandler worked as a landscape, house, and ornamental painter, producing decorative landscapes influenced by English prints and the New England environment. His broad range of skills—including gilding, carving, and illustration—suggests that he may have been trained as an artisan-painter. Although he struggled financially throughout his life, Chandler’s work has come to be recognized as an important example of eighteenth-century American folk painting.

What are your favorite artists, folk art objects, or pieces of Americana from Connecticut?

Image 📸: Winthrop Chandler (1747–1790), Portrait of General Samuel McClellan, Woodstock Connecticut, c. 1780–1800. Oil on canvas. Winterthur Museum, gift of the Michael Miller Family, 2004.0067.001A

The Yale University Art Gallery invites visitors to explore how artists and makers shaped the enduring memory of the American Revolution in "Keeping Alive the Remembrance: Commemorating America's Founding, 1776–1876." Created in honor of America's 250th anniversary, this compelling exhibition brings together paintings, quilts, documents, prints, currency, and decorative arts produced during the nation's first hundred years.⁠

Featuring works by celebrated artists such as John Trumbull and Edward Hicks alongside remarkable historic objects, the exhibition offers a fascinating look at how the ideals, people, and events of 1776 were remembered, interpreted, and celebrated for generations. On view through October 11, 2026, this is an inspiring opportunity to experience the visual legacy of America's first century.

🔗 For more information, please visit the museum's website: https://artgallery.yale.edu/exhibitions/exhibition/keeping-alive-remembrance-commemorating-americas-founding-1776-1876

Image 📸: Quilt, probably made in Philadelphia, ca. 1870. Red, white, blue, beige, printed on solid calico and white cotton. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of the Joel E. and Carole Bernstein Family Collection

Across centuries, furniture has brought Long Islanders into contact with each other and the world beyond their shores. Incorporating 40 objects ranging from high-style chests to everyday seating furniture, "Wood and Water," now on view at Preservation Long Island’s exhibition gallery, offers a rich cross-section of Long Island society before the Civil War. This exhibition interprets the region’s unsung craftspeople—Quaker clockmakers, enslaved and free Black makers, women upholsterers, Dutch turners, and Indigenous weavers—alongside the furniture they used and crafted.

From the workshop to the domestic sphere, furniture connected Long Islanders as they navigated a shifting social and political landscape during New York’s rise to global prominence. Organized in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Wood and Water continues Preservation Long Island’s mission to promote the region’s role in American history and the decorative arts.

🔗 The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog to be released this fall. "Wood and Water" is on view from July 2–November 22, 2026, Thursdays–Sundays, 12:00–5:00pm at the Preservation Long Island Exhibition Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. For more information, please visit preservationlongisland.org.

Image[s] 📸: Kas, Oyster Bay, New York, c. 1740-70. Cherry, pine, oak, replacement brass, 74 1⁄4 x 65 1⁄4 x 22 1⁄4 in. Preservation Long Island purchase, 1975.7; Side chair by Adam Mott III (1734–1790), North Hempstead, New York, 1768. Walnut, wool, 36 1⁄2 x 20 1⁄4 x 19 3⁄4 in. Preservation Long Island, gift of Fred Hicks, 2003.16; Miniature bureau by Edwin Peter Brown (1813–1892), Made at Sea, c. 1833–50. Mahogany, mahogany veneer, pine, whale bone, 8 3⁄4 x 10 1⁄2 x 5 1⁄4 in. Collection of Oysterponds Historical Society, 1998.237; Close-stool chair by Carman Smith (1801–1877), Huntington, New York, c. 1852. Unidentified wood, paint, varnish, metallic powder, 40 x 22 1⁄2 x 17 in. Nassau County Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums, 84.2.144

Rudolph Drach (1770–1842) worked as a potter in Bedminster Township, Bucks County, in the 1790s. By 1800, he had moved to Hamilton Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where he is listed in the US Federal Census. This area is now part of Hamilton Square, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. There he built a large stone house that still stands today. In 1809, Rudolph Drach and his wife appear as baptismal sponsors in the records of Christ Hamilton Lutheran Church in Stroudsburg; Drach was buried there after his death in 1842.

One signed dish by Rudolph Drach is known, dated 1792 and inscribed with
his location of Bedminster Township. He also signed another dish “Drach” and dated it 1798. Another firmly attributable dish was made for his daughter, Lusiana Trach, in 1826. Other dishes can be attributed to Drach based on these examples, including an unusual octagonal-shape dish dated 1796.

🔗 To discover more examples from Pennsylvania German potters, pick up your copy of Americana Insights 2025 today by visiting the link in our bio or on our website at americanainsights.org!

📸 Dish, Rudolph Drach (1770–1842), Bedminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1792. Lead-glazed earthenware. Art Institute of Chicago, 1907.122

Inscribed: “Rudolf drach / hefner in bädmin / ster / daùnschib / 1792 (translation): “Rudolf Drach / potter in Bedminster / Township / 1792.”

The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) invites scholars, collectors, curators, and enthusiasts to register for "Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity," taking place September 18–19, 2026, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with both in-person and virtual attendance options available.

Timed to coincide with America's 250th anniversary, this two-day seminar explores how colonial and early American artists used portraiture, landscape, color, and technique to document a nation in transition and shape a distinctly American identity. Featuring a keynote by Laura Barry of Colonial Williamsburg, expert lectures, exclusive study gallery access, and optional workshops, this promises to be an unforgettable opportunity to engage with new scholarship on early American painting.

🔗 Space is limited—register today and join MESDA for an inspiring weekend of art, history, and discovery. For more information, please visit the seminar registration page: https://mesda.org/program/paintings-seminar/

Image 📸: Elizabeth (Paisley) Gibson, Guilford Limner, Guilford County, North Carolina, 1827, watercolor on paper, ink, Gift of Alice Fitzgibbon (5642.2)

Discover the remarkable women whose courage, resilience, and determination helped shape the American Revolution. "Revolutionary Women," now on view at the New-York Historical, challenges familiar narratives by placing women at the center of the nation's founding story through letters, paintings, archaeological discoveries, household objects, and other rarely seen artifacts.

From loyalists and patriots to camp followers, entrepreneurs, and women who navigated the hardships of war, the exhibition reveals the many ways they influenced the political, social, and economic transformation of a new nation. As America commemorates its 250th anniversary, "Revolutionary Women" offers a compelling opportunity to experience the Revolution through fresh perspectives and groundbreaking scholarship.

🔗 For more information, please visit the museum's website: https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/revolutionary-women

Image 📸: Unidentified artist, Excelsior, last quarter of the 18th century. Oil on linen. The New York Historical, X.731

Is your museum, historical society, gallery, or organization hosting an upcoming exhibition, lecture, symposium, antiques show, book event, or other program related to Americana, folk art, decorative arts, material culture, or history? We love to help spread the word about these opportunities through the On Now section of the Americana Insights website and our monthly newsletter.

We also welcome newsworthy announcements, including significant acquisitions, publications, exhibitions, research projects, awards, and other developments of interest to the Americana community. To be considered, please email [email protected] with a brief description, relevant dates, website links, and high-quality images.

Through Americana Insights, we strive to connect collectors, museums, scholars, dealers, and enthusiasts by highlighting exhibitions, events, and new research that deepen our understanding of American folk art and material culture from the Colonial period through the early twentieth century.

🔗 While you're visiting our website, be sure to explore the Resources section, where you'll find a growing directory of museums, libraries, historical societies, and organizations with collections of American folk art, decorative arts, Americana, and related archival materials. We encourage everyone to visit, support, and engage with these outstanding institutions.

📸Image: Scenic Overmantel by Winthrop Chandler (1747–1790),
Petersham, Massachusetts, c. 1780. Oil on pine panel with beveled edges, 29 1/4 x 47 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. American Folk Art Museum, Gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2013.1.20

Discover how folk art helped shape the story of modern art in the United States. American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, now on view at the Museum of Modern Art, reunites nearly 50 remarkable works from Rockefeller's pioneering collection for the first time in more than 70 years. Featuring painted portraits, weathervanes, theorem paintings, fraktur, wooden toys, and Edward Hicks's iconic The Peaceable Kingdom, the exhibition explores the enduring dialogue between self-taught makers and modern artists.

Organized in collaboration with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as part of the nation's 250th anniversary, this exhibition offers a fresh perspective on the artistic traditions that have defined American culture. On view through August 9, 2026.

📸Image: Joseph Pickett. Manchester Valley. 1914-18?. Oil with sand on canvas, 45 1/2 x 60 5/8″ (115.4 x 153.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Happy National Pennsylvania Day!

The state is home to many types of decorative arts, Americana, and folk art—among them the beautiful work made by potters throughout the 18th- and-19th-centuries. This ornately decorated dish was made by the "Eight-Pointed-Star" artist, an unidentified craftsperson making redware in the first quarter of the 19th century. They are among a list of artists from Pennsylvania whose works survive, but their names do not. Titles given to some of these people include the Compass Artist, the Bucker Box Artist, the Ehre Vater Artist, and now the Eight-Pointed-Star Artist, whose work was formerly attributed to Solomon Grim (1787–1827).

Pennsylvania was the home of many fascinating artists and craftspeople that have made the state's material culture a vibrant part of early American history. Who is your favorite Pennsylvania artist?

🔗 For more information on the Eight-Pointed-Star Artist and other Pennsylvania German redware potters, purchase your copy of Americana Insights 2025 at the link in our bio or go to our website at: americanainsights.org

📸 Image: Dish, attributed to the Eight- Pointed-Star Artist (formerly Solomon Grim), probably Northumberland or Union County, Pennsylvania, 1824. Lead-glazed earthenware, Diam. 9 7⁄8 in. Collection of Robert and Katharine Booth (Photo: Michael E. Myers)

Delicate stitches tell powerful stories in "On Point: Needlework from the Garthwaite Family Collection" at Shelburne Museum. Showcasing extraordinary examples of 19th-century Vermont schoolgirl needlework—including samplers, silk embroideries, memorials, family registers, theorem paintings, and sewing boxes—the exhibition explores the artistry, education, and lived experiences of the young women who created these remarkable works. Drawn from the exceptional Garthwaite Family Collection alongside treasures from the museum's permanent holdings, the exhibition highlights new scholarship on women's education and material culture in Vermont and the Connecticut River Valley.

A must-see for enthusiasts of textiles, decorative arts, and American history, On Point offers an intimate look at how needle and thread preserved stories of family, community, and creativity for generations.

🔗 For more information, please visit the museum's website: https://shelburnemuseum.org/exhibition/on-point-needlework-from-the-garthwaite-family-collection/

Image📸: Detail from Memorial Sampler made by Elmina Clarinda Walker,, 1818. Silk on silk ground, 20 1/8 x 24 1/8 in. Garthwaite Family Collection. Photography by And Duback.