Collections by Name | Collections by Region

American Decorative Arts and Crafts

Utilitarian and decorative objects made for or used in American households form the basis of this collection. The majority of the collections were acquired primarily by donation, dating from ca. 1850, and were made or used by individuals of Western European extraction. The objects are invaluable documents of period fashions, technical processes and uses of materials (some of which are largely unknown today), and the impacts of social, economic, technological, political, and cultural influences on domestic practices and their associated material culture. The collections are important resources for a variety of disciplinary studies, but especially for women's studies, art history, design history, and the history of technology in the United States.

A sub-set of the collection includes objects made primarily by women, who as leisure time in America increased for a growing middle class and as "how-to" craft instruction became distributed through mass media, turned to the decoration of the home. Examples include: shell work, wreaths of feathers, wax-work, or hair; decorative painting and metal work; embroidered and crocheted doilies, tidies and other linens; beaded wall pockets and other beadwork; hooked and woven rugs; fancy knotwork; wooden carvings; and a variety of small household furnishings.

Materials from this collection have been used in long-term installations as well as temporary exhibitions at the MSU Museum, including those on specific ethnic folk arts traditions and, notably, some of the first exhibitions on Michigan folk arts.

Donors and Fieldworkers

Dr. Marsha MacDowell, Dr. C. Kurt Dewhurst, Dr. Julie Avery, Dr. Yvonne Lockwood, Val Berryman, Dr. Daniel Fusfeld, Harriet Fusfeld, Dr. Robert Beseda, Marie Gile

Exhibitions

“Artists in Aprons: Folk Art by American Women,” Michigan State University Museum, 1979. “Michigan Folk Art Its Beginnings to 1941,” Kresge Art Gallery, Michigan State University, August 29 – October 10, 1976. “Weaving History: 19th Century Michigan Coverlet Weavers,” Michigan State University Museum, 1987 – 88. “Arts at the Fair,” Michigan State Fair Grounds Community Arts Building, Detroit, Michigan 1993. “Needlework at the Fair,” Michigan State Fair Grounds Community Arts Building, Detroit, Michigan 1994. “It’s FairTime! Floral Hall,”MSU Museum, October 2000 – June 2001. “A Fascination with Lace,” Michigan State University Museum, April – December 2000 “Fascination with Fiber: Michigan’s Handweaving Heritage,”Michigan State University Museum, March 19 – December 30, 2004.

Publications

C. Kurt Dewhurst, Marsha MacDowell, and Betty MacDowell. Artists in Aprons: Folk Art by American Women. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979.

Julie Avery. Agricultural Fairs in America: Tradition, Education, Celebration. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Museum, 2000.

Paul E. Kindig. Butter Prints and Molds. West Chester, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1986.

C. Kurt Dewhurst and Marsha MacDowell. Michigan Folk Art: Its Beginnings to 1941. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Museum, 1976.

Paper wall pocket, late 19th cen., Whitehall, Michigan

Battenberg lace table mat, c. 1900

Tramp art box, c. 1900