Small Shaker storage box with traces of bittersweet paint. Inside lid with inscription. 'From Hannah Williams 1874'. American, mid to late 19th century.
Provenance: Estate of Faith and Edward Deming Andrews.
H 1-5/8 in. W 3-3/4 in. D 2-1/2 in.
Faith and Edward Deming Andrews are widely regarded as foundational figures in the scholarship of Shaker furniture. Working from the 1920s through the mid-twentieth century, they were among the first to document, interpret, and systematically collect Shaker material culture as a coherent aesthetic and religious expression rather than as isolated vernacular craft. The Andrews collection, assembled through decades of field research in surviving Shaker communities, became one of the most important early archives of Shaker domestic furnishings and continues to underpin major institutional holdings and interpretive frameworks in American decorative arts.

Key museums and historic institutions holding significant Shaker from the Andrews collection include The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Winterthur Museum, Hancock Shaker Village, and the American Museum in Bath.

In addition to their landmark study Shaker Furniture: The Craftsmanship of an American Communal Sect, Faith and Edward Deming Andrews produced a substantial body of scholarship on Shaker material culture, including Religion in Wood: A Book of Shaker Furniture, Masterpieces of Shaker Furniture, and The Community Industries of the Shakers. These works collectively helped define the field of Shaker studies and remain standard references for the interpretation of Shaker furniture, craft, and religious life.