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Shaker Museum

Arm chair attributed to Sister Lillian Barlow or Brother William Perkins, South Family, Mount Lebanon, NY. By the beginning of the 20th century, Sister Lillian ran the Mt. Lebanon Woodworking Co. alongside Brother William.

A wooden chair with a woven seat.

Clamping and Gluing Table, Second Family, Mount Lebanon, NY, ca. 1910.

An old wooden workbench with a green top.

The Shaker chair workshop, Second Family, Mount Lebanon, NY, 1940. The clamping and gluing bench is in front.

A black and white photo of a woodworking shop.

The Shaker chair workshop, Second Family, Mount Lebanon, NY, 1940. Sister Lillian places a back post in a lathe for it to be shaped.

An old black and white photo of a woman working on a lathe.

The Shaker chair workshop, Second Family, Mount Lebanon, NY, 1940. Sister Lillian shows how she used turning chisels to shape the finial at the top of the back post while it is in the lathe.

An old black and white photo of a woman working in a workshop.

The Shaker chair workshop, Second Family, Mount Lebanon, NY, 1940. Sister Lillian is standing at a drill press to drill the holes in chair legs for the tenons of chair rungs.

An old photo of a woman working in a factory.

The Shaker chair workshop, Second Family, Mount Lebanon, NY, 1940. Sister Lillian is working at a bandsaw demonstrating how she cut pieces for arms and back slats prior to shaping them into their final form.

An old black and white photo of a woman working in a factory.
A wooden chair with a woven seat. An old wooden workbench with a green top. A black and white photo of a woodworking shop. An old black and white photo of a woman working on a lathe. An old black and white photo of a woman working in a workshop. An old photo of a woman working in a factory. An old black and white photo of a woman working in a factory.

Sister Lillian Barlow (1876–1942)

Break every yoke: Shakers, gender equality, and women’s suffrage (2017)

Online Exhibition

The Chair Industry 1920-1940

The South and Second Families at Mount Lebanon, NY, had been famous for their chairs, but as male workers and managers became less available and orders were on the decline, two women became largely responsible for supplying chairs to people who wanted them. Sarah Collins continued to weave the webbed seats for chairs made in the chair shop by Sister Lillian Barlow and Brother William Perkins, and by Barlow alone after Perkins’s death.

Sharon Koomler

Collections Manager

Sharon Duane Koomler is a Shaker scholar and traditional letterpress printer living in upstate New York. She has academic degrees in American Folklore from Indiana University and Western Kentucky University. Sharon has worked at Shaker Museums from Kentucky to New Hampshire as an educator, curator, consultant, and director. She has written and published on Shaker material culture and spirituality, and lectured widely on Shaker art, life, and belief. Sharon has a particular interest in the under-researched social aspects of Shaker life and ways in which Shakers practiced inclusion and intentionality.