As demand for utility baskets waned, Shakers began looking to new forms. Prevailing Victorian tastes favored frills and surface adornment over good construction. Shaker doctrine, however, forbade them from making items which “are superfluously furnished, trimmed, or ornamented.” By using quality materials and maintaining high standards of craftsmanship, Shakers incorporated decorative details without succumbing to excess.
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.