New York’s Shaker Museum has revealed renderings of its forthcoming $18 million permanent home in the Hudson Valley village of Chatham. Once complete, the museum will house an expansive collection of objects, archival materials, and, of course, furniture, associated with the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, a nontrinitarian, restorationist Christian sect more commonly known as the Shakers. The museum’s collection, viewable online but currently in storage and physically out of public view for over a decade, is the most comprehensive assemblage of materials dedicated to the Shaker movement in the world.
Read the full article in The Architect’s Newspaper here.
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.