MESDA Journal
First published in 1975, MESDA's journal, the Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts (JESDA), is considered a pioneer in scholarly publishing on early American material culture. The journal is currently in transition to an electronic-only medium through which it will continue to make new information about southern craftsmen and their products available to scholars and collectors.
An index of articles that have appeared in the print version of JESDA during its four decades of publication on paper can be found below.
1975 MAY, Vol. 1, No. 1
Discover: A Documented Bow Bowl Made for ‘Halifax-Lodge/North Carolina'
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Carved Furniture of the Albemarle: A Tie With Architecture
Frank L.Horton
Further Notes on William Dering, Colonial Virginia Portrait Artist
Carolyn J.Weekley
1975 NOVEMBER, Vol. 1,No. 2
Fraktur in the South, An Itinerant Artist
John Bivins Jr.
G. BURWELL/EDWd.ATTHAWA/1755-London Stone Bottles in Virginia
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Thomas Coram: Charleston Artist
Whaley Batson
1976 MAY, Vol. 1, No. 2
Success to the Tuley’ et.al via Liverpool
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
The Lafayette Medal
Dorothy Welker
Baroque Elements in North Carolina Moravian Furniture
John Bivins Jr.
1976 NOVEMBER, Vol. 2, No. 2
Two Outstanding Virginia Chairs
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
The West Indian Islands—How Close Were They?
Gwynne Stephens Taylor
The Sharrock Family: A Newly Discovered School of Cabinetmakers
Betty Dahill
The Riflemakers of Eighteenth-Century Kentucky
Thomas A. Strohfield
1977 MAY, Vol. 3, No. 1
James Murphree: Virginia Silversmith
Christine D. Minter
American Tin-Glaze: The John Bell Inkstand
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
The MESDA Microfilming Program
Frank L. Horton
1977 NOVEMBER, Vol.3, No.2
For Persons of Fortune Who Have Taste: An Elegant Schoolgirl Embroidery
Betty Ring
A Study of Baroque and Gothic Style Gravestones in Davidson County, NC
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Charles Peale Polk: Gold Profiles on Glass
Whaley Batson
1978 MAY, Vol. 4, No. 1
Fredericksburg-Falmouth Chairs of the Chippendale Period
Ann W. Dibble
Wm. & Geo. Richardson, GOLDSMITHS and JEWELLERS, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Elizabeth Taylor Childs
B. DuVal & Co/Richmond’: A Newly Discovered Pottery
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1978 NOVEMBER, Vol. 4, No. 2
William Little, Cabinetmaker of North Carolina
Frank L. Horton
William John Coffee, Sculptor-Painter—His Southern Experience
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Henry Benbridge: Portraits in Small from Norfolk
Carolyn J.Weekley
1979 MAY, Vol. 5, No.1
John Shearer, Joiner of Martinsburgh
John J. Snyder Jr.
A School of Charleston, South Carolina Brass Andirons, 1780-1815
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1979 NOVEMBER, Vol. 5,No. 2
America’s Earliest Woman Miniaturist
Frank L. Horton
The Arts of Shenandoah County, Virginia, 1770-1825
Wallace B.Gusler
Fraktur in the ‘Dutch Fork’ Area of South Carolina
J. Christian Kolbe and Brent Holcolmb
1980 MAY, Vol. 6, No. 1
Andrew and Robert McKim:Windsor Chair Makers
Giles Cromwell
The Mount Shepherd Pottery: Correlating Archaeology and History
L. McKay Whatley
City Meets the Country: The Work of Peter Eddleman, Cabinetmaker
Luke Beckerdite
1980 NOVEMBER, Vol. 6, No. 2
The Royal Governor’s Chair: Evidence of the Furnishing of South Carolina’s First State House
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
The Johnsons: Chairmaking in Mecklenberg County, Virginia
R. Lewis Wright
1981 MAY, Vol. 7, No. 1
Decorated Family Record Books From the Valley of Virginia
Carolyn J. Weekley
Charleston Textile Imports, 1738-1742
Audrey Michie
The Redwell Ironworks
H.E. Comstock
1981 NOVEMBER, Vol. 7, No. 2
Miles Brewton, Goldsmith
Frank L. Horton
John Drinker, Portrait Painter and Limner
E. Bryding Adams
The Development of Regional Style in the Catawba River Valley: A Further Look
Luke Beckerdite
1982 MAY, Vol. 8, No. 1
Changes in Taste in the Eighteenth Century: A Shift from the Useful to the Ornamental
George C. Rogers, Jr.
The Fashion for Carpets in South Carolina, 1736-1820
Audrey Michie
Key Baskets
R. Lewis Wright
1982 NOVEMBER, Vol . 8, No. 2
William Buckland and William Bernard Sears: The Designer and the Carver
Luke Beckerdite
William Buckland Reconsidered: Architectural Carving in Chesapeake Maryland, 1771-1774
Luke Beckerdite
1983 MAY, Vol. 9, No. 1
Daniel Cannon: A Revolutionary ‘Mechanick’ in Charleston
Rosemary Niner Estes
John Gaither, Silversmith
Catherine B. Hollan
1983 NOVEMBER, Vol. 9, No. 2
The Consumption of Delftware in Kent County, Maryland, 1740-1780
Gloria Seaman Allen
Style and Technology Shifts in One Virginia Shop
Luke Beckerdite
1984 MAY, Vol. 10, No. 1
The Eastern Shore Virginia Raised-panel ‘Court Cupboard’
Melchor, Lohr and Melchor
Connecticut Influence on North Carolina Stoneware: The Webster School of Potters
Quincy Scarborough
1984 NOVEMBER, Vol. 10,No. 2
A Virginia Cabinetmaker: The Eventon Shop and Related Work
Luke Beckerdite
Virginia Landscapes by William Roberts
Barbara C. Batson
1985 MAY, Vol. 11, No. 1
‘I.O.G.’: Silversmith of Georgetown, D.C.
Catherine D. Hollan
Issac Zane and the Products of Marlboro Furnace
John Bivins Jr.
1985 NOVEMBER, Vol. 11, No. 2
An Assessment of English Furniture Imports Into Charleston, South Carolina, 1760-1800
M. Allison Carll
Upholstery in all its Branches: Charleston, 1725-1820
Audrey H. Michie
1986 MAY, Vol. 12, No. 1
Analysis of an Enigma
James R. and Marilyn S. Melchor
A Problem of Identification: Philadelphia and Baltimore Furniture Styles in the Eighteenth Century
Luke Beckerdite
1986 NOVEMBER, Vol. 12, No. 2
Charleston Rococo Interiors, 1765-1775: The ‘Sommers’ Carver
John Bivins Jr.
1987 MAY, Vol. 13, No. 1
The Pages and Rosewell
Betty Crowe Leviner
Precious Artifacts: Women’s Jewelry in the Chesapeake, 1750-1799
M.J. Gibbs
1987 NOVEMBER, Vol. 13, No. 2
William Hill and the Aera Ironworks
Thomas Cowan
‘A Large and Elegant Assortment’: A Group of Baltimore Tall Clocks,
1795-1815
Jane Webb Smith
1988 MAY, Vol. 14, No. 1
Four Mecklenberg County, North Carolina Chairs: An Examination of Style and Technology
Dale L. Couch
William Byrd and His Portrait Collection
David Meschutt
1988 NOVEMBER, Vol. 14, Nol 2
The Neoclassical Dining Room in Charleston
James C. Jordan, III
‘Clothes for the People’ - Slave Clothing in Early Virginia
Linda Baumgarten
1989 MAY, Vol. 15, No. 1
The History of the Cupola House, 1724-1777
Bruce S. Cheeseman
The Cupola House: An Anachronism of Style and Technology
John Bivins, James Melchor, Marilyn Melchor, and Richard Parsons
1989 NOVEMBER, Vol. 15, No. 2
Cabinet Warehousing in the Southern Atlantic Ports, 1783-1820
Forsyth M. Alexander
A Catalog of Northern Furniture With Southern Provenances
John Bivins Jr.
‘Plain and Handsome’: Documented Furnishings at Mordecai House, 1780-1830
Kenneth Joel Zogry
1990 MAY, Vol. 16, No. 1
John Blake White: An Introduction
Mary Ellen Turner
Coffin Making and Undertaking in Charleston and its Environs, 1705-1820
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1990 NOVEMBER, Vol. 16, No. 2
The Changing York County, South Carolina Tombstone Business, 1750-1820
Wade B. Fairey
‘The First Effort of an Infant Hand’: An Introduction to Virginia Schoolgirl Embroideries, 1742-1850
Kimberly A. Smith
1991 MAY, Vol. 17, No. 1
Andrew Duche: A Potter ‘a Little Too Much Addicted to Politicks’
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Other Savannah River Potters, 1736-1814
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1991 NOVEMBER, Vol. 17, No. 2
John Bartlam,Who Established ‘new Pottworks in South Carolina’ and Became the First Successful Creamware Potter in America
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
'A Clay White as Lime....of Which There is a Design Formed by some Gentlemen to Make China’: The American and English Search for Cherokee Clay in South Carolina, 1745-75
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Escape from Bartlam: The History of William Ellis of Hanley
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Brick and Tile Manufacturing in the South Carolina Low Country
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Ceramic Menders and Decorators in Charleston, South Carolina Before 1820
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1992 MAY, Vol. 18, No. 1
A Cultural Analysis of Furniture-making in Petersburg, Virginia, 1760- 1820
Jonathan Prown
1992 NOVEMBER, Vol, 18, No. 2
The ‘Strong and Striking’ Likenesses of William J.Weaver (c. 1759-1817) - An Introduction
D. Schweizer
Reconsidering Charleston Brass Andirons Tyles II & III: An Essay on the Use of Theory Replacement in Material Culture
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Fredericksburg Clock Cases, 1765-1825
John Prown, Ronald Hurst, and Sumpter Priddy, III
1993 MAY, Vol. 19, No. 1
Foodways of the Albemarle Region: ‘Indulgent Nature Makes Up for Every Want
Nancy Carter Crump
1993 NOVEMBER, Vol. 19, No. 2
Rosewell Revisited
Betty Crowe Leviner
1994 MAY, Vol. 20, No. 1
That They May Long Remember Me....Henry Lammond, Cabinetmaker from Edinburg, North Bitten
Robert F. Doares
The Wheeler House in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, 1809-1832: Insights From Documentary Research
Audrey H.Michie
1994 NOVEMBER, Vol. 20, No. 2
American Vernacular Furniture and the North Carolina Backcountry
Michael H. Lewis
Timber Available in Charleston, 1660-1820
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1995 SUMMER, Volume 21, No. 1
Charleston’s Drawing Master Bernard Albrecht Moll and the South Carolina Expedition of Emperor Joseph II of Austria
Helene M. Kastinger Riley
Research Note: New Discoveries in a Piedmont North Carolina Cheston-Frame Group
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
1996 WINTER, Volume 21, No. 2
The Colonial Potters of Tidewater Virginia
Beverly A. Straube
An Archaeological Perspective on Alexandria’s Pottery Tradition
Barbara H. Magid
The Lowndes Stoneware Pottery of Petersburg, Virginia
Charles E. Umstott
Exploring Western Virginia Potteries
Kurt C. Russ
Research Note: The Martin’s Hundred Potter: English North America’s Earliest Known Master of His Trade
H. McCartney
1996 SUMMER, Volume 22, No. 1
Guy Atkinson and the Itinerant Artists of Fairfax Street, Alexandria
Mona L. Dearborn
Furniture of the North Carolina Roanoke River Basin in the Collection of Historic Hope Foundation
John Bivins Jr.
The Virginia Career of Jacob Marling
J. Christian Kolbe and Lyndon H. Hart, III
1997 WINTER, Volume 22, No. 2
The Southern Porcelain Company of Kaolin, South Carolina: A Reassessment
J. Garrison Stradling
‘At Elk Ridge Furneis As You See, William Williams He Mad Me’: The Story of an Eighteenth-Century Maryland Iron Furnace
Ronald W. Fuchs, II
1997 SUMMER, Volume 23, No. 1
‘A Most Favorable and Striking Resemblance’: The Virginia Portraits of Cephas Thompson
Deborah L. Sisum
1998 WINTER, Volume 23, No. 2
That Article of Household Furniture Peculiar to Earlier Days in the South: Sugar Chests in Middle Tennessee and Central Kentucky, 1800-1835
Anne S. McPherson
1998 SUMMER, Vol. 24, No.1
Robert Wellford, Composition Ornament Maker of Philadelphia: His Work in the Southeast
Mark Reinberger
2001 SUMMER, Volume 27, No. 1
Frank L. Horton and the Roads to MESDA
Penelope Niven
2002 WINTER, Volume 27, No. 2
Such Luxuries as Sofas: An Introduction to North Carolina Moravian Upholstered Furniture
Johanna M. Brown
Willis Cowling (1788-1828) Richmond Cabinetmaker
J. Christian Kolbe
2002 SUMMER, Volume 28, No. 1
Greeking the Southside: Style and Meaning at James C. Bruce’s Berry Hill Plantation House
Clifton Ellis
Collection of Essays by John Bivins, Jr: The Luminary Editorials
John Bivins Jr.
2003 WINTER, Volume 28, No. 2
Joseph-Pierre Picot de Limoëlan de Clorivière: A Portrait Miniaturist Revisited
Stephen C.Worsley
2003 SUMMER, Volume 29, No. 1
Evidence for the Apprenticeship System in Charleston, South Carolina
Bradford L. Rauschenberg
Decorative Arts Guide to the Records of the Auditor of Public Accounts in The Library of Virginia
J. Christian Kolbe
2004 WINTER, Volume 29, No. 2
Benjamin Hawkins and the Creek Indians: A Study in Jefferson’s Assimilation Policy
Martha R. Severens and Kathleen Staples
Usesful, Ornamental, or Necessary in this Province’: The Textile Inventory of John Dart, 1754
Kathleen Staples
2004 SUMMER, Volume 30, No. 1
Rugs—The Colonial Chesapeake Consumer’s Bed Covering of Choice
Gloria Seaman Allen
2005 WINTER, Volume 31, No. 2
2006 WINTER, Volume 32, Nos. 1 & 2
Fancy and Fine, Plain and Simple: Furniture in Columbia and Richland County, South Carolina, 1800-1860
John Sherrer
The Society of Journeymen Cabinet Makers of Richmond, Virginia
J. Christian Kolbe
Silver and Gold: A Pair of Officer's Swords Marked by Thomas and Andrew Ellicott Warner of Baltimore
Gary Albert
Stony Creek Fraktur Artist Identified
H.E. Comstock
Samplers of the Carolina Piedmont: The Presbyterian Connection and the Bethel Group
Patricia V. Veasey
Two Early-Nineteenth-Century Bedcovers with Salem, North Carolina, Connections
Laurel Horton
