MESDA Collects: Georgia On Our Mind

June 15, 2009

In the past month MESDA has more than doubled the number of Georgia-made objects in its collection.  Many are from the pioneering Georgia decorative arts collections of Florence P. and William Griffin, Georgia natives devoted to the arts of their home state.  MESDA will debut these new acquisitions in a special exhibition opening October 1, 2009. 

“Georgia has always been an important part of the MESDA South.” said Robert Leath, vice president of collections and research and chief curator. “With our acquisitions over the past month MESDA has finally achieved a long-term goal of better representing Georgia’s craftsmen in its collection.”

The earliest known Georgia sampler, a piece of needlework worked by Mary Smallwood (1761 – 1791) in the late 1700s, is among several new objects that have been added to the MESDA’s collection.  Her sampler joins nine other acquisitions, including the Dozier family corner cupboard, made in the 1840s as part of the original furnishings for White Oak Plantation, Oglethorpe County; a watercolor of a painted bunting by early-nineteenth century Georgia naturalist John Abbot (1751 – 1840); and a one-drawer inlaid table made in the 1830s by farmer-cabinetmaker Thomas J. Maxwell (1804 – 1869) for his own family in Elbert County.

These objects join a small but important collection of Georgia objects already at MESDA, including a table made by Salzburger settlers in the 1730s – the earliest known piece of Georgia furniture – and architectural elements from a paneled room erected near Warrenton, Georgia in the late eighteenth century.

MESDA will debut these new acquisitions in an exhibition titled "A Land of Liberty and Plenty": Georgia Decorative Arts, 1733 - 1860 opening October 1 in the G. Wilson Douglas, Jr. Special Exhibition Gallery at the Frank L. Horton Museum Center at Old Salem.  An online version of the exhibit will be available at MESDA.org.