Southern Furniture & American Identity

 

Southern Furniture & American Identity
A MESDA Furniture Seminar
October 23-24, 2026
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

 

Please save the date for our Furniture Seminar in 2026! Further details to be communicated soon.

Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity

 

September 18-19, 2026
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

 

Please save the date for our Paintings Seminar in 2026! Further details to be communicated soon.

Design Seminar

MESDA Design Seminar

May 1-2, 2026

 

Please save the date for our Design Seminar in 2026! Further details to be communicated soon. 

Annual Ceramics Conference Collaboration with Colonial Williamsburg

Annual Ceramics Conference in Collaboration with Colonial Williamsburg
June 4-6, 2026

The annual Ceramics Symposium, held jointly with Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, explores ceramics through research, scholarship, and collaboration among curators, scholars, archaeologists, potters, and collectors.

The next iteration of this conference will be held June 4-6, 2026 at Colonial Williamsburg. To learn more, please click here.

Stars, Stripes, & Stitches: Textiles & American Identity

 

Stars, Stripes, & Stitches: Textiles & American Identity
March 20-21, 2026
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Textiles function as utilitarian, decorative, and documentary objects, often sharing the maker’s values, aspirations, and personal history. As we commemorate America’s semiquincentennial, this seminar will explore the ways that women in the colonial and early American periods created textiles—particularly quilts, needlework, and woven baskets—to reflect and create a burgeoning American identity. 

Please plan to join us in Winston-Salem or online for this two day seminar. Participants will engage in two days of lectures, including a keynote address by Alden O’Brien, as well as opportunities to participate in pre-conference workshops and an open house of textiles in MESDA’s study galleries.

REGISTRATION (Open Now!)

Please register using the links below or call 336-721-7328 to register over the phone. 

Conference Registration $300.00 | $290.00 Society Level Members*
Registration includes a pastry breakfast, lunch, keynote reception, and access to the lecture recordings.
Needlework Tour Add On Sold Out! Please contact Melissa Bertram ([email protected] or 336-721-7328) to join the waitlist. $50.00 
Quilt Turning Add On Sold Out! Please contact Melissa Bertram ([email protected] or 336-721-7328) to join the waitlist. $75.00 
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Looking for the Pattern Coverlet Workshop Add On $50.00
Margaret’s Holdall Needlework Workshop Add On
In order to acquire materials in time for the workshop, registration for this workshop will close on December 1, 2025. 		 $150.00
Virtual Ticket Suggested donation
Registration includes access to a live zoom link the days of the conference and limited time access to the lectures for two months.

 

ADD-ONS AND WORKSHOPS: Friday, March 20, 2026

 

Pictured: Sampler, Ann Clair Tinges, Baltimore, Maryland, 1798, Gift of Mr. Philip Hanes, et al in memory of Mrs. Howard Gray.
Join Adjunct Curator of Textiles, Jenny Garwood, for an hour-long exploration of MESDA’s needlework collection, featuring recent acquisitions.

 
 

 

Pictured: Album quilt, E.C. Deckel, Baltimore, Maryland, 1848, Gift of Bridget and Al Ritter.

  

Get up close with a stack of MESDA’s quilt treasures. MESDA curators Lea Lane and Jenny Garwood will lead a lively discussion as we explore these many-layered textiles. 

 
 

 
 

Pictured: Coverlet, Possibly Salem, North Carolina, 1820-1860, Gift of Mrs. Blevins Vogler Baldwin.

 Join Cassie Dickson, a traditional pattern coverlet weaver, for a fascinating workshop on coverlet patterns. The four-harness overshot coverlet has a limitless number of ways to create patterns. By understanding the individual motifs that group together within any given pattern, you can train your eye to identify what makes up the overall design. This workshop is an opportunity for weavers and non-weavers alike to gain a deeper understanding of the overshot coverlet. 

Pictured: Sampler, Margaret Mutter, Granville County, North Carolina, 1793, Nancy James Purchase Fund.

 Join Cissy Bailey Smith of Gentle Pursuit Designs for an hour and a half long needlework workshop. During the workshop, participants will receive a kit, and Cissy will teach a pin wheel and sewing case based off of Margaret Mutter’s sampler. The sewing case will be self-lined, 7 inches wide, 4 inches high with a wool needle page and an inner pocket that the heart pinwheel can be tucked into. The pocket will be large enough for embroidery scissors and thread.  Included in the kit will also be the sampler chart for the Mutter sampler. The kit will be 40 count linen. Please click here to view larger images of the needlebook project.

In order to acquire materials in time for the workshop, registration for this workshop will close on December 1, 2025.

 

SPEAKERS

Alden O’Brien, Curator of Costume and Textiles, DAR Museum

Johanna Brown, Chief Curator, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Jenny Garwood, Adjunct Curator of Textiles, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Martha Hartley, Director of Moravian Research, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Lea Lane, Curator of the MESDA Collection, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Matthew Monk, Linda Eaton Associate Curator of Textiles, Winterthur Museum

Tessa Payer, Assistant Curator of Textiles and Historic Dress, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Dr. Hayley Salo, Senior Lecturer, University of Louisville

Kathy Staples, Independent Scholar

Alicia Thomas, Executive Director, Virginia Quilt Museum

Emily Wells, PhD Candidate, College of William and Mary

 

 

SCHEDULE

Friday, March 20

10:00 am Needlework Tour with Jenny Garwood at MESDA
1-2:00 pm Quilt turning with Lea Lane and Jenny Garwood at MESDA
2:30-3:30 pm Finding the Pattern Coverlet Workshop with Cassie Dickson at MESDA
2:30-4:00 pm Margaret Mutter Needlework Workshop with Cissy Bailey Smith in the Wachovia Room
5:15 pm Opening Reception
6:30 pm  Keynote: Alden O’Brien

Saturday, March 21

8:30 am Breakfast
9:15 am Johanna Brown, Welcome & New to the Collection
9:35 am Alicia Thomas, Stitching Together History: The Virginia Quilt Museum’s Commemoration of the Semiquincentennial
10:10 am Tessa Payer, “1876 pieces of calico”: Commemoration and Centennial Quilts
10:35 am Break
11:00 am Lea Lane, Southern Comforters: Quilts and Coverlets from the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
11:25 am Emily Wells, “We sat at our works and each read out by turn”: Sewing, Sociability, and Sisterhood in Nineteenth-Century Delaware
11:50 am Lunch
1:00 pm Hayley Salo: Tense Threads: The Culture and Labour of Embroidery at Valley Town Mission School
1:25 pm Johanna Brown, Cherokee Girls at Salem and Their Needlework
2:00 pm Martha Hartley, Cherokee Baskets in the Old Salem Collection
2:20 pm Matthew Monk, Double Woven: Cherokee Rivercane Basket Collecting and Cultural Continuity, 1690-1950
2:55 pm Break
3:15 pm Jenny Garwood, Louisa H. Roger’s 1824 Asheville Sampler
Sponsored by Brunk Auctions
3:45 pm Kathy Staples, From Family Record to Legal Document: The National Archives’ Embroidered Samplers
4:25 pm MESDA Open House

 

NOTE: This program and schedule is subject to amendment. 

_

PROGRAM PRESENTED BY:

 

WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT PROVIDED BY:

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

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The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts is one of the museums at Old Salem Museums & Gardens.  MESDA is located in the Frank L. Horton Museum Center at 924 S. Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC  27101.  Seminar lectures will take place in the James A. Gray Auditorium at the Old Salem Visitor Center at 900 Old Salem Road, Winston-Salem, NC  27101.

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Seminar Hotels:

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Fairfield Inn & Suites Winston-Salem Downtown
125 South Main St
Winston-Salem, NC  27101
1-336-714-2800
Group Name: MESDA Textiles Seminar March 2026
Last day to book: February 17  
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Other recommended hotels:

  
The Zevely Inn Bed and Breakfast
803 South Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC  27101
1-336-748-9299		  
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CANCELLATION POLICY

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Registrants who cancel at least two weeks prior to a program will receive a full refund minus a $50 handling fee.  No refunds will be given for cancellations that occur less than two weeks prior to the event.
–

INCLEMENT WEATHER

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The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts follows the inclement weather policies of Old Salem Museums & Gardens.  When OSMG is closed, the museum is closed as well.  Should this occur, the seminar will be cancelled and refunds will be issued.  For your own protection, please consider travel insurance to cover fees involved with cancelling hotel reservations.
Map Seminar: Mapping American Expansion

Map Seminar
Mapping American Expansion

A Map of the British Empire in America, Henry Popple, Cartographer, London, Great Britain, 1733, Hand-colored engraving, Library Purchase Fund (Acc. 4206).

October 31-November 1, 2025

As a young nation emerged, Americans quickly turned their attention to the West, continuing to expand westward in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the Louisiana Purchase, Mexican Cession, and other land deals. As they did so, they utilized maps to chart their course and realize their vision of an expanded America.  

Please plan to join us in Winston-Salem or online for a two-day seminar focused on westward expansion. Participants will engage in two days of lectures, including a keynote address by Zack Fleming, the Geography Geek, as well as opportunities to tour the Moravian Archives Vaults and view maps from national and international dealers during a map fair. 

The seminar will include a map fair, featuring map dealers:

Arader Galleries
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps
Boston Rare Maps
Clive A. Burden Ltd.
Old World Auctions
Old Print Shop

__________

This seminar is generously sponsored by
Carol Holcomb (In Memory of Frank Holcomb)
Judy and Jay Lester

With generous support from 
A Collector of Maps of the Region

__________

REGISTRATION (Please click the links below to register or call 336-721-7328.)

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Individual Ticket   $395.00 
In person registration includes the keynote lecture and reception, participation in the Map Exhibition, pastry breakfasts, coffee breaks, lunches, all lectures proposed on the agenda, and an admission ticket to Old Salem Museums & Gardens.  In-person attendees will also receive access to the recordings of the lectures after the program concludes.
10/30 Moravian Archives Vault Tour Sold Out!   Free 
This specialty Vault Tour hosted by the Moravian Archives Southern Province will focus on the map collection and feature highlighted items such as the Wachovia Tract maps; mapmaking and surveying educational materials from the 18th century on, and works of local mapmakers such as Christian Gottlieb Reuter, Ludwig Meinung, and others. The tour will include information about the history of the Moravian Archives; how the map collection is being digitized; and much more. Tours will be led by Assistant Director, Sabrina Garity, and last approximately an hour and a half.

Both Vault Tours will be limited to 25 people each. We expect that both tours will sell out, so please register at your earliest convenience for one time slot only! Tour only available to those registered for Map Seminar. 
Virtual Registration Free
Virtual registration includes live access to the lectures, as well as access to the recordings after the program concludes.

Limited number of scholarships available to emerging museum professionals & students! Award includes a $200 travel stipend and registration for in-person ticket. Please apply by August 1st at the link attached here!

*Please note that members of the Frank L. Horton Society receive priority registration privileges, as well as a discount on their tickets.  To receive your Frank L. Horton Society discount, please be sure you register and/or sign in with your Old Salem Museums & Gardens username and password.  If you would like to join the Frank L. Horton Society, or if you would like to learn more, please click here.

SPEAKERS

 

Robert Leath, Executive Director, Edenton Historical Commission

Zack Fleming, Owner, The Geography Geek

Ashley Baynton-Williams, Author, The Curious Map Book

Johanna Brown, Chief Curator and Director of Collections, Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Wes Brown, Independent Scholar

Mike Buehler, Owner, Boston Rare Maps

Sabrina Garity, Assistant Director, Moravian Archives for the Southern Province

JC McElveen, Independent Scholar

Katie McKinney, Curator of Maps and Prints, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Susan Schulten, Professor of History, University of Denver

Chet Van Duzer, Board Member of the Lazarus Project, University of Rochester

James Harkins, Director of Public Services, Texas General Land Office Archives and Records Program

Rodney Kite-Powell, Director, The Touchton Map Library

Richard Pegg, Director, The Barry MacLean Map Collection

_

 

PROGRAM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30

3:30 pm   Vault Tour at the Moravian Archives
Pre-registration required. Registration for the conference as a whole is required to attend this.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

8:15 am   Doors open and breakfast begins
9:00 am   Welcome and Introduction of Moderator, Robert Leath
9:15 am   Chet Van Duzer: Map Beasts: Animals on Early Modern Maps
10:00 am   Coffee Break
10:30 am   Ashley Baynton-Williams: Southern Engravers and Failed Map Publishing Projects
11:20 am   Mike Buehler: Where the &$%!! is Polypotamia? (Mapping proto-states in the early Republic)
12:00 pm   Lunch
1:00 pm   Sabrina Garity: Oh The Places You Couldn’t Go: Mapping What They Didn’t Know
1:25 pm   Johanna Brown: 1773 Cook Map: A Map of the Province of South Carolina
2:00 pm   Break
2:20 pm   Katie McKinney: Preserving and Expanding the Union: The Eagle Map of the United States
     
3-5:00 pm   Map Exhibition Featuring:
Arader Galleries, Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps, Boston Rare Maps, Clive A. Burden Ltd., Old World Auctions, Old Print Shop
5-6:30 pm   Keynote Reception
6:30 pm   Zack Fleming (The Geography Geek): Keynote: A Love Letter to Old Maps & Alexander Von Humboldt’s Role in Westward Expansion

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SATURDAY, November 1

9:00 am   Doors Open & Breakfast
10: 00 am   Johanna Brown: Welcome Back
10:05 am   Robert Leath: Reflections on Day 1 & the Map Collection at Hayes Farm
10:40 am   Coffee Break
11:00 am   Richard Pegg: The Barry MacLean Map Collection
11:30 am   Rodney Kite-Powell: The Touchton Map Collection
12:00 pm   Lunch
1:05 pm   James Harkins: The Frank and Carol Holcomb Map Collection
1:35 pm   Wesley Brown: How the Explorations of Pike, Long & the Spanish put Colorado on the Map
2:20 pm   Break
2:45 pm   Susan Schulten: Westward Expansion, the Secession Crisis, and the Creation of Colorado Territory
3:30 pm   JC McElveen: The 1864 Sand Creek Massacre
4:15 pm   Open House at MESDA

 


–

 

 

TRAVEL DETAILS

–
The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts is one of the museums at Old Salem Museums & Gardens.  MESDA is located in the Frank L. Horton Museum Center at 924 S. Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC  27101.  Seminar lectures will take place in the James A. Gray Auditorium at the Old Salem Visitor Center at 900 Old Salem Road, Winston-Salem, NC  27101.

–

Seminar Hotels:

–

Fairfield Inn & Suites Winston-Salem Downtown
125 South Main St
Winston-Salem, NC  27101
1-336-714-2800
Group Name: MESDA Map Seminar
Last day to book: September 29th  
–

Other recommended hotels:

  
The Zevely Inn Bed and Breakfast
803 South Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC  27101
1-336-748-9299		  
–

CANCELLATION POLICY

–
Registrants who cancel at least two weeks prior to a program will receive a full refund minus a $50 handling fee.  No refunds will be given for cancellations that occur less than two weeks prior to the event.
–

INCLEMENT WEATHER

–
The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts follows the inclement weather policies of Old Salem Museums & Gardens.  When OSMG is closed, the museum is closed as well.  Should this occur, the seminar will be cancelled and refunds will be issued.  For your own protection, please consider travel insurance to cover fees involved with cancelling hotel reservations.