Object DetailsTitle: Invalid Chair Maker: Wakefield Rattan Company Date: ca. 1880 Medium: Rattan, wood, steel, rubber Dimensions: 50.5 x 25.5 x 56 in. (128.3 x 64.8 x 142.3 cm) Catalog Number: HOFR 3041 HistoryFounded in 1851 by Cyrus Wakefiled, the Wakefield Rattan Company became the world's leading manufacturer of rattan furniture and objects. The company began buying and reselling discarded rattan discarded from cargo ships on Boston docks and later began manufacturing small goods such as skirt hoops, cane seats, baskets, mats, and brooms. It was not until the late 1870s that the firm began producing rattan and wicker furniture, when large numbers of American middle class families were moving into suburban and country homes, creating a demand for informal furniture for porches and summer homes. In 1897, the Wakefield Rattan Company merged with their leading rival, Heywood Brothers to become Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Company (later Haywood-Wakefield Company). Their furniture products drew upon styles popularized by the Aesthetic Movement, Japanese influences, and the Arts and Crafts Movement. Early examples of chairs on wheels have been called moveable chairs, couches, garden chairs, and go-chairs. Variations in England were also called Bath chairs and gouty chairs. By the mid-nineteenth century, in the United States chairs on wheels were typically known as invalid chairs. Invalid chairs were usually pushed from behind, rather than self-propelled by the occupant, as evidenced by the handle bar on the back of this chair. This invalid chair was probably acquired by the Roosevelts sometime after 1890, when FDR's father, James Roosevelt, suffered a mild heart attack at the age of sixty-two. He would live for ten more years, but never fully well again. |
Last updated: June 15, 2023