John Shearer Research

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195

Summary

Extent:
less than .33 cubic ft.
Creator:
Melody Warner, Land O' Lakes, FL
Abstract:
This collection consists of genealogy research reports compiled by Melody C. Warner for Elizabeth A. Davidson in connection with her graduate thesis on furniture maker John Shearer. In order to develop a contextual framework for commentary incorporated in the decorative inlay or hidden within Shearer's work, Warner compiled records documenting individuals and families referenced in Shearer's notations as well as materials potentially documenting his family. The reports vary in content, but include genealogical records, timelines, and lineage charts.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of genealogy research reports compiled by Melody C. Warner for Elizabeth A. Davidson in connection with her graduate thesis on furniture maker John Shearer. In order to develop a contextual framework for commentary incorporated in the decorative inlay or hidden within Shearer's work, Warner compiled records documenting individuals and families referenced in Shearer's notations as well as materials potentially documenting his family. The reports vary in content, but include genealogical records, timelines, and lineage charts. Information is included about the Shearer, Klinger, Pendleton, Krammer, Brandenburg, Koontz, Lugenbeel, Stover, Filler, McFarland, Luckett, Steer, Bel, Milholland/Milhollen, Whitaker, Gore, Lane, Gaburri, Lupton, Hollinsworth, Loose and Beachtel/Bachtel Families.

Biographical / historical:

Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, John Shearer (fl. 1790-1820) worked as a cabinet maker and joiner in Loudoun County, Virginia; Frederick County, Maryland; and Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia) between 1790 and 1820. Immigrating to American around 1775, Shearer was a British loyalist. Little record of Shearer's life and business has been discovered beyond the furniture he created. His work includes both overt and covert clues to his history, politics and opinions. Inlaid designs referencing events such as Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 offer positive commentary about current events, while messages and drawings hidden within his furniture reveal at times negative observations about the patrons who commissioned the pieces.

Documentation of Shearer's furniture only began after 1979, when decorative arts scholar and collector John Snyder (1947-2014) published an article about a chest of drawers inscribed by Shearer in the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts. Snyder and other scholars failed to positively identify Shearer, although more than fifty pieces of his work were subsequently documented. In 2011, independent scholar Elizabeth A. Davidson published The Furniture of John Shearer, 1790-1820 "A True North Britain in the Southern Backcountry", a catalogue of Shearer's known work. Culminating research completed by Davidson at the Smithsonian, Parsons, and New School of Design Program in the History of Decorative Arts and Design at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, the catalog used inscriptions discovered on Shearer's works to more accurately identify him, as well as to provide information about many of the individuals who commissioned his work.

Acquisition information:
Melody Warner, Land O' Lakes, FL