This section features continued developments that took place in the north–eastern seaboard and also focuses on western communities such as those at Pleasant Hill. The text develops on themes which became evident in Section One and Edward Deming Andrews and Faith Andrews continued to exert their influence by Shaker promotion, publication and exhibition. During the postwar period Americans became both more culturally aware and multicultural. Counter cultures became fashionable and the Shakers were applauded for their ‘alternative’ lifestyle. Museums were starting to be formed from extant Shaker villages and the period room became the ideal by which Shaker artefacts were permanently displayed for public consumption. This section also begins to evidence the spread of Shaker design from the United States of America to Europe – and particularly the United Kingdom. The American Museum in Britain at Bath formed their period room and Shaker exhibit, while Manchester City Art Galleries became the focus of British attention when it held a Shaker exhibition in 1975.

The temporary exhibitions featured in American museums became more varied and thematic, specialising in specific furniture forms such as the chair or concentrating on a particular community. Important exhibitions of the period include that of ‘Shaker Arts and Crafts’ at Philadelphia Museum of Art (1962) and the ‘Shaker’ exhibition at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (1974). Markets for Shaker artefacts continued to expand and develop, with greater collector interest and higher prices for all object types from furniture to textiles. This section also highlights various sales and auctions; exhibitions; period rooms; museum villages and popular culture interpretations aimed at an international market and context.

Influences taken from Museum Culture

In the United States of America there has been an increasing trend for the establishment of museum villages that have developed around historic sites and these have claimed to create an authentic and ‘living experience’. Examples include Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Massachusetts; Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts; Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut; Conner Prairie, Noblesville, Indiana; Pioneer Arizona Living History Museum, Black Canyon Stage, Arizona and Colonial Williamsburg. This trend has also been evidenced in the United Kingdom with the establishment of sites such as Saltaire, Quarry Bank and Styal and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum complex.