Folding Chairs

When I began researching folding chairs I expected to find an abundance of information about how they were used, what materials were best, where to purchase them and similar questions to aide in a civilian portrayal. After all a variety of folding chairs abound in military photographs and illustrations. The further I researched the more evident it became that I was not going to find a list of chairs which Civil War era civilian reenactors should be using, an abundance of manufacturing statistics leading up to the war, or even advice for selecting the chairs and their upholstery in home economy books. Instead, I found despite a history dating back centuries, folding chairs were minimally used domestically during the first half of the nineteenth century. This was followed by a resurgence in popularity during and immediately following the War, which may have sprouted during the 1850s in the United States and earlier in the century in Europe*. This finding leaves us with a significant quandary regarding the use of folding chairs among civilian reenactors. True. Folding chairs offer several appealing factors. They are easy to pack. They are easy to carry. They offer a periodesque look to a display, home or encampment. They are frequently less expensive then mid-nineteenth century non-folding chairs or their reproductions. They are also documented for military use. Are any of these factors justification enough for the use of folding chairs by civilians? Sorry. I am not going to answer that question for you. I am going to provide you with a summary of what information I have found to aid you in your decision on chair use. The first question you are likely asking is “What do you mean minimally used domestically?” as this is the problematic factor. This low level of domestic use occurs during the first half of the century. Historians and archeologists have found evidence of folding chairs dating back centuries to the Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Etruscan societies. (For examples of these early folding chairs see The Illustrated History of Folding Chairs) In most eras since then, some type of folding chair has existed. Some historians note a wide spread decrease in use of folding chairs at the end of the Renaissance until the second half of the nineteenth century (Talbott and Dubrow). Folding chairs are often categorized as patent furniture as much folding, convertible, and adjustable furniture of the second half of the century are considered. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, the years in which our characters came of age and made their homes, show minimal evidence of folding chair use in the United States. By looking at manufacturing and patent information before, during and after the war, we see the significant resurgence in folding chair production for domestic use right after the war. During the Civil War the military commissioned folding chairs made for military use. We see examples of these chairs throughout photographs and illustrations often in camp settings. Those makers commissioned during the war to make chairs for military use saw the advantages of making versions for the domestic market, for civilian use. After the war, these manufactures continued to make chairs in increasing numbers as they gained popularity. We see this surge in invention, production, and marketing in a number of ways. First the number of patents shows a significant increase. According to the Annual Report of the Commissioners, which lists patents between 1790 and 1873, no patents were filed for folding chairs prior to 1850; 5 were filed between 1850 and 1859; 10 filed between 1860 and 1864; 40 filed between 1865 and 1869; and 70 in the final three years. These numbers only include those listed as folding chairs not the components for such chairs which would dramatically increase the numbers. (I was happy to find my Example of a Hammock conclusions supported with the ILL arrival of Harwood’s book on style chair. These chairs Hunzinger. Our figures are similar, though not exact in count. were more likely recreational chairs. Harwood finds: “The patent index of 1873 includes 68 types of patent chairs, about half of which are domestic. Between 1790 and 1873, the years covered by the index, there are 117 patents for folding chairs. The first was issued in 1855, and almost all, 115, were granted between 1860 and 1873. Further, all but two are for domestic use rather than commercial folding chairs for theaters, carriage cars, the latter becoming more numerous after 1874. These chairs are generally characterized by a simple, light frame and portability. Most of these 115 domestic patent chairs were intended for indoor use, but some were clearly meant for outdoor porches and travel.” Second the number of makers and their activities become recognizable and increase. Dubrows’ extensive list of furniture manufacturers shows folding chair manufacturing beginning in the 1850s increasing in the 60s. Third advertising for folding chairs becomes prominent in the late 1850s and more so as the 1870s approached. Folding chairs first appeared within catalogues for other furniture such the Illustrated Catalogue of Ornamental Iron Work, Manufactured by Janes, Beebe, and Company printed in the 1850s which illustrates folding chairs with and without arms. (This image is available on the New York Public Library website. An advertisement with the same illustrations is on the American Memory site.) The New Haven Folding Chair Company began publishing an annual Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Folding Chairs and Invalid Rolling Chairs beginning in 1863. (the 17th, 1879 and 18th, 1880 annual editions are listed with WorldCat.) E. H. Mohoney’s Company and George F. Roach’s Company, both in Boston, published Illustrated Catalogues in 1878 and 1882 respectively. Vail released a semi-annual publication listing his chairs.

Now that we better understand when chairs were produced for domestic use, let us look at the makers and their chairs themselves. For our purposes, we need to understand several folding constructions. Most constructions have a main pivot which enables the chair to fold with additional pivots to aide in the folding. This main pivot classifies the chair construction. - The side X construction has an X on the side of the chair made by the legs beneath the seat. When the seat is a textile, the front runner of the seat folds back against the back seat runner. Often the back rest pivots down folding over the folded seat and legs. When the seat is solid, it folds up against the back of the chair. - The front X construction has an X in the front and back formed by the legs. The seat is a textile. If there is a back rest, it is also a textile. The sides of the seat fold towards each other. If there is a back, most often the back folds down, then the sides fold together. If the chair has arms, these tend to fold alongside of the legs of the chair. (see illustrations) - The scissors fold also has an X on the sides of the chair. In this case, the X is formed with the seat and a leg crossing the back and a leg. The axis of the X is a pivot where the seat and back of the chair meet. The seat folds against the back while the legs nest together. - The Hammock style has a side X formed by the legs as well. The seat and back are formed from a single textile hung like a hammock. The illustrations in The Prairie Traveler reflect this style. The front of the seat folds back against the back of the chair. There are other folding methods, but these are the most common. The front X chairs dominate the folding chairs found in military photographs. Meanwhile side X chairs and scissors chairs tend to dominate the domestic market. Hammock chairs seem to be meant for recreational purposes. (Birgit Lohmann explains in detail the folding construction of chairs in her 1988 thesis now available online.) The side X and the scissors folding designs were also applied to rocking folding chairs.

Examples of basic side X folding chairs. Each of these chairs have textile seats and solid backs. The Merriam chair has a single pivot at the axis of the X. The front of the seat folds against the back of the chair. It is similar to the chair the young boy is sitting on in the post-War cabinet card. The Whitmore chair has two pivots, one at the axis of the X and one at the base of the back. The legs fold together while the back of the chair folds around the seat resting against the legs.

When looking at the mentions of folding chairs in period literature, we see the mentions were very few prior to 1860 and the chairs appear to fall in three categories. (While these mentions on their own may seem to indicate the use of folding chairs, it is when we look at the century long continuum preceding and following the Civil War that we see how few chairs are mentioned prior to the war as compared to after the war.) Most often folding chairs are mentioned in parlor settings or in locations in immediate proximity of the home.

“The minute we entered, Mademoiselle Reine dropped on a folding-chair, and dissolved in tears. As for me, I wasn't even given the time to find a chair.” (The Living Age, 1844)

“Near her, upon a folding chair, was seated Bertha de Maillepre. Bertha had on a gown of white gauze.”(The Loves of Paris by Paul Henri C. Feval, 1846)

“Mrs. Raymond made a sign to Maria, the eldest of her four granddaughters, pointing out her cousin seated sadly on her folding chair. Maria perfectly understood what her grandmamma wished, and re-assembled the troop, now scattered all over the garden, by a summons to play at ‘Warm hand’.” (The Girls’ Birthday Book, 1869)

“There she sat – my future pupil, without a doubt. From the superb development of her figure, she might have been twenty rather than seventeen. Her attitude, as she lay back in a folding chair, with an open book on her knee, at which she never looked, and her profile steadily presented to the room, was a perfect study of listlessness and disquietude” (Other Folk’s Lives by Menella Bute Smedley, 1863)

“The lunch cleared away, the sailors came round with small pails full of bait; cuttle fish, small dabs, and plaice, and glittering sand launces, and coils of lines armed with wire. The folding chairs were removed, and every one prepared for work. Milly Waverton and Lucy Tregellas clapped their hands with delight as Arthur began to bait their lines for conger with the arms of cuttle fish” (Greatheart by George Walter Thornbury, 1866)

“Young James Douglas had set an oaken folding chair for his father at the upper end of the pavilion, and into this James the Gross fell rather than seated himself.” (The Black Douglas by Samuel Rutherford Crocket, 1899)

“Daisy joined in the discussion, and the twins remained in close consultation on a garden seat near which their mother was sitting in a low folding chair, hemming dusters for her new home.” (Two Rose Trees by Minnie Douglas, 1880) These chairs are likely well constructed with beautiful designed wood or iron and lovely carpeting or needlepoint tapestry. A second grouping we find in travel guides. These guides advise bringing a folding chair when touring places like Greece, Italy and India. “There is only one other essential not to be forgotten for the voyage [to India], ant that is a strong, comfortable chair. The average Anglo-Indian takes a chaise longue, which allows a recumbent attitude, and this I believe is a great comfort to sea-sick subjects. The tourist is, however, generally satisfied with a “hammock” or folding chair, but an addition of much value is a good air cushion.” (Women in India by Mary Frances Billington, 1895) These chairs were likely the lighter weight compact folding chairs which still maintained a design suited to those financially able to travel. The chairs aboard this Australian bound ship described in Ainsworth’s Magazine, by William Harrison Ainsworth, Esq. in 1854 may or may not fall into this category: “Farther on, I perceived a newly-married young couple, who were evidently still under the influence of the honeymoon—I mean thereby the poetry of married life—and who seemed vieing with each other to lighten the inconveniences of their transit to Australia. Like the rest, they were taking their evening meal. A long box had been converted by them into a table, which they had settled close along their cabin door; and at each end of which improvised table sat the husband and wife on nice little folding chairs of their own. They seemed as comfortable as circumstances would admit of; their happiness no one could doubt; it shone from their eyes, and betrayed itself in every motion of their persons. There stood between them a nice, cozy little teapot, a sugar canister, a dish of meat, bread and butter, a nice little cruet-stand, two plates, two cups and saucers, all in brilliant metal; and they eat most genteelly, looking at each other most lovingly, and absorbed in one another, and heedless completely of the garish scene going on around them.” A third category of chairs are found in manuals for western migration such as the 1859 The Prairie Traveler, reprinted in several versions. This book provided illustrations and descriptions of camp furniture including folding chairs. One is made of oak and canvas. The others can be made on the trail one of sticks and buckskin or rawhide and the other of an emptied barrel. These chairs were entirely utilitarian needing few extra comforts in design.

I was surprised to find how many different materials were used to seat and back chairs. Prior to my research I had seen chairs with carpet and some upholstery. While researching I found there were many more options available. Harwood references an 1876 furniture catalogue, Kimball’s Book of Designs: Furniture and Drapery, which lists the wholesale prices of Hunzinger’s chairs ranging from $9.33 for an unupholstered Universal folding chair to $72.00 for a folding reclining chair with satin upholstery, a satin stripe, and silk fringe. The catalogue listed textiles The photograph (1) shows an example of a side X rocking including “muslin”, “plain Terry”, chair. I have not yet been able to find a corresponding patent “figured Tapestry, and satin. Some of or advertising illustration for this chair. It has the original low the chairs were available with tufted pile carpet for the seat and the back. The Vaill patent shows seats and backs. Illustrations show a one of the many ways a folding rocker can fold. variety of textures, textile placements and fringe. (Looking at the extant chairs, some are found with original and “updated” textiles. These updates may be only a decade after the original upholstery or only a decade ago. Some museums and authors were able to identify the upholstery updates based on new tack holes or the textiles themselves.) The material I think we, reenactors, tend to think of on a folding chair most often is carpet. Carpet used for seats seems to include flat woven ingrain and low looped pile carpets. The designs vary from florals to stripes to scenic type designs. The Antique Hunter website (www.antique-hunter.com) has two chairs by Vaill with original floral carpet seats and back. Both of these chairs have fringe along the front rail edge of the seat. The rocker in photograph 1 also has evidence of fringe along the front. Upholstery as done with non-folding chairs was very common on folding chairs. Chairs’ upholstery from the third quarter of the century seem to include plain and patterned damasks, plain velvet, plain plush, plain silk, and satin. The upholstery could be flat or tufted. An example of an 1870s chair by the Boston furniture company can be seen in the MFA digital collection (accession number 1977.771) This chair has a woven upholstery in brown, yellow, red and green striping with the look of an ingrain carpet. The tapestry is often a needlepoint style tapestry with a floral or scenic design or a woven tapestry reflecting the designs we see in carpets. Upholstery and needlepoint tapestry were combined on some chairs by covering the back and seat with the upholstery. Then running a wide stripe of needlepoint vertically down the center of the back and over the seat. Caning was also used on some chairs. Trims included cording, braid, and fringe. I am finding that some chairs or chair makers tended towards some textiles more often. If recovering a chair, it would be important to determine which maker or which maker style chair you have prior to choosing a textile for your chair. For example, if I had a Hunzinger or Hardy chair, I would choose a damask upholstery with a needlepoint tapestry stripe; if I had a Vaill chair, I may choose a low pile carpet or a scenic tapestry. An additional material used primarily by Hunzinger after 1876 was a wire mesh where the wire was covered with a textile.

A Closer Look at Two Manufacturers: Numerous manufactures and inventers had a hand in making folding chairs in the 1860s, 70s and 80s. George Hunzinger and Edward Vaill each had distinct designs both aesthetically and functionally. George Hunzinger was a German immigrant chair maker, who settled in New York City beginning business in 1866 (Flint). He manufactured a variety of furniture including folding chairs, reclining chairs, folding tables and his well known platform rockers. His chairs tended to be stylish and innovative. (several of his pieces can be seen at www.antique-hunter.com and hunzingerblogspot.com) Harwood, of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, refers to Hunzinger as one of the most innovative furniture designer of the second half of the 19th century, creating progressive furniture unlike his contemporaries. Harwood further states “Indeed, what is most interesting for us about Hunzinger is the protomodern aesthetic aspect of his work that forms a link with our modern aesthetic and taste for abstraction.” (The Furniture of George Hunzinger.) His folding chairs primarily used an adapted form of the side X structure. The accompanying patent shows the altered side X created by the rear leg support and the back of the chair in the side illustration. As we can also see in this illustration, he used multiple pivot points (in comparison to other makers). Hunzinger had a knack for understanding the use of patents and for marketing. He wanted to reach a wide range of perspective purchasers. He did this through three methods. First he sold his chairs from his own factory show-rooms and through retail and wholesale agents. His advertisement listed him as a “Manufacturer of Patent Folding, Reclining, and Extension Chairs”. Second, he offered a single chair design made with different woods and finishes such as stains or gilding. Third, his chairs were available in a range of upholstery in different price brackets. (Harwood).

Edward W. Vail (Vaill) manufactured chairs in Worchester, Massachusetts from 1861 until 1891 (Dubrows) The History of Worchester County, Massachusetts, 1879 provides us with a Edward Vaill “The requirements of the immense Union army in the war of the Rebellion created a great demand for camp furniture, and Mr. Edward W. Vaill, who in 1862 was conducting a successful furniture business in Worcester, began the manufacture of a folding camp-chair which was readily transportable, and which met with general favor. Having obtained a patent, he devoted himself in 1863 entirely to the manufacture of these chairs. The prospect of peace led him to develop the original idea into a form suitable for general use, and the folding chairs of his patterns are now made in a thorough and elegant style, and have become a staple article of furniture, adapted for the drawing-room, library, veranda, church, public hall, seaside and shipboard. He now has no less than seventy-five patents for the various principles and combinations involved in the construction of more than one hundred different patterns and sizes. The development of the business until it was scattered through a number of buildings on Main Street, covering 30,000 feet of floor room, led him Above a chair manufactured by Edward W. to seek for new quarters, and in January, 1877, he Vaill. Below a similar Patent by John E. removed to the large five-story building on Union Wakefield and assignor to Edward W. Vaill Street, constructed by Hon. Stephen Salisbury, with The above chair has incorrect tapestry. Instead an acre and a half of floor room. The greater portion of his frames are made in Ashburnham, the chair should have a tapestry with a floral or Templeton, and the northern towns of the county, scenic design. giving employment to nearly 200 people. At the factory here, they are put together and upholstered, giving employment to nearly a hundred operatives. The factory turns out an annual product double that of any similar one in the country, the yearly sales amounting to some $300,000. The folding principle of the chairs largely facilitates convenience in shipment, and they are sent to every quarter of the world.” Vaill had numerous patents through the 1860s patented by him or assigned to him. Wakefield is on patentee whose designs are frequently assigned to Vaill. His designs used both the side X and scissors constructions for their base. Vail chairs are frequently found with decorative needlepoint tapestry or carpet and fringe decorating the arms or the front of the seat. According to the Dubrows, the Vaill Chair Company is believed to have been the largest folding chair business of the time.

Additional Manufactures (from Dubrow)

Collingnon (A. Collingnon, C. O. Collingnon, and N. Collingnon) Manufactured in Closter, New Jersey Multiple patents during the late 1860s and early 1870s

Gardner and Company (William Gardner, Oliver Gardner, George Gardner, John Gardner and Joseph Gardner) Began business making picture frames in 1863 in Clarksville, New Jersey. Chair patents in the 1870s by George.

P. J. Hardy and Company (Pierre Jean Hardy) Manufactured in New York from ca. 1859 to ca. 1878 “Patent Extending and Oriental [folding] Chairs” This patent illustration by F. P Danzer (1929) show the modern components on a chair often Marks Adjustable Folding Chair Company (Frank recognized as a director’s chair. Note the Mark) bending metal cross bar between the legs just Began in 1876, in New York City; Liquidated above the X axis and the large modern hinges company in 1897 where the arms meet the seat. Chairs were patented under other names.

Chairs with modern aspects to avoid

There are some chairs with distinctly twentieth century features. Visible modern hinges, brackets or bolts are distinct signs of a twentieth century chair. One chair to keep a close eye on hardware is the common director’s chair. While this basic chair is very similar to folding chairs seen in military photographs, some of those produced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have features that set it apart from period chairs. (see comparative illustration) The most noticeable is a bracket or folding metal support located on the legs just above the axis of the X. Another is the hinges connecting the arms with the sear. Period style chairs would have period style hardware. Other chairs with distinctly well post-war features include: - Thonet Bentwood folding arm chairs. Bentwood has a distinctly late nineteenth/early twentieth century look. - Faux bamboo folding chairs. While some real bamboo chairs are known for the 1870s, faux bamboo was popular in the 1910s. - Boat chairs, also recognized as church recreation chairs. These stocky chair have a definite mid twentieth century look. - Some beach folding chairs. While the construction of these chairs reflect the Renaissance pincer chairs, they were not in popular use during the nineteenth century.

Note * My research indicates that folding chairs began to reappear in the United States in the 1850s. Short, occasional references to folding furniture appear in the 1850s and 60s which suggest the resurgence of folding furniture may have sprouted in the 1850s. Some passages, such as this from the January 13, 1855 Scientific American, discussing the advancements in folding chairs which are actually convertible chairs, indicate some type of folding chairs have existed for some unknown amount of time without gaining popularity. “Improved Folding Chair – Various plans of folding chairs have been brought before the public; that is, chairs convertible at will into a couch. They are no doubt very useful for invalids, and on this account, if well made, have solid claims upon public patronage. Some defect must have characterized all those heretofore constructed, or else they would have come into more general use; This at least is a reasonable conclusion. An improved chair of this character has just been designed by Seth D. Woodbury, of Lynn, Mass., who has taken measure to secure a patent for the same. The back of the chair and the food board are secured by hinges to the seat, and so connected together that both back and food board can be inclined to any angle, or placed horizontally so as to form a couch or chair for sitting or reclining at ease in any position desired.” The author suggest the reason for folding furniture such as this reclining/convertible chair not caught extensive popularity is due to a defect of some sort. Harwood indicates a different beginning to the nineteenth century return of folding chairs. First, Harwood states side X construction was revived from antiquity in the early nineteenth century by Percier and Fontaine. The note for this statement refers to a French book Receuil de Decorations Interieures by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine published in Paris, 1812. Later he connects Hunzinger’s U shaped elements with the late Middle Ages’ Glastonbury chair, which he says was revived by Horace Walpole becoming “a staple of the Gothic Revival in the nineteenth century.” Neither statement was thoroughly explained in the text or notes. I am in search of the French book referenced.

Bibliography

Annual Report of the Commissioners. United States Patent Office: 1871. Dubrow, Eileen and Richard. American Furniture of the 19th Century 1840-1880. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2000. Flint, Richard W.. “George Hunzinger”. Nineteenth Century Furniture Innovation, Revival and Reform. New York: Art and Antiques, 1982. Harwood, Barry Robert. The Furniture of George Hunzinger; Invention and Innovation in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1997. Harwood, Barry Robert. “The Furniture of George Jacob Hunzinger” The Magazine Antiques. Discovery, 1997. Pg832-842. “Hints for Anniversary Presents” Home and Society. Scribers, Oct. 1874. Marvin, Abijah Perkins. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts. 1879. Roth, Rodis. “Nineteenth-century American Patent Furniture” Innovative Furniture in America from 1800 to the Present. Ed. David Hanks. New York: Horizon Press, 1981. Sheraton. The Cabinet Dictionary. London: 1803. Talbot, Page. “Continuity and Innovation: Recliners, Sofa beds, Rocking Chairs, and Folding Chairs.” Antiques. May 2002, p 124-133. Talbot, Page. “Innovative Furniture” Nineteenth Century Furniture Innovation, Revival and Reform. New York: Art and Antiques, 1982.