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The Role of Margolis Furniture in the Lives of Hartford's Gentile and Jewish Families, 1920-1970

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The Role of Margolis Furniture in the Lives of Hartford's Gentile and Jewish Families, 1920-1970 Furnishing Community: The Role of Margolis Furniture in the Lives of Hartford's Gentile and Jewish Families, 1920-1970 Eileen Jtkr^ Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the History of the Decorative Arts Masters Program in the History of the Decorative Arts Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and Parsons School of Design 2004 Copyright © 2004 by Eileen S. Pollack All rights reserved Dedication There is truly no one who deserves my gratitude more than the extraordinary man to whom I am lucky enough to be married. He has born the brunt of my research — supported it, encouraged it, taken joy and pleasure in it, and always believed that it was important work that should be done. He has been there with me from the beginning. I am, happily, forever in his debt. Elliott—YOU are the ONE. vJg&StJL The furniture sings Nickolas Kotula, apprentice cabinetmaker in the Margolis shop 1967-1972 July 17, 2003 CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix INTRODUCTION 2 CHAPTER One: Nathan Margolis 5 Two: The Colonial Revival 13 Three: Patterns of Consumption 22 Four: The Gentile Clients 31 Five: The Jewish Clients 35 Six: The Final Years 46 CONCLUSION 51 APPENDED A. Furniture Styles and Purchase Order Graphs 56 B. Illustrations 65 C Margolis Furniture Labels 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY 84 FIGURES Figure Page 1. L-l Sunflower Chest 52 2. Sunflower Chest Purchase Orders 52 3. H-3 Square Top Turned Leg Table 53 4. Square Top Turned Leg Table Purchase Orders 53 5. H-4 Butterfly Drop-Leaf Table 54 6. H-4 Butterfly Drop-Leaf Table Purchase Orders 54 7. F-13 Candle Stand 55 8. F-13 Candle Stand Purchase Orders 55 9. N-3 Chippendale Side Chair 56 10. N-3 Chippendale Side Chair Purchase Orders 56 11. L-8 Block Front Chest 57 12. L-8 Block Front Chest Purchase Orders 57 13. D-3 Large Mahogany Gilt Chippendale Mirror 58 14. D-3 Large mahogany Gilt Chippendale Mirror Purchase Orders 58 15. A-l Hepplewhite Sideboard 59 16. A-l Hepplewhite Sideboard Purchase Orders 59 VI ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration Page 1. Picture of Nathan Margolis 65 2. Nathan Margolis shop, ca. 1920 65 3. Harold Margolis in the Margolis High Street Shop, 1968 66 4. Margolis Shop Window Display, 1927 67 5. Margolis Dining Room, Bushnell Memorial Exhibition, 1930 68 6. Margolis Bed Room, Bushnell Memorial Exhibition, 1930 69 7. Margolis Living Room, Bushnell Memorial Exhibition, 1930 70 8. Margolis Furniture Miniatures, Children's Museum Exhibition, 1931 71 9. Walpole Society, 1933 72 10. View of Tapestry Hall. Exhibition of Connecticut Furniture, 1935 73 11. Room of Block Fronts. Exhibition of Connecticut Furniture, 1935 73 12. Touro Club Washington's Birthday Celebration, 1910 74 13. Hartford Society in Colonial Days Dress, 1921 74 14. Carved Lions and Ten Commandment Tablets, Temple Beth Israel, 1936...75 15. Temple Beth Israel Chairs, 1936 75 16. Dining Room, Connecticut Governor's Residence, 1991 76 17. Margolis Shop Sign, ca. 1950 77 VII Illustration Page 18. Margolis Shop Custom Stereo Cabinet, ca. 1950 78 19. Handwritten Paper Label 81 20. Brass Plate Label 81 21. Printed Paper Label 82 22. Burned Stamp with Date Label g2 23. Burned Stamp without Date Label 82 24. Brand with Border, Variation # 1 83 25. Brand with Border, Variation # 2 83 vm ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My enduring gratitude goes to the extraordinary staff of the following libraries: Steven Van Dyck and Elizabeth Broman of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library in New York City; Dot Wiggins of the Winterthur Library, Winterthur, Delaware; Jeanne Solensky and Laura Parrish of the Winterthur Library: Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts & Printed Ephemera; Bill Staples and John Teahan of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art's Watkinson Library, Hartford, Connecticut; archivist and curator Eugene Gaddis and assistant archivist Ann Brandwein at the Atheneum; Fran Bertelli at the Aetna Life Insurance and Casualty Co.'s law library in Hartford; Barbara Bradbury Pape at the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden in Bethlehem, Connecticut; Marsha Lotstein and Margaret Mair at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford in West Hartford. Kindness has also been shown to me by the staff at the Central Connecticut State University Library, the Connecticut Historical Society Library; the Connecticut State Library, and the Hartford Public Library. I thank the many individuals who took the time to talk with me about Margolis furniture. They include: Edwin Ahlberg, Charles Brainard, Valerie and Peter Bulkeley, Gary Dinowitz, Clare Edwards, Jerome Elbaum, Joan Finger, Lois Green, William Hosley Jr., Jerome Keller, Joan Kohn, Elizabeth Kohn, Georgette Koopman, Nickolas IX Kotula, Elaine Lowengard, Michael and Renee Margolis, John Murtha, Daniel Neiditz, Deborah Polivy, Elaine Savin, Merle Trager, Jacqueline Zwillinger, Edith Schatz, Michael and Olga Sudarsky, Etta Suisman, John Suisman, and Feme Youmans. Thank you to Agnes Sokol and to computer whiz Judy Landerman. I had the privilege of working with two exceptional advisors. Dr. Thomas Denenberg, always positive and encouraging, guided me in directions that eventually led to my own discoveries. Catherine Bindman was a careful and painstaking editor. She is the rare person who can see both the forest and the trees. Thank you also to Dr. Sarah Lawrence, director of the Masters Program at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. My incredible family served as cheerleaders, encouraging me to finish what was started fifteen years ago. Thank you to my loving mother Sunny Charney, my wise and beautiful daughters, Jill and Jessica, my gifted son-in-law Mark, and my grandsons Max and Oscar for always providing perspective. INTRODUCTION At the turn of the twentieth century, Hartford was at the center of the Colonial Revival movement and Nathan Margolis (1873-1925) was the most sought after craftsman of Colonial Revival furniture at this time. The popularity of the Margolis firm continued under Nathan's son Harold whose clients from both the Jewish and the gentile communities acquired their finely crafted reproductions with, at times, an unheard of passion. Although on the surface both groups appeared to be similarly motivated in their acquisition of Margolis pieces on closer inspection a more complicated picture is revealed. During the firm's most productive years, between 1920 and 1950, the Margolis firm received commissions from John D. Rockefeller, III; Pierre du Pont, HI; the Connecticut Governor's Residence; the Hartford Old State House; Aetna Life and Casualty Insurance Co.; and Temple Beth Israel. In addition, the company's clientele included several of Hartford's, prosperous Jewish immigrant families, as well as its Protestant Brahmins. In general, Hartford clients were inspired by the prevailing taste for colonial furniture and were motivated to buy for a number of reasons, a respect for hand craftsmanship, the belief that traditional values were inherent in these revival forms, and as a confirmation of their own refinement and taste. However, there are more specific questions about the Margolis clients that will be addressed here. Who bought Margolis furniture? What place did they hold in the community? Why did they buy? What significance did the furniture have for them? Did Jewish and gentile families order different styles? What motivated Jewish families to decorate in the Colonial Revival style? Was it the desire to assimilate or merely to create a "tasteful" environment? Why did gentile families collect Margolis reproductions along with their period antiques? To answer these questions, this paper will trace the role of the Margolis firm from its early beginnings under the direction of Nathan, and, after 1925, under the supervision of his son Harold, until its closure in 1974 when the shop's records were purchased by the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. In the process, the significance of the firm and its wares on the lives of both the established gentile and newly prosperous Jewish immigrant families in Hartford will be examined in detail. Particular attention will be paid to an analysis of the reasons Margolis furniture was acquired, and the changing demographics of the firm's clientele over time. CHAPTER ONE Nathan Margolis Nathan Margolis was born in 1873, in Janova, in the Kovna province of Russia. Janova was a bustling town on the Vilna river, conveniently close to a railroad and surrounded by abundant forests. It was known for its "expert designers and craftsmen ... [who] produced fine furniture which was shipped all over Russia and abroad."' Nathan's uncle, Samuel Margolis, was the town's principal cabinetmaker, whose shop was well situated on the main thoroughfare. Samuel's brother Charles and Charles's sons Nathan, Simon, Reuben, Abraham, and Jacob,2 all worked together.3 The shop made what Harold Margolis later called "provincial furniture for the country folk" as well as more sophisticated pieces from native walnut in the French style for noblemen and gentry living in the surrounding area.4 1 Frances Melamed, Janova (Cincinatti: Janova Press, Inc. 1976), 6. Janova was the home of many cabinet making and repair shops and provided training for many important cabinetmakers. Those who came to America included Nathan's cousin Samuel Winick (also spelled Wineck) whose Hartford antique shop, established in the early nineteenth century, "had become one of the best-known business establishments" with a clientele that "included President William Howard Taft, the [D]u Pont family and Henry Ford." David G. Dalin and Jonathan Rosenbaum, Making A Life Building A Community: A History of the Jews of Hartford (New York and London: Holmes & Meier, 1997), 56. The New York antique dealers Ginsberg and Levy and Israel Sack were also from Janova. Harold Margolis, Untitled (unknown Museum, Reading, Pa., 15 November 1978, transcript, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, West Hartford CT).
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