Articles

The Legacy of the House of Medici

While Renaissance era Florence, Italy was a republic at the time, there is no doubt that the Medici family ruled. Being bankers and wool merchants, the Medici rose in power and wealth relatively qu...

Bronze Age Shipwrecks

Shipwrecks have always conjured a romantic notion in our heads; the riches they carried, the loss of life, the possibility of a perfectly preserved time capsule beneath the water. Above all, they h...

Benjamin Randolph: Philadelphia Cabinetmaker and American Revolutionary

Philadelphia cabinetmaker Benjamin Randolph may not have been a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but his patriotism and hospitality were not insignificant contributions to the War of Inde...

The Anonymous Makers of Southern Furniture

Enslaved peoples in the United States were trained as artisans in just about every trade that existed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. From blacksmithing to weaving and especially furniture ma...

Patriotism and Patronage: Art in the Second World War

While art is always an integral part of a nation's culture and identity, it is even more so the case during wartime. One could argue that World War II in particular utilized artists, historians, ar...

The Value of Italian Marble

Some of Italy's finest marble comes from the Apuan Alps, in the northern region. Not typically visited by tourists, it's an area steeped in culture, tradition, and thousands of years of marble quar...

British Nobility and the Chesterfield Sofa

Chesterfield sofas are distinguished by their timeless silhouette, with rolled arms the same height as the backrest, and typically upholstered in tufted leather. They are simultaneously regal and c...

Hex Signs, Schtanne, Barn Stars - Art of the Pennsylvania Dutch

The Pennsylvania Dutch are descended from German-speaking immigrants that arrived in America hundreds of years ago and were collectively called 'Dutch' by their English-speaking neighbors. Farmers ...

The Plight of Jewish Relics During WWII

While it's often difficult to think past the sheer human loss of the Holocaust, it's still relevant and deeply saddening to think of the Jewish history and culture lost at the same t...

The History of the Carousel Horse

The smell of butter, funnel cake, cotton candy, & chocolate hit your nose. The sounds of laughter, bells ringing, and that familiar voice saying; "Steeep-Rite-Up, who wants to take a shot at w...