Adirondack chair kit produced by Joel Sisson’s Green Chair Project, a community construction initiative with an emphasis on outreach to inner city youth founded in Minneapolis circa 1993.  The plywood crate contains the wood parts needed to build an Adirondack chair and the jigs/templates used to assemble the chair and to cut additional parts.   The kit’s parts comprise a crate bottom with several attached jigs and templates; a crate lid with attached jig and template; side rails/rear feet; armrests; seat slats; backrest slats; a backrest support; seat supports; front legs; and armrest support brackets.

For details, view the kit in our online collections database.

School bench and desk used in a school district in Watonwan, Minnesota between 1889 and 1919. The hardwood bench has a hinged hardwood seat with an attached slanted hardwood desk. The desk was intended to be used by the student sitting directly behind the bench. The seat back, desk top, and shelf below are fastened to a cast-iron framework painted black. The framework consists of two supports with S-scroll openwork detailing, a molded maker’s label and “R” and “L” designation. The iron legs are screwed into hardwood planks.

Tablet-arm chair owned by Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple, first Episcopalian Bishop of Minnesota, in the late nineteenth century.  The chair is upholstered with brown wool fabric and decorative green upholstery tape.  The tablet features a black leather writing surface.

Ranch-style, blonde wood frame sofa upholstered in black vinyl. The sofa’s arm rests are decorated with the top halves of spoked wagon wheels. On its back is an appliqued vinyl rendering of a Labrador walking through cat tails and holding a duck in its mouth. The seat swivels to reveal a storage space containing a blanket.

The sofa belongs to a set of living room furniture made in the same Western or ranch style, including a rocking chair, end tables, magazine rack, coffee table, and table lamps. The set was made in 1959 and was used by Florence Hibbs Daniels of Minneapolis.

Mahogany folding lap desk used by Reverend Stephen Return Riggs (1812-1883), a Presbyterian minister and missionary. The desk has brass hinges and a copper lock mechanism with a copper key. Its bottom is lined with green velvet.  The writing surface is covered with black velvet and opens to reveal two storage compartments. The front compartment has four subcompartments; one contains a clear glass inkwell lidded with metal, and another has a tilting panel that reveals a hidden compartment beneath.  The lock plate is stamped “EAGLE LOCK CO./ TERRYVILLE, CONN./ MADE IN U.S.A.” The desk was made around 1850 and underwent restoration in 1938.

For details, view the desk in our online collections database.

Folding chair used at the 2008 Republican National Convention held in St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center.  The chair has a steel frame and a padded red seat and back. An adhesive label affixed to its top back reads “Kentucky.”

Sewing table used by Harriet Bishop (1817-1883).  Bishop is often credited as “the first schoolteacher in Minnesota” for starting the Minnesota Territory’s first public school in 1847, but she was also a writer, activist, and suffragist.  The walnut table has a burl veneer and is in the Renaissance style, with trestle legs and a stretcher.  The hinged lid has a mirrored top that lifts up to reveal a drawer.

For more details, view the table in our online catalog.

Arts and Crafts-style copper table lamp. The coach-type lantern has frosted green glass and is suspended at an angle by a rod over a heavily weighted base. There are a pull chain, cord and socket inside the lantern. Made by hand circa 1920-1929.

For more details, view the lamp in our collections catalog.

Handmade walnut bench coated in black lacquer with four turned ash legs and scalloped, beveled edges on the seat.  Crafted by Scott McGlasson of Woodsport, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The artist harvested the wood from a walnut tree felled in the tornado that touched down in south Minneapolis on August 19, 2009.

Windsor-style child’s high chair used by the grandchildren of James J. and Mary T. Hill at their home in Saint Paul, Minnesota, circa 1900.  The wooden high chair has a dark walnut finish with wear on the footboard.

Learn More:

• Visit the James J. Hill house
• Browse the James J. Hill papers
• Explore Hill family collections