The NYTimes has a story in Friday editions on an important find made recently at the MHS by Kemble Widmer, a furniture historian from Newburyport, and his colleague Joyce King, a historical researcher. Nathaniel Gould's account books, which form part of the Society's Nathan Dane Papers (finding guide here), reveal that Gould was a much more active furniture maker than previously thought; the entries in the books, as the Times piece puts it, "could change attributions of carved mahogany, walnut and cedar objects for scores of museums, private collections and stores."
Widmer and King broke their public silence about the findings for this piece (and a separate article in Friday's Boston Globe), and will publish the full results of their study in this year's American Furniture, out this month.
