Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) Major Catalogs about the Collection

Covering the BMA’s collection of American furniture up to the twentieth century, this catalogue begins with a forward describing the collection and its general history. The collection catalogue follows, arranged first by the form of the object and then by the style. For example, the first section covers seating furniture beginning with a New England armchair from 1680-1710 and ending with an 1848 sofa. Each entry provides information about the object including, the maker, designer, dimensions, materials, provenance, exhibitions and references, if any. The exhibitions and references are listed as numbers that correspond to a bibliographic list at the end of the catalogue. A short descriptive essay and photographs of the object, generally in black and white, but the more significant objects are pictured in color with black and white details are also included.

This catalogue provides descriptions of each of the Maryland Period Rooms in the American Wing as well as the Latrobe Spring House/Dairy on the BMA grounds and a number of the architectural elements in the American Wing. While the furniture in each of the rooms is not included in the descriptions, “each commentary…includes all of the currently available information about the houses from which the rooms were taken, including dates, first owners or builders, and names of any craftsmen known to have been involved in the construction or decoration.” The text is accompanied by plans of the original houses, black and white photographs of the houses and the rooms as they appeared before being moved to the BMA, and color photographs of the rooms as they are now.