Shaker Architecture and Design

“I don’t want to be remembered as a chair,” Shaker Eldress Mildred Barker said. In this program, we’ll examine the Shakers’ architecture and objects to consider why we should think of more than a chair when we hear the word “Shaker.” Using Hancock Shaker Village as a case study, we’ll broaden our understanding of this influential American religious group, which was committed to a communal and celibate life that emphasized—and reflected in its buildings and objects—values of equality, humility, pacifism, and perfectionism.

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About Cindy Dickinson and Hancock Shaker Village

Cindy Dickinson is the Director of Education at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hancock Shaker Village is a National Historic Landmark and living history museum that celebrates the lives and history of the Shakers, an American religious group founded on equality, perfectionism, and simplicity. Set on 750 acres of farmland, meadows, and woodland in western Massachusetts, the museum includes 20 historic buildings, a working farm, and a collection of more than 22,000 objects. The Village is open April through December each year.