American Decorative Arts Digital Resources

The website features information about the research archives assembled and acquired by the Gallery’s curators of American decorative arts over the past 80 years. This currently includes an overview of the origins and development of the Rhode Island Furniture Archive and the Israel Sack, Inc., Archive.

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Archives on JSTOR

Rhode Island Furniture Archive (RIFA)

The Rhode Island Furniture Archive documents furniture and furniture making in Rhode Island from the first European colonization in 1636 through the early 19th century. It brings together records of surviving furniture, the individuals who owned it, and known furniture makers.

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Attributed to John Townsend, Bureau Table, Newport, 1775–90. Mahogany, yellow poplar, chestnut, eastern white pine. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection

Israel Sack, Inc., Archive

The archive holds records of objects sold by the firm of Israel Sack, Inc., during its nearly 100 years of operation. Its detail images and bibliographic information are drawn from the original photographs and materials that the Sack firm produced for its books and to advertise its furniture.

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A black-and-white image of four men arranged symmetrically around a chest of drawers. Seated in chairs, two of the men flank the furniture item, while the other two stand behind it.

From left: Harold, Robert, Donald, and Albert Sack in the Israel Sack, Inc., showroom, 15 East 57th Street, New York, New York, 1983.

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