Collecting Wallace Nutting: Congregational Minister, Great American Photographer and Furniture Entrepreneur
Long bike rides in the country with a camera in tow provided Dr. Wallace Nutting the opportunity and desire to become one of America’s most famous photographers. As a young student, Nutting entered Phillips Exeter Academy and in 1883 finished his studies at Harvard University, Hartford Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. In 1893 the then Pastor Nutting was conferred with a Doctor of Divinity at Whitman College. In 1938 he was honored with a Doctor of Humanities from Washington and Jefferson College.
Due to poor health Wallace Nutting retired from the pulpit at age forty-three. It was a loss to the ministry but a gain to the art of photography and the reproduction of high end antique furniture. Dr. Nutting moved to a large house in Framingham, MA where he started purchasing historic structures that he wanted to use as backdrops for his photography. Nutting would restore the homes and then decorate them with period furnishings. His collection included American antiques, along with pieces from the 17th century including a carved 1685 Sunflower chest in oak, pine, and maple which he found in Wethersfield, CT, 18th century pieces and a huge collection of chests of drawers, Windsor chairs, cupboards, boxes, bookcases, cabinets, and more.
Along with the home furniture he also collects home furnishings. He collected over 600 period domestic utensils made of wood, pewter, and wrought iron. By 1928, Nutting had written his book “Furniture Treasury” illustrated with pictures of his and others collections. This is credited as the first widely circulated reference book on American antiques. In fact, he lists his first book published as “Windsor Chairs, 1917″. His rarest publication was Old New England Pictures, copyrighted 1913.
In 1917, Wallace Nutting opened a furniture factory in Saugus, MA. This factory was created to make reproductions of his antiques collection. Nutting chose the Windsor chair as his pilot offering, pricing them at a hefty premium, and sold them by the thousands. Nutting’s desire in recreating antiques in reproduction furniture was to “produce the best forms, put together in the finest manner,..”, and “…to make correct pieces of their period available.” Although Nutting says he lost money in the furniture venture it is worth noting that he was so correct in the old manner of furniture craftsmanship that on occasion unscrupulous people would distress his furniture, selling it as ‘period’ for a hundred times the purchase price. In the early days the company’s paper tag would either fall off or be intentionally removed.
In 1922 he sold his empire of photography and furniture and retired. The new owners used the Wallace Nutting name as a brand but after only two years of low quality and the destruction of his reputation and name Wallace Nutting exercised his rights to buy it back. To differentiate his product from theirs Wallace Nutting burned his name, “in plain capitals” into all the furniture.
Tags: Craftsman, Dr. Nutting, Dr. Wallace Nutting, Framingham, Furniture, nutting photography, Pastor Nutting, Windsor
