Historic Banners...they say a lot.

by Barbara Owens

Early 19th century, Grafton
Public Library. 

Banners have been around forever, or at least a couple thousand years.  It is said that one of the earliest accounts of their use is of Moses employing banners to keep the multitudes organized as they made their way to the Promised Land.

Angel firehouse banner - image from ARTAID.org

Banners had (and still
have) one purpose, if you want to say something, you put it on a banner and hang it up for the world to see.  Banners have been used to make political statements, they tout success, they pay homage to heroes.  Such is the case with Firehouse Banners.  Several examples exist from the Victorian Period.  A firehouse banner usually has the fire department name on it, and as you would expect, it was hung proudly in the firehouse.  However, the firehouse banner cannot be pigeon-holed into the past, as evidenced by the "Angel" banner which now graces some of the FDNY firehouses whose firefighters were lost on September 11th, 2001.

Trade Banner, 1841. Maine Historical Society

Spicer Art Conservation treats banners each year, some political, some made in protest (see the "Down with the Rent" banner above), and numerous trade banners (see right) made for parades and rallies.  Recently,  SAC received a beautiful, two-sided, velvet banner (a truly unique choice in fabric), which had remained in the attic of the Morrisville, New York Firehouse for perhaps 100 years.  The banner was for the most part intact, as was the stitching which composed the embroidery on one side, and the painting which made up the image on the reverse.  However, the colors had faded significantly and it was very dirty.

Inside of the banner, filled with
100 years of dirt, but look at
the original teal color.

The good people of Morrisville wanted to restore their banner and, if possible, rehang it in the firehouse.  To do this the banner needed to be housed in a way that would protect it.  Remember though, this is a double sided banner.  If it is framed, one side will be lost.  The solution?  A two-sided display case.

The banner is to hang in the display case using the original brass rings, rod and finials.  The stress points caused from the junction where the ring meets the fabric and is stitched to the banner was deemed too fragile to re-affix the rings.  Another solution was needed.

To construct, sometimes you must deconstruct.  The banner has two sides, and those sides required separation from each other during internal cleaning and re-application of the badly disintegrating padded layer making up the center of the banner.  SAC conservators Gwen Spicer and Nicolette Cook came up with the idea to integrate a piece of sheer fabric, which would run the length of the top of the banner.  It would be secured using running stitches and approximately 2 inches of the sheer fabric would be extended from the top of the banner.  The sheer fabric created a sleeve (much like the space where the rod passes through a curtain).  The fabric would hang from the rod, and the banner then would hang from the fabric.  The brass rings would then be affixed to this sheer fabric, thus eliminating the stress to the original fabric.  The trick was to get the rings around the rod, and through the sheer fabric.  In other words: the sheer fabric had to go around the rod, the rings had to go through the sheer fabric and around the rod, and then the banner had to be stitched to the fabric, therefore "sealing" in the sheer fabric, rings and rod.

The banner just before it is affixed to the sheer fabric.  In this photo you can really see the degree to which the fabric of the embroidered side had faded from a deep burgundy to an almost brown shade.

Banner after treatment - fabric covers the rod, the rings are "embedded" between the rod, fabric and banner.

The sheer fabric was cut in a "comb" like pattern.  The top of each comb, was seared with a soldering iron to create a perfectly round hole, which the ring would fit into.  Additionally, the color of the sheer fabric was intentionally chosen to create a near match to the rod, allowing it to become virtually invisible once the brass rings surround it.  The outcome is a banner that is conserved and displayed in a way that is beneficial to the banner and pleasing to the people who found this lost treasure in the hopes it would not only be displayed again, but for a long time to come.

Side 2, after treatment

Side 1, after treatment

Museum Worthy?

by Barbara Owens


Some things are simply so prolific you need only mention their name and instantly you can picture it clearly in your head.  Let’s test it out: Leonardo DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa”, Jan Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”, Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”, Edward Barcolo’s “Barcalounger”

Huh?

The Barcalounger: you know it well, but does it really belong grouped with such iconic works?  No, probably not, but it is nonetheless in the collection of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society where it was recently treated by SAC.  Are you asking why Buffalo would have such an interesting and quirky piece?  It is because the Barcalounger, of course, was originally manufactured in Buffalo where it was introduced in 1940.

The original Barcalounger is not much different from the Barcalounger of today – save for the changes in upholstery and styling.  The concept remains the same, chair goes into reclining position, you are helpless to its power, and quickly find yourself napping.

As most conservators who treat furniture will tell you, furniture conservation has intrinsic challenges.  Centuries of the various styles of furniture and upholstery that reflect changing tastes and decorating trends can fill volumes.  As a conservator you could treat a piece each year and perhaps never see the same style twice.  But nearly guaranteed, is that you will probably never be asked to treat a Barcalounger.  So when The Buffalo and Erie County Historic Society (BECHS) asked us to treat theirs, how could we possibly say “no” to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

A barcalounger is cool.  It is a piece of Americana.  And conserving a chair that nearly folds out to a bed is a unique experience.  Here are the answers to your immediate questions: 1) No, we did not test-drive it.  2) Yes, it still “lounges”.

Close up of the chair seat before treatment

The BECHS chair was in desperate need of treatment.  The chair’s original upholstery was splitting and had several areas of loss, and the polyurethane foam was disintegrating.  However, the mechanics of the chair were still sound, as was the frame.

Following conservation, the chair would be part of the exhibit, "Bflo Made!" highlighting things that were “Buffalo born”.  More than 700 products, inventions, and artifacts in the Bflo. Made! exhibit highlight Greater Buffalo’s pride in its commercial and industrial heritage and present-day manufacturing and research.  What else came out of Buffalo you ask?  How about the pacemaker, the jet pack, the kazoo, Cheerios, the disco floor (yes, I mean THE disco floor, as in the one that Travolta graced with white disco suit and finger pointed strait in the air in the movie Saturday Night Fever).  The chair remains on permanent exhibit and if you happen to be in the great city of Buffalo, New York check out BECHS.

We will probably never have the chance to treat another Barcalounger, which makes this treatment so memorable.  In our day-to-day work, SAC tends to do conservation of items with similar themes: flags, maps, prints, and what seems like an endless amount of period clothing.  And while each of those items is always amazingly rich in history and so often the pieces are historically significant, it is so refreshing to do something completely different from anything else.

The Barcalounger post-treatment