Hand Lamp, circa 1830

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers, is a religious sect begun in the late 1700s. Members banded together into small, mostly self-sufficient, communal enclaves scattered from Maine to Kentucky. Shaker craftsmen fashioned household furnishings with plain lines, little ornamentation, and painted or stained in a uniform color. Their craftsmanship expressed honesty, simplicity, and utility--in keeping with the guiding principles of the Shaker faith.