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Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

Name: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
Address: 924 S Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC, 27101, US
Telephone: +13367217360
Price range: $$

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Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts

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MESDA is the preeminent center for the research and study of Southern decorative arts and material culture. MESDA is located at Old Salem Museums & Gardens.

MESDA is home to the most comprehensive collection of southern decorative arts and related research resources in the country. Old Salem Inc.'s main page is facebook.com/OldSalemInc

10/14/2026

This desk might hail from East Tennessee, but its large inlaid eagle puts its American identity front and center! It was likely made for Captain Joseph Kirk (1755-1821), who served as a Captain in the 2nd Regiment of Johnson’s East Tennessee Militia during the War of 1812. The number of stars suggests that it was made between 1803 when Ohio joined the Union and 1812 when Louisiana became a state.

Attendees at our upcoming MESDA Furniture Seminar “Southern Furniture & American Identity” (October 22-24) will get to see this desk, plus eleven galleries worth of amazing objects, during our collections open house.

To learn more about MESDA's collection and register for the Furniture Seminar, visit https://mesda.org/

Desk, possibly by William McClure (1785-1854), Greene County, Tennessee, 1803-1812, cherry, yellow pine, poplar, and walnut, partial gift of Mary Jo Case (5936)

10/07/2026

Meet one of the newest additions to the MESDA collection: a monumental fall-front desk from the workshop of John C. Burgner in Burke County, North Carolina. We’re pretty certain about the attribution here, as Burgner stamped his name over each foot! Thanks to the survival of the Burgner shop ledger, the desk is remarkably well documented. We know it was finished in late July 1834 by Burgner and his journeyman cabinetmaker, Rice C. Spears. They charged client Col. James Erwin $60 for this “French Secretary,” an uncommon form for an inland south workshop, but one produced by urban makers along the East Coast. It was later owned and stewarded by members of the Forney and Tate families, who generously entrusted it to MESDA in 2026 through a partial gift.

Want to see this fantastic object in person? Come enjoy it during our open house during MESDA’s biennial Furniture Seminar, this October 22-24th. Register today on our website! See the link in the comments below.

Want to learn more about the Burgner shop and read the ledger for yourself? Check out Dr. Daniel Ackermann’s 2021 article in the Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts. See the link the comments below.

Fall-front desk, Shop of John C. Burgner (1797–1863), with journeyman Rice C. Spears (1812–1871), Burke County, North Carolina, July 1834, Cherry, walnut, maple, yellow pine, poplar, partial gift of the Robert & Claudia Tate family (6200)

Mary Willie Tate (left) and Margaret Tate (right), “arranging some of their family heirlooms for display,” August 1960

10/06/2026

New in the MESDA Journal: Jennifer Downs’s New Discoveries note, “Revolutionary Upcycle: The Kentucky Historical Society’s ‘Lafayette Dress.’”

In May 1825, during his historic farewell tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette visited Kentucky and was celebrated as a living symbol of the Revolution. According to family tradition, nineteen-year-old Sarah Louisa Lane wore this silk dress to a ball in his honor in Shelbyville.

In this note, Downs explores how an eighteenth-century gown was refashioned for a new generation and, as it was passed down and cherished by Sarah’s family, came to preserve the memory of Lafayette and the Revolutionary past.

Read the full New Discoveries note: https://www.mesdajournal.org/2026/new-discoveries-revolutionary-upcycle-the-kentucky-historical-societys-lafayette-dress/

Silk Dress; Shelbyville, Kentucky; ca. 1825; Courtesy of the Kentucky Historical Society, 1960.4. Photograph by Howard Sutcliffe, River Region Costume and Textile Conservation.

10/05/2026

Attention Students! Join us for the MESDA Furniture Seminar on October 23-24 at a special student rate!

Experience two days of exciting lectures with leading experts along with an opportunity to explore MESDA’s study galleries!

Tara Chicirda (Colonial Williamsburg, Senior Curator of Furniture), shown here with MESDA Summer Institute Fellows, will discuss the work of John Hockaday on October 23.

The student rate of $100 includes all lectures, the keynote reception and address, as well as breakfast and lunch both days.

To learn more and register, visit https://mesda.org/program/southern-furniture-american-identity/

09/30/2026

There's still time to register for MESDA’s biennial Furniture Seminar, Southern Furniture & American Identity on October 23-24!

Join us in Winston-Salem or online for this two-day seminar exploring the ways that craftspeople reflected shifting American and European tastes in their work.

Participants will engage in lectures with leading scholars, explore MESDA’s study galleries, and experience a John Shaw Pembroke table demonstration!

To learn more or register, visit https://mesda.org/program/southern-furniture-american-identity/

Images:
(Left) Pembroke table, attributed to John Shaw, Annapolis, Maryland, 1770-1780, mahogany, yellow pine, tulip poplar, MESDA Purchase Fund (4376)

(Right) Pembroke table, John Shaw, Annapolis, Maryland, 1790-1795, mahogany, birch, oak, yellow pine, tulip poplar, lent by the Kaufman Americana Foundation (3125)

09/24/2026

A look back at our Artistic Liberties Paintings Seminar this past weekend!

Two days of fascinating paintings and engaging lectures concluded with the awarding of the “golden palette” to Daniel Welfare (represented by MESDA’s Chief Curator Johanna Brown) in the highly anticipated “most Sulley-ed artist” contest!

A special thank you to our wonderful sponsors who made the program possible:
Case Antiques
Leland Little
Carol Holcomb

Join us October 22-24 for MESDA’s Furniture Seminar! To learn more and register, visit https://mesda.org/program/southern-furniture-american-identity/

09/23/2026

Check out this post by MESDA Summer Institute 2026 fellow, Blaine Howard! We are grateful to The Decorative Arts Trust and William and Susan Mariner for supporting Blaine's time with us this past June.

09/18/2026

Artistic Liberties: Southern Paintings & American Identity begins today!

We are looking forward to two exciting days at MESDA!

To join us virtually, visit https://mesda.org/program/paintings-seminar/ to register.

If you are interested in joining us in-person, please contact 336.721.7328 for availability.

Images:
MESDA Paintings Gallery

Elizabeth (Paisley) Gibson, Guilford Limner, Guilford County, North Carolina, 1827, watercolor on paper, Gift of Alice Fitzgibbon

Portrait of William Henry Capers, Ralph Earl, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1788. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund.

Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of Judith Hernstadt

George Washington, Frederick Kemmelmeyer, Wi******er, Virginia, after 1812, oil on paper, MESDA Purchase Fund (3814)

Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, British Gallery

Unfinished Miniature of Unidentified Man, Elias Alexander Vogler, Salem, North Carolina, 1845-1855, watercolor on ivory, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Vogler

Self-portrait (detail), Daniel Welfare, Salem, North Carolina, 1825, oil on canvas, Wachovia Historical Society Collection (P-86)

Self-portrait, Thomas Jefferson Wright, Mount Sterling, Kentucky, 1834, oil on canvas, loan courtesy of the family of Thomas Jefferson Wright (6065)

Mary (Jones) Keating Broughton, Mary Roberts, Charleston, South Carolina, 1740-1750, watercolor on ivory, Gift of Davida Deutsch in memory of Frank L. Horton (5494)

Robert S. Duncanson, A View of Asheville, North Carolina, 1850. Oil on academy board, 13 x 18 13/16 in. (33.0 x 47.8 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum purchase funded by the Susan Vaughan Foundation in memory of Susan Clayton McAshan.

Address

924 S Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC
27101

Opening Hours

Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

+13367217360

Website

http://www.mesda.org/

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