Observations and theories about historic making processes can be substantiated or quickly dispelled through the act of recreating an historic object. In this video series I share discoveries made while replicating the Sarah Strong Chest that I had not realized through observation.

Hadley chests like the Sarah Strong chest were made sometime between 1680 and 1720. In a time when women could not legally own movable goods like furniture, it was culturally accepted that these chests were the property of the women for whom they were made. Chests were typically given by their parents to young newlywed women starting their own households.