During most of the last century, furniture curators and collectors paid little attention to historic upholstery. Not until the 1970s did the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and several other museums begin to reconsider the long-held practice of removing and discarding original upholstery when they acquired seating forms. These institutions came to realize that modern upholsterers were overstuffing the contours of early seating and creating an out-of-proportion and distorted appearance that was hiding carefully shaped frames, carved ornaments and other design elements. For the next 20 years, Colonial Williamsburg's curators began collecting 17th-, 18th-, and early 19th-century seating that retained original coverings and assembled a noteworthy assemblage of British and American pieces. Together, these objects and their forensic studies answered myriad questions about early upholstery, from webbing patterns to bolster shapes to trimmings for show materials.
Now, in “Early Seating Upholstery: Reading the Evidence” (The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, $65, October 2015), conservator Leroy Graves analyzes the objects forensically and illustrates his methods of non-intrusive conservation. The result is a significant contribution to our understanding of the field.
In illustrated chapters featuring color photography as well as black-and-white line drawings, “Early Seating Upholstery” presents a brief history of upholstered seating furniture and discusses the 18th-century upholsterer and the structure and components of upholstered seating furniture (including sections on furniture frames, upholstery materials, and establishing the physical profiles of the objects). The book describes how to read the physical "evidence" on a bare frame in ways that will help readers make sense of what they are looking at. Many of the objects analyzed (including early side chairs, back stools, armchairs, easy chairs and settees, sofas and couches) are bare frames that have been upholstered once, twice and up to seven or eight times. Other pieces retain only portions of their original under upholstery. Never before has a book on the subject been written by someone who is both a craftsman and a furniture historian, qualifications that provide the author with a unique perspective.
A chapter on "The Graves Approach" for nonintrusive upholstery conservation is included as well. As explained in the book, "Reupholstering antique seating furniture using traditional methods compromises and, in some cases, destroys the original integrity of the objects. When hundreds of new tacks are added to secure successive treatments, for example, furniture frames suffer extensive damage, and evidence of the object's original upholstery is lost ... the Graves approach assesses each piece individually and develops a treatment plan in response to its individual needs." These nonintrusive methods were developed to restore antiques to their earliest appearance without marking or disturbing the frames, thus preserving not only original materials but also evidence.
Recognized today worldwide as a leader in the field of upholstery conservation, Graves reached that status in the field via an uncommon path. He first joined the facilities maintenance staff of Colonial Williamsburg in 1967 and was soon thereafter recruited to be an art handler in the Department of Collections, a position he held for nearly 10 years.
As Ronald L. Hurst, the Carlisle H. Humelsine chief curator at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, writes of Graves in his foreword to the book: “His keen eye, intellectual curiosity, exceptional hand skills and intense work ethic caught the attention of the senior curatorial staff and led to an opportunity to work in the furniture conservation lab ... [There, he] began to study examples of original upholstery and to design new systems that would replicate period coverings without adding thousands of damaging tacks to fragile antique frames. In time, his minimally intrusive upholstery techniques were copied and adapted by colleagues at institutions across the country.”
Graves joined the Conservation Department at its inception in 1984. As David B. Blanchfield, Colonial Williamsburg's director of conservation, writes in the book: “In a time when great emphasis is placed on the formal education of young art conservators, Leroy's career serves as a reminder that an earlier paradigm, that of apprentice training, remains valid. Leroy matured as a professional concurrently with many of the modern concepts of scientific conservation, and he has helped define those concepts as they relate to upholstered furniture conservation ... Individuals become art conservators because they desire to make a difference by contributing to the preservation of cultural property. Leroy Graves's contributions to this field have been groundbreaking and lasting.”
The book is destined to become essential reading for furniture and textile curators, conservators and collectors alike, but also a fascinating tome for anyone interested in history, decorative arts and design.

About the Author.
Leroy Graves has given nearly 50 years of service to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and is one of the world's leading upholstery conservators. His nonintrusive techniques for restoring upholstery have been adapted by museums around the globe.