It was an ordinary day. Reading a column in my local newspaper written by "The Scribbler," best known as Jack Brubaker titled "Study of Quaker benches reveals evolution of style." He began with... "A bench is a bench is a bench. Until you begin looking very closely at a bench. Until you compare one bench with similar but subtly different benches. Until you realize benches tell something about the people who made them and the people who sat on them." A fellow by the name of Philip Zimmerman, who is a Lancaster-based museum and decorative arts consultant, has spent months studying the plain, unpainted benches at the Lancaster (Quaker) Friends Meetinghouse which is located at 110 Tulane Terrace in East Hempfield Township. Jack wrote that Philip said, "This is a veritable museum of benches. These benches have a lot of stories to tell. We just have to start listening." The meeting house was built in 1955 and is a relatively new meetinghouse, constructed relatively late in the history of Quaker meetings, and collected all of its benches from older meetinghouses, primarily in Chester and Delaware counties, that no longer needed them. As a result, Lancaster has the greatest variety of benches, and some of the oldest, of any Quaker meeting. He knows of no other meetinghouse that owns benches from such a wide area. The samples include seven different groups of benches and four single benches representing two centuries of history. For a furniture historian, studying this collection is something like an art historian discovering a group of fine paintings by various artists that have never been cataloged. Mr. Zimmerman wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on 18th-and early 19th-century meetinghouses of all kinds in New Hampshire. So, when the Lancaster Quakers asked him to examine their local benches, he quickly took on the task. He found that the earliest of the benches at the Friends Meetinghouse dated back to the 1750s, and were austere compared with the most recent ones. Most have been altered and many were purchased in the 1950s. Mr. Zimmerman provided approximate dates of the original benches and has identified a pattern of woodworking that points to individual craftsmen for the seven different groups they have on location. Most early American church benches have raveling plank seats and backs.
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| Mr. Zimmerman shows a bench at Friends Meetinghouse. The 1756 bench originally had four legs; but the legs had been removed and another solid end was placed on either side. |
Unlike standard pews, these benches were not bolted to the floor. They could be arranged and rearranged, if necessary. Today, the meetinghouse benches form a square. Most benches are made of tulip poplar and yellow pine. They are functional, with little ornamentation. Some have dates while others have graffiti carved into them. An American Eagle carving is particularly interesting. Three benches are made of tulip poplar and yellow pine. They are functional, with little ornamentation. Two groups of four benches once stood on rounded legs. A carpenter sawed off the legs and added more conventional bench ends and backs. But, there is much more to this than woodworking and reworking. "We're looking at a history of human comfort in these things," Zimmerman said. For example, several of the benches have extensions on the font of the seats to support more of the sitter's thighs. Some were built with footrests for people sitting in benches behind. Others have accommodations for cushions. "There's a human history quality to this stuff that I find very persuasive," notes Zimmerman. Zimmerman has spoken to the Quaker congregation about the benches. He has written a lengthy essay. A book may be in the works. Mr. Zimmerman's wife is a retired Franklin & Marshall history professor and refers to her husband's obsession as "benching". How clever! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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