Vigo County Historical Society

Carving one of Victorian woman’s many talents

The bench in the Victorian nursery on the second floor of the Vigo County Historical Museum intrigues all who see it and presents a new dimension of a Victorian lady.

Mary Penine Kent, who lived at 305 Park St. in Terre Haute, built and carved the bench, but this was only one of her talents. The large crazy quilt hanging above the bench was stitched and embroidered by her.

Besides her talents mentioned above, Mary Kent painted china, practiced taxidermy and constructed cabinets. Her grandson, John Lamb, collected 30 of the approximately 50 pieces of black walnut and cherry furniture she built and carved by hand.

At age 40, after returning from an 1880 visit to the Black Forest region of Germany where she purchased more than 200 tools for intricate carving, Mary Kent went to Cincinnati for instructions from a German cabinetmaker and woodcarver. She designed, constructed and carved chairs, tables, chests, plaques, frames, trinket boxes, a china cabinet and a dressing table.

The bench in the nursery at the museum has three carved panels on the back and carved panels on the exterior of both arms. It contains a storage compartment beneath the seat where needlework, books or even toys could be hidden.

Mrs. Kent died in 1932. She was 93. She appeals to the women of the 1990s for her diversified and uncommon skills as well as her craftsmanship.