Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - September 14, 1986
By Susie Dewey
Vigo County Historical Society

Chairs help tell Victorians’ story

To the devotee of comfort, the rocking chair is the greatest chair ever invented by man.

A fireside rocking chair in the Victorian parlor in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley fairly calls to the viewer to sit and visit for a while. The graceful, low, wide chair has been refinished and upholstered in an off-white damask fabric. At the top of the back rest and on the front of the seat are carefully carved roses. The ever-popular claws are carved at the end of the rockers.

Such a chair reflects and tells much about the people who once warmed themselves near a coal fire in the fireplace. The Victorian parlor was the province of the woman of the house. In her parlor the housewife made a statement about her lifestyle and her place in society. With an abundance of furniture and decorative items, she told of the affluence, education, tastes and travels of the family. With the style of furniture, she established the comfort and cohesiveness of the family life of the period.

Chairs, such as the rocker, were low to the floor to allow heavily skirted and tightly corseted ladies to rise with as much ease and grade as possible. Back rests were high enough to offer protection from drafts in the rooms with high ceilings, but not so high as to interfere with hair arrangements and ornaments. Seats were wide and arm rests were low to accommodate the voluminous skirts and sleeves that the ladies wore in order not to reveal their shapes.

The front part of the rocking tread often was shortened to prevent the tread from tearing ladies petticoats. The platform rocker often was used to prevent the treads from wearing our the carpets.

Visitors to any Victorian parlor must be impressed and amazed at the number of pieces arranged in the room. Etiquette books of the era decreed that a lady entering the drawing room or parlor should use small steps. Indeed, the steps were never to be longer than the length of the foot. She could hardly have walked gracefully or safely among the large number of items in the room, otherwise.

Visitors in the 20th century cannot help but be amused at the reason for so many chairs in the average parlor. The great number of chairs not only reflected the wealth of the family but also protected the morality of family and visitors. It was considered indelicate, to say the least, for a seated gentleman to offer his chair to a lady. He might rise at her entrance into the room as a mark of respect and esteem, but he never offered her the chair in which he had been seated. The seat cushion might retain his body warmth. He offered her a fresh, unsullied chair. Therefore, the room required many spare chairs as safeguards against any such impropriety occurring.

Another amusing stricture of the time absolutely forbade the placing of books by male and female authors side by side in the bookcase. Usually the bookcase was not in the parlor, but in either the den, library or bedroom. Of course, the ban was lifted if the male and female authors were married to each other.

In addition to following the dicta of ornamentation, safety and morality, the Victorian lady had to consider comfort. The parlor was the room in which the family gathered and in which the women spent most of their time.

In the middle-class homes, such as the Sage house in which the museum is located, the men were away at work long hours. The 40-hour week had not been conceived. Men also visited clubs and lodges as well as offices and stores. At home they often retired to a den or the library. Servants were in the kitchen. Children had playrooms or nurseries. The parlor was the room for female visitors, family members and social life.

Children and males visited the parlor, but they were in a sense, guests of the ladies of the household. In the parlor, both males and children were on their best behavior, and few concessions were made. The furniture was comfortable, luxurious and interesting.

No rules about placement, unity or type kept the lady’s taste from reflecting her individuality. In fact, this very practice has led some authorities to call the Victorian period the "battle of the styles." For this reason, Victorian parlors have some items to interest almost any visitor.

The chair, from earliest antiquity, was the emblem of authority. The chest, but bench and the stool were the ordinary seats of everyday life. The Victorian lady’s fireside rocking chair was the emblem of her authority over the decoration, the morals, the customs and the comfort of her home.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday.