A “Pioneering” Furniture Industry Celebrated At NYC’s Met

by Kate Nixon

 

Cottage Industry: The Val-Kill Furniture Shop

July 18, 2026–May 9, 2027

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 746 North

Free with Museum admission

 

 

 

It’s a story that rings familiar with those that tour the grounds of the Grove Park Inn and enthusiasts of the American Arts and Crafts Movement — a local craft enterprise founded by women that created furniture in a certain style while employing local rural craftspeople and giving immigrants a job. The Val-Kill Furniture Shop, established in 1926 by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a group of activists, turns 100 this year and is currently represented at The Met in the new exhibition Cottage Industry: The Val-Kill Furniture Shop.

 

“Val-Kill is the rarely told story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s mobilization of the traditional handicrafts in an unprecedented workshop led by women and immigrants that later inspired the WPA programs of the Great Depression.”

                   – Alyce Englund, Curator of American Decorative Arts of The American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.

 

The exhibition displays over 30 works of furniture, including furniture on loan from the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, and serves to explore fresh angles on the historic collection and showing the connection between early 20th century craft and social reform. Val-Kill Industries, historically led by Roosevelt and activists Nancy Cook, her life partner, Marion Dickerman, and Caroline O’Day, revived furniture styles inspired by traditions like the Arts and Crafts Movement: viewers will find examples of Stickley Furniture and the Byrdcliffe Colony and learn how Val-Kill was inspired by both the iconic furniture firm and the colony-made. Those who see the exhibition can view rare Val-Kill furniture shown alongside conceptual designs, paintings, Depression-era prints, and sculpture along with desks, tables and chairs from Eleanor Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park.

 

 

 

 

Curator Alyce Englund’s work shows Val-Kill as not only an unknown pioneering workshop, but was central to bringing about crucial change in turn of the century employment and work conditions.

“Val-Kill is the rarely told story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s mobilization of the traditional handicrafts in an unprecedented workshop led by women and immigrants that later inspired the WPA programs of the Great Depression,” says Englund whose work on this exhibit brought in collaboration with the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

This centennial celebration of an unknown cottage industry additionally highlights furniture from the Met’s American Wing collection — an important highlight during the country’s 250th milestone anniversary — bringing the creative processes behind the craftsmanship, the ideals that inspired reform, and the story of pioneering Val-Kill Industries to light.

 

Cottage Industry: The Val-Kill Furniture Shop is made possible by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Americana Fund.

 

Highlights at the Grove Park Inn

In early January, the Val-Kill furniture exhibit will be a Saturday Evening highlight at the Grove Park Inn at the 40th National Arts and Crafts Conference in Asheville, North Carolina.

Curator Alyce Englund will take the podium Saturday night to present “Cottage Industry: The Val-Kill Furniture Shop to tell the story of the women-led venture, provide stunning visuals of the works produced by Val-Kill, and reveal the influences that Gustav Stickley, the Byrdcliffe Arts & Crafts colony, and other american organizations had on the stalwart and pioneering venture that was Val-Kill.

This presentation will be one of two on the Arts & Crafts at the Met. Adrienne Spinozzi, who came to the Grove Park Inn to present “Professional Aspirations: Women & the Art Pottery Movement” in 2017, is returning nearly 10 years later with the gorgeous visuals of the art pottery found at the Met and presenting “New Contexts for American Ceramics at the Met” to be presented Saturday night alongside the Val-Kill furniture presentation.

 

To view more objects featured during the Val-Kill furniture exhibit, click here to see more information on the Met’s website.  

To view the complete list of speakers for the Grove Park Inn conference, click here.

 

 

 

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