• Suffield Senior Center, 145 Bridge Street
• RSVP: rsvphistory@gmail.com or at www.suffieldhistoricalsociety.org/contact (Not required, but helpful)
Weds. October 19, 7 p.m.
Native American Presentation
Weds. November 2, 7 p.m.
Revelations from the Ledger of an Early American Hartford Cabinetmaker
Zoom and In-Person Lecture presented by furniture scholars Kevin G. Ferrigno and Christine Ritok
The 2016 discovery of the ledger of Lemuel Adams (1769-1850), a partner in the prominent Hartford cabinetmaking firm Kneeland & Adams (1792-1795), reveals new information about furniture production and business practices in Hartford County in the 1790s. The ledger includes the shop’s financial accounts, biographical information, customer lists and shop output. Long-time furniture researcher Kevin G. Ferrigno and Suffield Historical Society curator Christine Ritok will discuss new insights revealed from their research of this fascinating document.
Christine Ritok is a newly appointed curator at the Suffield Historical Society. She holds a BA in history and art history from Kalamazoo College, and an MA from the Parsons School of Design/Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Institution in the History of Decorative Arts & Design. Before joining the Historical Society, she was the Associate Curator at Historic Deerfield, the Associate Curator for Sculpture & Decorative Arts at the Museum of the City of New York, held curatorial positions at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the Detroit Institute of Arts, and was a part-time faculty member of Parsons School of Design. While at Historic Deerfield, her main project was cataloguing Historic Deerfield’s permanent collection of furniture, incorporating recent scholarship and close object study.
Kevin G. Ferrigno is Vice President and General Counsel of DATTCO, Inc., a diversified regional transportation company. Among other affiliations, Kevin is a former Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) trustee and formerly chaired the CHS Collections Steering Committee. Together with former Windsor Historical Society curator Christina K. Vida, he continues a long-term study of Windsor cabinetmaker George Belden, and is working with Christine Ritok on a long-term study of central Connecticut River Valley cabinetmakers who worked during the Federal period.
Christine and Kevin have presented on Hartford area Federal cabinetmaking at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Historic Deerfield, The Connecticut Historical Society and The Webb-Deane Stevens Museum.
