Calendar of Events

In this online event, join Tracey Parks on his journey to uncover the life and work of Moses Crawford, Tennessee's first cabinet maker, including Crawford's origins, social and political connections and clientele. Beginning with little more than an 1819 Knox County probate inventory and the provenance of a Tennessee cupboard in the MESDA collection, Parks illustrates how the serendipitous connection of these first two pieces of the puzzle led to the rediscovery of one of Tennessee’s earliest documented artisans. Parks will detail Crawford’s journey to Tennessee from Colonial Virginia, the community in which he lived, and the expanding body of work including a desk and bookcase recently acquired by the Tennessee State Museum.

Tracey Parks is a seventh generation Tennessean who is actively involved in the preservation of Tennessee decorative arts. A resident of Lebanon, Tenn., Parks has served as the first chairman of the Lebanon Historic Preservation Commission. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) and has written for several publications including Art of Tennessee and the Journal of the Early Southern Decorative Arts (JESDA). His most recently published research, titled, “Moses Crawford: Tennessee’s Earliest Cabinetmaker Revealed,” provides a detailed history on the cabinetmaker. It can be accessed online at mesda.org, in Vol. 34 (2013) of JEDSA. 

Guests will be able to ask questions during the discussion that will be answered towards the end of the talk, should time allow. Join us online at noon CST (1 p.m. EST) on January 13, 2021.

Click here is the link for the event. The password is "Hello" and it is case sensitive, so be sure to use a cap "H"