Michael Tho. Reynolds, Upholsterer & Furniture Maker records

The Michael Tho. Reynolds, Upholsterer & Furniture Maker records are comprised of correspondence, financial records, printed materials such as catalogs and upholstering journals, books, photographs and artifactual fabric swatches.

Correspondence dates from about 1980 to the present. This is broken into such categories as customers, donations of historic upholstering artifacts to organizations, research interests, government issues and suppliers. The supplier correspondence is mostly mail and catalog information sent to Mr. Reynolds. His trade journals or notes on how he completes certain upholstering techniques (1989-1998) are placed at the end of the correspondence. The descriptions in these provide insights into Mr. Reynolds great interest in traditional hand done upholstering technique. The correspondence for certain customer projects shows how Mr. Reynolds works with various organizations and private citizens and how detailed he documents that work. The correspondence is closed to researchers. The trade journals may be used by researchers but Michael Thomas Reynolds must be credited if information is duplicated or quoted.

The financial records include general ledgers, itemized workbooks (with contract and inventory information), and financial papers (invoices, receipts, bills). These records begin in 1979 and run to the present (the itemized workbooks begin in 1989). Some financial data is also included later in the fabric sample/job records-usually customer invoices with each job. Mr. Reynolds meticulously documents details of various business transactions whether with his customers or with his suppliers. One can possibly research the kinds of jobs being done, the kinds of materials needed, costs of these jobs and what supplies have become obsolete or cannot be obtained any longer.

Printed materials comprise upholstering magazines, journals, catalogs, price lists, miscellaneous directories, articles and books mostly from the 1980s to the present. Using the catalogs one could trace the availability and cost of certain supplies over time and could also observe how the trade has changed as products are no longer offered. The books represent upholstering and decorative arts, textile and furniture topics. They date from the 19th century to the present and are reflective of Mr. Reynolds' vast interest in various handcrafts/trades.

Photographs comprise less than half of one cubic foot of the collection and include negatives, contact prints and slides of upholstering projects accompanied by identification of some images. These document jobs before, during and after upholstering is completed. Additional photographs of this kind are included in the fabric sample/job records. The above photographs date from approximately the 1980s and 1990s.

The largest record series, the fabric sample/job records, document individual jobs for customers throughout any given year and often include swatches of original fabrics removed from furniture, swatches of replacement fabric, photographs, invoices and the like.

Four oversized boxes include historic fabrics and supplies, needlepoint designs and the like removed from furniture during reupholstering. Three fragments of historic wallpaper have been encapsulated and are included among the oversized materials in the collection.