Off the Shelf Book Club: Craft: An American History by Glenn Adamson

To mark the United States 250th anniversary and Wharton Esherick’s birthday, we’ll be exploring the central role that craft has played in American life and history through Glenn Adamson’s Craft: An American History. Glenn Adamson is a curator, historian, and writer whose work focuses on craft, design, and contemporary arts. Craft: An American History shows that craft has been central to debates around class, gender, race, and equality in the United States, from the revolutionary period through today’s debates around healthcare, freedom, and identity. In this meeting, we’ll be exploring special collections and archival materials related to ways Esherick used his craft to explore ideas around advocacy, expression, and representation, as well as materials that help us understand the important role of craft in representing people who do not otherwise appear in the historical record.

About the Book Club: Off the Shelf: The Wharton Esherick Museum Book Club is an in-person program at the Wharton Esherick Museum. We will hold meetings every six weeks, on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 p.m.