Back Stools

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Tom M

Tom M

Well-known member
I just finished making a Philadelphia back stool.  I sent a picture to a friend and he asked why it is called a back stool. 

In the Winterthur New England book they show several back stools, many have arms. It seems the term "back stool" refers to a chair with a back (duh) which has the back and seat upholstered.  So even if it has arms (un-upholstered) it is still a back stool.

Seemed like a good question for the forum.  Why "Back Stool"?
 
Tom,

You might check in the book Upholstery in America and Europe from the Seventeenth Century to World War  I   by Edward S. Cooke for that answer.  I know it talks about back stools, but I can't remember if it explains  why that term.
 
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