As many of you may have read this past week on our Facebook page, I’ve been exploring our archives; shuffling through photos, old advertisements, newspaper articles, early catalogs. As our 25thanniversary year is well underway, we have a mailing coming up that we need to design and many of these old images will come in handy.
So far, I’ve only perused one box of goodies, and there are, I think, seven. Already I’ve been having much fun. Among the unsurprising images of the early workshop in Poland Spring, the first few “signature” designs and the first library installation, there are some unexpected and poignant novelties. I dusted off a letter yesterday, written by Bill Huston to Tom Moser – Bill’s resignation letter from Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers on February 5, 1988. It was a lovely letter; not just from an employee to a boss, but friend to friend and study to mentor.
There is also a letter from Bill to his parents, Christmastime, 1988 (many of the items we have in our archives came from the attic at Bill’s parents’ house). It is a three page, handwritten letter explaining the intricacies of starting a new business: visits to banks, finding equipment, learning about marketing, etc. And it expresses the emotions that come with all that: excitement and nervousness and eagerness and trepidation.
And that’s just the first box.
To follow, a few images from that first box. Bill in the late 1980’s, Bill in the mid 1990’s, our ad in Metropolis Magazine August 1991, a stack of poloroids from an early catalog shoot, and photos of the completion and installation of an enormous conference table in Philadelphia in 1994.
Enjoy.
