Thomas Day Book Released May 22

Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color
By Patricia Phillips Marshall and Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll
Foreword by Dr. Jeffrey J. Crow
Approx. 320 pp., 20 color and 243 b&w illus., 4 maps, appends., notes, bibl., index
$40, hardcover
Publication date: May 22, 2010
Interview contact information is at end of release.

On Saturday, May 22, the University of North Carolina Press will release the book Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color. Co-authorsPatricia Phillips Marshall and Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll explore the life and legacy of this accomplished artisan and entrepreneur from Milton, Caswell County. Day owned and operated one of North Carolina’s largest cabinet shops prior to the Civil War, and his surviving furniture and architectural woodwork still represent the best of 19th-century craftsmanship and aesthetics.

 
The book Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color will be released by the University of North Carolina Press on May 22. Co-authors Patricia Phillips Marshall and Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll explore the life and legacy of this accomplished artisan and entrepreneur from Milton, Caswell County.

Marshall, curator of decorative arts for the N.C. Museum of History and the Executive Mansion, and Leimenstoll, professor of interior architecture at UNC-Greensboro, show how Day carefully charted a course for success in antebellum southern society. Beginning in the 1820s, he produced fine furniture for leading citizens, the movers and shakers of the Dan River region in North Carolina and Virginia. In the 1840s and 1850s, he diversified his offerings to produce newel posts, stair brackets and distinctive mantels for many of the same clients. As demand for his services increased, the technological improvements Day incorporated into his shop in Milton contributed to the complexity of his designs.

“Although the book’s official release date is May 22, we are already seeing strong advance sales for this gorgeously designed book that finally gives Thomas Day his due,” says Gina Mahalek, Director of Publicity at the University of North Carolina Press.

Patricia Phillips Marshall (left) and Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll, co-authors of Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color. Marshall is curator of decorative arts for the N.C. Museum of History and the Executive Mansion, and Leimenstoll is professor of interior architecture at UNC-Greensboro.

Day’s style, characterized by undulating shapes, fluid lines and spiraling forms, melded his own unique motifs with popular design forms, resulting in a distinctive interpretation readily identified to his shop. The 320-page book documents furniture in public and private collections, as well as architectural woodwork from private homes not previously associated with Day. The book provides information on more than 160 pieces of furniture and architectural woodwork that Day produced for 80 structures between 1835 and 1861.

Through in-depth analysis and hundreds of photographs and illustrations, Marshall and Leimenstoll provide a comprehensive perspective on and a new understanding of the powerful sense of aesthetics and design that mark Day’s legacy.

Signed copies of Thomas Day will be available in the Museum Shop at the Museum of History. Prior to the book’s release date, you can preorder a signed copy at the Museum Shop or online at ncmuseumofhistoryshop.com. For more information about Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color, go to http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/T-5982.html.

For additional details about the N.C. Museum of History, call 919-807-7900 or access ncmuseumofhistory.org or Facebook®.The museum is located at 5 E. Edenton St., across from the State Capitol. Parking is available in the lot across Wilmington Street.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

For interviews with Patricia Marshall, contact Susan Lamb at the N.C. Museum of History, 919-807-7943 or susan.lamb@ncdcr.gov. For interviews with Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll or for review copies, call Gina Mahalek at 919-962-0581 or e-mail Gina_Mahalek@unc.edu.

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