Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection

“Complex in its simple beauty, Gather Up the Fragments is an inspirational tour de force spotlighting a culture all but gone. It is a journey into the psyche of men and women living their calling with intent, dreaming of Heaven on Earth and dedicating themselves to using every fiber of themselves to make that happen.”

– F. Daniel Kent, excerpt from Now Hear This! blog

“Virtually everything in this show projects an aura of the respect the Shakers afforded to both the materials and the user, as well as their ethic of faith in simplicity.”

– Ken Greenleaf, Portland Phoenix

“Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”

– John 6:12, King James Version

Gather Up the Fragments tells the story of the first and most avid collectors of the Shaker art—Faith and Edward Deming Andrews. This exhibition of approximately 190 objects—including craft and household objects such as textiles, baskets, kitchen implements, and furniture—is the most comprehensive collection of Shaker materials ever assembled, offering insight into the Andrews’ complex role as pioneers in the field of Shaker studies.

Organized by Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, this exhibition examines the full scope of the Andrews’ involvement with Shakerism—as scholars, collectors, and dealers. From the 1920s through the ’60s, they actively pursued Shaker objects, collecting mainly from the Shakers themselves. Through careful documentation and scholarship, they have illuminated these materials, and their collection has bequeathed to future generations the most comprehensive body of evidence on the culture of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.

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