Rocking chair / production chair #6, 1870-1875, Mount Lebanon, NY. Child’s rocking chair / production chair #1, 1880-1920. Photo SFO Museum.
Around the beginning of the 19th century, rocking chairs had become established in American homes. The Shakers gradually refined the familiar form into lighter, more balanced chair. Within their communities they were particularly associated with comfort for older members. The Shaker Millennial Laws of 1845 permitted one rocking chair per room, with exceptions where the aged reside. Over the course of the nineteenth century, what had often been an individually made chair evolved into one of the characteristic forms of Shaker production furniture.
Wheelchair, made from a modified rocking chair, Watervliet or possibly Mount Lebanon, New York around 1830. Shakermuseum
This Shaker wheelchair began life as a rocking armchair. At some point it was adapted for a member with limited mobility.
The combination of rockers and wheels may look unusual today, but rocking armchairs were common in Shaker communities, while stationary armchairs were comparatively rare. The conversion also predates the first U.S. patent for a self-propelled wheelchair, granted in 1869.
Nothing suggests a standardized medical product. The metal components were hand-forged, and the wooden wheels could have been produced with skills already available within the communities: Mount Lebanon included both spinning-wheel and wagon makers. Leather strips fitted into grooves around the rims served as tires. Two notches in the front stretcher indicate that the chair originally also had some form of footrest.
The chair was probably intended primarily for use inside the dwelling house rather than on the flagstone paths outdoors. More importantly, it belongs to a wider group of Shaker objects adapted to individual physical needs. Surviving orthopedic shoes, canes and a walker show that such practical assistance was part of community life. Rather than replacing an established object, the Shakers modified what was already there: a familiar rocking chair became a means of mobility.
