New Exhibit On Shaker Culture Opens Later This Month In Doylestown

A new exhibit opens later this month at The Mercer Museum in Doylestown.

Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection is an "extraordinary" exhibition featuring more than 200 Shaker objects collected over 40 years by Faith and Edward Deming Andrews, according to information from the museum.

"The comprehensive collection represents the most significant body of Shaker materials ever assembled. The Mercer Museum is the last venue for Gather up the Fragments, which wraps up a ten-city national tour," the museum said in an announcement.

The exhibition will open Jan. 28 and be on view through April 23.

Here's more from the museum about the exhibit:

The Andrews were among the first to recognize the unique contributions of the Shakers, an almost extinct Christian sect known for their ecstatic worship, to American culture. The story of how they acquired and eventually disposed of their collection is a fascinating tale of intrigue, promises made and broken, relationships, friendships, ethics, passion and scholarship. From the 1920s through the 1960s, they actively pursued Shaker objects, collecting mainly from the Shakers themselves. Their efforts resulted in numerous publications, nearly all of which were pioneering scholarly works that examined multiple facets of Shaker life and launched the field of Shaker studies.

In conjunction with the exhibit, there will be a lecture by Gather Up the Fragments curator, Christian Goodwillie, on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. Also on Jan. 28, local artisan Karen Wychock will demonstrate and share her knowledge of Shaker basket-making traditions from 2 to 4 p.m.

Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection is included with museum admission. Mercer Museum admission is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors (65+) and $8 for youth ages 6-17.

For more information, visit mercermuseum.org.

The Mercer Museum is located at 84 S Pine St.

Contributed photo, The Mercer Museum