Mark Anderson
Upholstered Furniture Conservator
and Adjunct Assistant Professor
Mark Anderson received an interdisciplinary BA from the University of Maryland, Catonsville. He had previously studied at the U of M School of Pharmacy; the interdisciplinary degree combined chemistry, art history, and museum studies. His coursework at Catonsville was augmented by his partnership in a Baltimore firm specializing in furniture making and antique restoration. In 1984 Anderson accepted a Fellowship at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and was subsequently offered a position as Assistant Conservator of Furniture. In addition to treating furniture in the Foundation’s collection Anderson also assisted in the reproduction of several important pieces of furniture including an exact copy of the ornately carved and insignia-decorated Masonic Master’s Chair by Benjamin Bucktrout, 1767. In 1986 he accepted a position as a furniture conservator at Winterthur Museum and concurrently began teaching for WUDPAC. In 1989 he was made a faculty member of the Smithsonian Institution Conservation Analytical Laboratory’s Furniture Conservation Training Program. He has consulted for The White House, Monticello, The National Park service and many public and private museums. Anderson has been a regular lecturer for private and professional audiences and has authored numerous articles and studies, often collaborating with museum curators and scientists. The topics range from a study on the origins and construction of Pennsylvania Moravian easy chairs produced within a religious community to a scientific investigation of elemental sulfur used as an inlay material in American furniture. Currently Anderson holds the position of Upholstered Furniture Conservator at Winterthur.
