Join us for “Anti-domestic: An Alternative Architectural History of Gustav Stickley,” a six-part online lecture series!

Led by Dr. Willa Granger, our new Curator of Education and Collections, this series will consider the broader architectural history of Gustav Stickley, exploring the diverse spaces and places that facilitated his entrepreneurship. We will examine and hypothesize about how Stickley existed in, reacted to, and shaped buildings ranging from the furniture shop at Auburn State Prison to his factory in Syracuse and his tall building in Manhattan, down to the very infrastructure—train networks, lumberyards, and beyond—that enabled the Craftsman vision. In telling this alternative architectural history, we can better understand the man, positioning him less exclusively as a visionary Arts and Crafts crusader and more as a businessman and property owner navigating the complex and contradictory terrain of Progressive-era America.

Lectures may be purchased individually or as a complete series. Click here for the full course description.

Lecture 1
Convict-Laborer-Craftsman: Stickley’s Prison Problem

Sat., October 10, 2026, at 1:00 P.M. EDT

In 1890, well before Stickley produced his recognizable Craftsman furniture, he and his early business partner, Elgin A. Simonds, pursued a manufacturing contract at Auburn State Prison. Using low-paid convict labor to reduce manufacturing costs, Stickley oversaw the prison’s furniture workshop: a multi-story, multi-building set of brick spaces that occupied a significant portion of the prison’s footprint. Stickley’s use of convict labor seems less like an aberration in his early career and more like a strategy when we consider his additional labor contracts at the Elmira Prison in partnership with F. H. Mills Company. Who were the prisoners Stickley worked with, and what did they make under his guidance? How did Stickley’s experience in a highly regimented and hierarchical “workplace” influence his future production techniques in Eastwood, New York? Or, more critically still, how and why did Stickley condone this practice, and how can we reconcile it with how he would fashion himself as a champion of the dignity of workers? In this lecture, we will explore this curious and complicated chapter of Stickley’s life, venturing behind the prison walls to reconstruct the space, place, and materiality of the Stickley & Simonds Auburn workshop. Along the way, we will witness how furniture manufacturing of the era nestled within larger debates around fair labor practices, incarceration, and reform.

A La Carte
Member Price: $30 / session
Non-Member Price: $35 / session

Full Course
Member Price: All 6 sessions for $150 (one session free)
Non-Member Price: All 6 sessions for $210

Registration is required. Once registered and paid, you will receive an email prior to each session with a link to join.

Do you have a scheduling conflict for the live session? You can still enjoy the program. Register and we’ll send you the recording! All paid attendees will be emailed a private link to the session recording when it is available, typically 6-7 days after the live program.

Missed us? You can also register retroactively. If you register for a session that has passed, you’ll receive access to the recording when it is ready.

Haven’t tried a session yet? Each session is planned as a “stand-alone” lecture, so you can take them all or attend the topics that interest you most.