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Temple Chair
Donation Program

The Sharon Temple Museum Society seeks to fill the Temple of the Children of Peace with reproduction Temple chairs and original Meeting House and Temple chairs. Help us build our collection!

Donations of Antique Meeting House and Temple Chairs are Welcome!

Meeting House and Temple chairs are valued antiques, treasured by many descendants of the Children of Peace. Many were sold to Winn's Theatre in Aurora in 1915 and have since been passed along to antique dealers. 

How would you recognize Meeting House or Temple Chairs at garage sales or auctions?

Many of these chairs have the name of the original owners written on the bottom and have other distinctive markings. Both chairs are rod-backed, Windsor side chairs, usually made of pine or maple. Both chairs have a thick, shield-shaped plank seat. In many, but not all of these chairs, a decorative groove has been cut in the top of the seat around the rods of the back rest. They have bamboo turnings on the posts and flared legs, with one stretcher between each tapered leg. They are generally between 83 and 87 cm high. The seats are approximately 45 x 35 cm. The Meeting House and Temple chairs differ slightly. The plank seat of the Temple chair has a pronounced bevel on the lower side; the Meeting House chair does not. The Temple chair has four rods in the back rest; the Meeting House chair has only three. The Temple chair legs have three separate grooves. The Meeting House chair legs have a set of two grooves on top, a set of three grooves at the stretcher bar, and a final set of three grooves at the bottom on the front legs, while the back legs are like those of the Temple chair, with three separate grooves. 

Purchase a Reproduction Temple Chair for $1000.

Your charitable gift will be acknowledged by the Sharon Temple National Historic Site and Museum in the same way as the Children of Peace originally did. A reproduction Temple Chair - with a plaque bearing your name (or a name of your choice) - will be placed in the main auditorium of the Sharon Temple. You will also be acknowledged as a Temple Chair donor in the year-end issue of our newsletter, Temple Trees. Your generous gift will be recognized in a Temple Chair dedication ceremony in the Sharon Temple, planned at your convenience and organized by the Sharon Temple National Historic Site and Museum. 

Importantly, your significant donation to our reproduction Temple Chair programme will also help us build our permanent collection of original Meeting House and Temple Chairs. 

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Have you decided who you would like to purchase a chair for? Fill out the following form and include the plaque information in the "Message for Sharon Temple National Historic Site & Museum" section. 

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