Evans, who is a research fellow at the Winterthur Museum, earned her master's degree in UD's Winterthur Program in Early American Culture.

Evans' love of Windsor furniture pieces is evident in everything from her decor to her jewelry. There are several different styles of Windsor chairs in her home, including a child's chair she found for less than $40. Hanging from a gold chain around her neck is a delicate gold charm of a Windsor chair, an item she purchased from a fellow chair aficionado.

Evans explains that she came to be an authority on Windsor furniture quite by accident. While writing her thesis about a craftsperson in Philadelphia, she discovered he had taken on Windsor chairmaking as a sideline. After a bit more research on Windsor chairs, "I realized there had been very little written," she says.

Before long, she was deep in research and was ultimately hired to stay on as a member of the staff at Winterthur, the nation's premier institution for the study of material culture. As a research fellow, she could use a day a week to work on her Windsor project. The end result was a major reference work of 700-plus pages.

Her first book, American Windsor Chairs, published in 1996, received the George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America and the Charles F. Montgomery Prize from the Decorative Arts Society Inc.

Evans can look at a Windsor chair and tell you in which area of the country it was produced and when. Some have fancy paint work, while other, earlier versions have artfully turned woodwork. And, to Evans, paint, or lack of it, can date the piece.

For those collectors who want to get her personal perspective, Evans acts as a consultant, and she is frequently called upon to lecture. At Sotheby's, the well-known auction house, she teaches in a yearlong program that includes budding collectors and future gallery specialists.

Sotheby's auctions everything from museum quality art to the objects owned by the rich and famous. Evans says those distinct kinds of auctions show the difference in types of collectors: Some people collect objects for the object itself, while others may be interested in the celebrity status of a former owner.

Collectible Windsor furniture, chairs in particular, are still out there to be found because they were so popular. "The side chair was the bread and butter of the trade," Evans says.

Rocking chairs also took the country by storm in the early 19th century, and, by the late 1820s, virtually every house in America had one, she says.

Though finding a chair may be relatively easy, would-be collectors should set some parameters before they begin to purchase pieces because Windsor chairs come in distinct varieties.

"In the 18th century, you're dealing with the sculpted form," Evans says, explaining there was more detail in the line of the chair itself.

"As you move into the 19th century, where the sculpted area once was, there are now more flat areas to receive paint,'' she says.

"When I began, there was not much scholarly comprehensive work done in decorative arts," Evans says. "I started with a day a week to do research, and I soon learned it takes your whole life."

In 1998, her American Windsor Furniture: Specialized Forms was given the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award by the Association of College and Research Libraries of the American Library Association.

Evans has completed another book-length manuscript, Windsor Chairmaking in America Before 1850: From Craft Shop to Consumer.

This latest book has chapters dealing with nuts-and-bolts construction, merchandising and marketing, overland trade and waterborne distribution. It also looks at furniture use in homes and public institutions.

-Cynthia Collier

Nancy Goyne Evans offers these tips to all collectors:

1. Know your subject. Learn about design, materials, finishes, typical and rare forms, producers and makers.
2. Read books and publications on your subject.
3. Talk with knowledgeable individuals, other collectors, dealers and museum staff members.
4. Do a lot of looking. Go to antique shows, flea markets, auction previews and exhibits.
5. Attend relevant conferences.
6. Set your collecting parameters.
7. Collect from a geographical area.
8. Set a date range for your collection.
9. Set other parameters as are appropriate or as you desire-for example, items of a certain size or specific material.
10. Establish at least a tentative price range. This can be modified as you become more knowledgeable.
11. Establish criteria for the condition of the object.
12. Recognize that you will make mistakes.

Remember most of all: The better you know your subject, the more you will enjoy it.