The American Furniture Hall of Fame.

The American Furniture Hall of Fame was founded in 1988 by a council of furniture executives with the following mission: "The AFHF is an all-industry effort organized to honor those individuals whose outstanding achievements have contributed to the continued growth and development of the American furniture industry and to research, collect, and preserve the cultural, economic, and artistic history." An important aspect of the work of the AFHF is to conduct oral interviews with living furniture-industry figures in order to preserve priceless recollections for present and future generations.

Biographies of some of the Furniture Hall of Fame members follow:

J. D. Bassett

J. D. Bassett was already in his late thirties when he and a few relatives formed the Bassett Furniture Co. in 1902, with a total investment of $27,000 and an eye on the mass market. Until then, Bassett had been a lumber salesman with furniture makers in Jamestown, New York, and Grand Rapids as his primary customers.

Building on the abundance of oak in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains and the plentiful, though inexperienced, supply of cheap labor in economically depressed Appalachia, Bassett and his partners began turning out bedroom sets in the low-to-moderate price range.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the company expanded into other types of household furniture, including dining room sets. Later it would become a leader in the production of the increasingly popular "Waterfall" design.

A half century later, after surviving fires, the Great Depression and two world wars, Bassett's namesake company was the world's largest producer of wood furniture, and the former backwater of the American South was the new, predominant center of furniture manufacturing.

By investing wisely in emerging manufacturing technology and spreading his brand's reputation for both style and affordability through the national mass media, Bassett was one of the true marketing geniuses of the century. Fourteen years after his death at age 99, he was among the first men inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame.

J. C. Bernhardt

In 1927, when John Christian Bernhardt was 21 years old, he joined the company founded by his father and set out to learn every aspect of the production process - lessons that would serve him well through the next six decades as he built Bernhardt Industries into a manufacturing powerhouse.

Through acquisition, joint ventures, and expansion into new product lines, Bernhardt presided over a long period of steady sales and production growth for the company. An early foray into upholstery helped boost company fortunes beyond their already successful case goods line and set the stage for continued growth throughout the century.

He also had a touch for getting and keeping - talented and dedicated manpower by being among the earliest to offer employees benefit packages. Dedicated to giving his staff in put into the company, along with a share of the profits, Bernhard was able to build the crack workforce so important to the company's success.

Bernhardt is a past president of the Furniture Manufacturers Marketing Association, a director of the American Furniture Manufacturers Association, and the recipient of numerous industry awards. He was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame in 1991 at the age of 85.

J. E. Broyhill

From modest beginnings as a peddler and mill hand in rural North Carolina, James Edgar Broyhill parlayed a knowledge of furniture upholstering into a manufacturing empire and his family name into a household word for millions of American families.

Joining his brother, T. H., at the Lenoir Furniture Corp. in 1919, he quickly rose to the position of sales manager. In succeeding years, he and his brother embarked on an ambitious program of acquisition and development, founding the Lenoir Chair Co. and buying up other local furniture manufacturing operations at a fast pace.

When his brother stepped down in 1936, Broyhill assumed the leadership of the growing corporation and continued to acquire other businesses, often converting them to the production of the increasingly popular Broyhill line. The efficiency of these consolidations helped the company weather the Great Depression and allowed it to emerge stronger than ever in the era of post-war prosperity.

During World War II, Broyhill served on the advisory committee of the War Production Board. He also served as president of the Southern Furniture Manufacturers Association for four successive terms during and after that conflict.

J. E. Broyhill was one of the first mere bets inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame in 1989.

Thomas Austin Finch, Jr.

Thomasville Furniture Industries might not be the giant it is today if it hadn't been for the foresight and leadership of Thomas Austin Finch, Jr.

Known for his comprehension of every phase of the manufacturing process, Finch acquired this knowledge by working his way up through the company, assuming its presidency in 1961. Once on top, he made sure that profits were redirected back into improvements in technology and personnel by purchasing the latest equipment and hiring the very best designers.

A firm believer in market research, Finch was among the first in the industry to initiate communication with potential consumers and to incorporate what was learned into the company's furniture designs and showroom presentations. As a result, he kept the company on the cutting edge of the industry and was often able to recognize and quickly capitalize on emerging market trends. Finch's insistence on extensive showrooms with impressively staged gallery displays led to large sales increases for the Thomasville line and changed the fate of furniture retailing as competitors caught on and adopted his successful sales practices.

Inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame in 1991, seven years after his death at the age of 62, Finch also served as president of the Southern Furniture Manufacturers Association.

Peter E. Kroehler

Although the company bearing his name has been defunct for some years now, Peter E. Kroehler was once among the giants of the future industry and his pioneering work in design and marketing reverberates to this day.

The Minnesota-born Kroehler started his career at a small firm called the Naperville Lounge Co. as an accountant, salesman, and even a deliveryman, eventually taking it over and naming it the Kroehler Company.

Among his earliest breakthrough products were inexpensive, hand-tufted "Turkish Couches," which proved to be immensely popular and helped set the stage for decades of continued achievement. Kroehler may be best remembered for the invention of davenport beds with hidden mattresses and springs. These forerunners of the modern sofa-bed were probably the earliest examples of American dual-use furniture. He is also credited with being among the first to introduce national advertising and premium tie-ins to the industry with a level of success that speaks for itself.

He was the first president of the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers and the initial organizer of the American Furniture Mart and Furniture Club of America.

Kroehler was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame in 1989, 39 years after his death in 1950 at the age of 78.

Edward Hudson Lane

Born in 1891, Edward Hudson Lane was just 21 when his father purchased a small bankrupt box plant in Altavista, Virginia, and turned it over to his son to run.

Though he had reportedly never heard of a cedar chest before, Lane and his small staff set to work producing 10 to 15 such chests a day. Ten years later, the company was producing 200 to 300 per day and was capable of national distribution. By combining conveyorized assembly lines with savvy promotion during the following decades, he was to turn this simple item into the "hope chest" of countless American would-be brides and a cherished fixture in millions of homes.

By 1962, the Lane Company was able to celebrate its golden anniversary as the world's largest manufacturer of cedar chests and occasional tables.

One of Lane's other great contributions to the American wood business was his company's pioneering work in the research and development of particleboard. An experimental press at his plant proved that waste wood could be utilized to produce particle-board with a uniform, warp-resistant core. Furniture makers enthusiastically took to his revolutionary process with results still being felt to the present day.

In 1990, 17 years after his death, Edward Hudson Lane was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame.

Charles R. Sligh, Jr.

It was 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, when Charles R. Sligh, Jr., established his own furniture manufacturing operation in Holland, Michigan, following in the footsteps of his famous father, Charles R. Sligh, Sr., who had founded the Sligh Furniture Company in Grand Rapids in 1880.

With a start-up budget of just $14,000, the soon-to-be "boy wonder" and partner O. W. Lowry quickly turned the Charles R. Sligh Co. into a profitable concern. Seven years later, he helped start the Sligh-Lowry Co. and four years later launched the Grand Rapids Chair Co.

Sligh's rapid ascent in the industry led to his election as president of the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers at the young age of 40.

Another first for Sligh came about with the establishment of a furniture course at the University of Michigan in the 1940s, a personal brainchild of his that would become a model for the furniture course at North Carolina State University.