File 204 - The Unknown Furniture Master of Waterloo County.

Stanley Karl Johannesen, born March 10, 1939, is an author, writer, and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Waterloo. Johannesen was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Manual Training High School (MTHS) before going on to receive his BA at Evangel College, Missouri, and then his MA and PhD in History (1973) at the University of Missouri. Johannesen began teaching American history while completing his PhD at the University of Missouri and joined the University of Waterloo in 1969 where he remained until his retirement in 2004.
While at the University of Waterloo Johannesen was the first editor-in-chief of Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, an English and French peer-reviewed academic history journal published at the university from its establishment in 1974 until 1989. During his professional academic career Johannesen produced several papers and reports on teaching, religion, and cultural criticism and delivered presentations at conferences worldwide, from Korea to Norway to Cuba. Johannesen was also active in the American Studies Association (ASA)
Outside of teaching, Johannesen has published a number of essays, short-stories, memoirs, reviews, and articles in various journals and print publications, such as Queen’s Quarterly and the K-W Record, that reflect personal interests including religion, social issues, travel, and cabinet-making. Johannesen is also known for his books: “Sister Patsy,” “Luggas Wood,” and “The Yellow Room,” and is the co-founder and editor of Blaurock Press and, together with his wife Penny Winspur, co-founder of The Electric Ferry Press. Johannesen is also an avid blogger and maintains his own website at http://www.skjohannesen.com.

Michael Shane Bird (June 6, 1941-October 27, 2003) was a professor, researcher, and writer who specialized in fine arts, in particular Canadian folk and fraktur, and film studies. Born in Belle Plaine, Iowa to Arthur Bird and Katherine McHugh, he attained his PhD from the University of Iowa before moving to Waterloo to teach at Renison University College. Bird taught at Renison for 34 years in both fine arts and religious studies, two topics that he also researched and wrote extensively on. He was particularly interested in religious themes in cinema, including the works of Ingmar Bergman, and Canadian folk and fraktur art. He wrote, or co-wrote, some of the first compendiums on folk art and furniture in Canada. He also wrote on fraktur art in the Pennsylvania German style, and on fraktur found in Waterloo region. On top of writing, he curated a number of exhibits in Waterloo and elsewhere on folk and fraktur art. He was closely connected with the Joseph Schneider Haus, where he gave many talks, curated exhibits, and ultimately donated to the bulk of his Canadian folk art collection.
Bird married Joan Welch in 1966 with whom he had two children. In 1979 he married Terry Kobayashi who was a frequent collaborator of his on writing on Canadian folk art, and in collecting the same. In 1992 he married Susan Hyde and in 1994 they adopted a child from China. Bird and Hyde researched and wrote a number of texts including a book on wooden churches of Cape Breton. Bird died of heart failure on October 27, 2003.