Suzanne Flynt, curator of Memorial Hall Museum, has authored the story of this beautiful Massachusetts town that shows how Deerfield played a pivotal role in the American Arts and Crafts movement. The artistic and intellectual atmosphere of Deerfield, combined with its colonial history and picturesque surroundings, created an ideal environment for introducing the Arts and Crafts, a movement that encouraged a return to hand craftsmanship, simplicity of design, and honesty of materials. In 1896, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework was founded, followed by the Deerfield Society of Arts and Crafts (later the Deerfield Industries) in 1901. The success of the Arts and Crafts movement in Deerfield was largely due to artists and designers Margaret Whiting and Ellen Miller, founders of the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework; pictorial photographers Frances and Mary Allen; and artist and critic Madeline Yale Wynne, also co-founder of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society. Wide-reaching audiences in cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco acknowledged the standard of excellence Deerfield craftsmen achieved in design, materials, and workmanship.