Registry of Maine Toolmakers: A Compilation of Toolmakers Working in Maine and the Province of Maine Prior to 1900 (Paperback)
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Description
The last volume in the Davistown Museum Hand Tools in History series, the Registry of Maine Toolmakers documents toolmakers working in Maine from 1607-1900. It lists information about edge tool- and plane-makers who supplied tools for Maine's ship carpenters and timber harvesters, including blacksmiths who specialized in toolmaking, as well as toolmakers for other trades, such as cooper, carriage-maker, cobbler, and farrier. Essays explore the historical milieu of these toolmakers, discussing the toolkits of colonial settlers; 18th century New England's prosperous ironworking, planemaking, and shipbuilding industries; and Maine's vigorous 19th century edge toolmaking industry. The Registry offers an invaluable and unique resource for historians, tool buffs, and anyone interested in these important contributors to the industrial and maritime history of Maine and New England, many of whom have gone undocumented before the publication of this work.
About the Author
H. G. "Skip" Brack is the founder and curator of the Davistown Museum and proprietor of and buyer for the Jonesport Wood Company, which deals in antique and used tools and includes the famed Liberty Tool Company in Liberty, Maine. Artifacts and information that Brack encountered on his tool buying expeditions in the attics, cellars, and workshops of coastal New England piqued his curiosity, raising questions about its early inhabitants and the tools they used. When he discovered that the information he sought to answer his questions was sketchy, inaccurate, or undocumented, Brack sought and scoured primary and secondary sources on the history of early coastal New England, focusing on the origins and composition of tools used by early New Englanders and New England First Nation communities. His publications include the Davistown Museum six volume Hand Tools in History series, Norumbega Reconsidered: Mawooshen and the Wawenoc Diaspora, and much of the text on the information-rich museum website www.davistownmuseum.org. Brack holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts and M.A. from the University of Colorado. His knowledge of early tools and Maine/New England maritime history makes him a sought after lecturer and consultant. Brack, the museum, and his tool stores have been featured in Yankee, Downeast, and Bangor Metro magazines, the Boston Globe, an Associated Press article that appeared world-wide, Maine Public Broadcasting Network's Maine Experience, and the Martha Stewart television show. He lives and works in Bar Harbor and Liberty, Maine, with his wife, Judith Bradshaw Brown.
