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Picture No. 10032502 - 17th century woodcut with forty-eight depictions of various trades. |
Collections Crossover: Trades, Crafts and Local Industries |
A small book we recently found in the archive is the inspiration for this week's Collections Crossover. In fact, we were so charmed by it, we made a
little Youtube video as a way to share our discovery. 'Scenes of British Wealth' dates to 1823 and is a survey of the dizzying variety of localised trades and crafts around the British Isles at a point when the country was on the cusp, but not quite fully plunged into full-blown Industrial Revolution. Who knew that Daventry was a centre of whip-making, or that Sudbury was the place to go for a funeral shroud?!
And while we can't quite envisage a resurgence of these two particular industries, there is certainly a renewed interest in regional crafts, trades and making. We actually have masses on this subject with material spanning the centuries dotted about the library in various filing cabinets, so while we can't cover every possibility, we're craftily sharing a few highlights instead. The Mustograph Agency (part of the Barnaby's Collection) travelled the length and breadth of the country recording different ways of life during the twentieth century, much of it involving traditional crafts and skills. You can find Lancashire cloggers, Norfolk eel trap makers and a Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson chair being carved in North Yorkshire among the pictures in this photographic selection. In a similar vein, John Gay, the photographer whose collection from Historic England documents Britain from the 1940s to the 1970s is an excellent source for local trades. His evocative photographs record rural skills like thatching, and long-established businesses such as shoemakers, John Lobb and hatters, James Lock. On the subject of hats, a reminder of the Battersby archive, documenting the well-known Stockport-based hat-making business. Smaller photographic collections also offer some great examples, such as a set of pictures of cabinet-making in Shoreditch from the Photo Union Archive, or Colin Horsman's pictures of multi-skilled nuns and monks involved all sorts from bookbinding to beekeeping. There are also atmospheric pictures of the Welsh slate industry in the Roger Worsley archive and, always ready to train his lens on the weird and wonderful, Dr. David Lewis Hodgson's archive has firework making and seaweed harvesting among his subjects! Terry Parker's collection is a brilliant resource for this aspect of social history. Check out these few examples which include a set of cards on French occupations, delightful engravings from the 1841 'Book of Trades' and Happy Families playing cards. The sprawling Grenville Collins Postcard Collection also throws up some great examples from around the world, whether you're looking for a Russian basket-maker or Javanese goldsmith. Finally, we round off this week's specialist subject with a cornucopia of crafts and trades taken from Mary Evans's own files, including some from the aforementioned 'Scenes of British Wealth'. This newsletter represents just one aspect of our multitudinous, multi-faceted library. Do get in touch if you would like to harness OUR specialist skills to help with research, a quote, or any other queries relating to the library. You can reach us by calling 020 8318 0034 or by emailing pictures@maryevans.com |
Mary Evans Picture Library Ltd. 59 Tranquil Vale Blackheath London SE3 0BS. United Kingdom. |
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