The following is excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. XVII no. 3, September 1964 by James Sorber The header shown in figs. 1 and 2, fitted into the swage-block of the anvil. The heated nail-rod was pointed on the anvil; placed over ,the chisel or hardie part of the header, partially cut a,nd then placed in …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Volume 54, No. 1, March 2001 by Trevor Jones In July 1914, the Chesebro Brothers’ blacksmith shop in Saunemin, Illinois, burned down in a spectacular fire that consumed both the shop and two adjacent barns. Undaunted by the disaster, the shop’s owners, Ralph and Elmer Chesebro, soon traveled to Chicago to …
The Transformation of the Blacksmith: The Chesebro Blacksmith Shop, 1914-1920 Read More »
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. XI, no. 1, March 1958 by Laurence A. Johnson “Niddy-Noddy, Niddy-Noddy, two heads and one body” sang the proprietress of the antique shop in New England many years ago. I was pointing at a little gadget hanging on the wall. “What is it”, she asked? That’s what I was still …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 34 no.1, March 1981 by Robin H. Wyllie This article covers but a fraction of the documentary information discovered during the project. Much of it, for example the Blenkhorn account books from 1922 until 1963, has not yet been fully assessed or evaluated. The project was commenced in 1978. Advice …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Vol. X no. 1, March 1957 by Laurence A. Johnson The pictures used in this article are from Mr. W. H. Murphy’s catalogue, entitled “CATALOGUE containing cuts of the Special Barrel Machinery used in the Murphy Patent Paper Barrel, office: 65 South Salina Street, Syracuse, N. Y.” This interesting glimpse into …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Vol. 4 No. 2, April 1951 by Gillian W.B. Bailey Although the manufacture of tin plate had -long been a monopoly of Bohemia, about 1620 the industry spread to Saxony where it achieved such recognition that an emissary was sent from England to learn the process. The English student was courteously …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Volume III, No. 17, October 1948 By Bertram K. Little The 18th century brought great advances in street lighting both abroad and for the first time in this country. By 1702 the streets of Copenhagen were widely lighted by lanterns, very much like those in Holland. The latter city refused to …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Volume III, No. 10, March 1947 By Jared Van Wagenen The community tanner and cobbler have disappeared together. Both of them represented the same phase in our industrial development; each of them was to some extent dependent upon the other and both of them are only a memory. It is true …
From The Chronicle Volume XII, No. 1, March 1959 by Eloise Stedman Meyers When you broil that juicy steak over a charcoal fire in your backyard, have you ever thought what an important part this black vegetable fuel played in the history of this great country? Without charcoal we might even now be paying taxes …
From The Chronicle Vol. 2, No. 5, June 1938By Joseph E. Sandford [Mr. H.’ L. Mencken, to whom I submitted the following article for his comments, has written me as follows: “So far as I am concerned you are certainly quite free to print the enclosed. I have read it with great interest and amusement.”] …