Trades. Before you can have trade catalogs. books, photographs, etc., you have to have had Trades. Skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled, the Trades are responsible for creating the world as we know it today.

Featured here are photographs and ephemera that shed light on the people who worked at what we now call "traditional" trades and crafts. I have a special soft spot for photographs. More than any other resource, the photograph is, without question, the most immediate window into another time. Captured at that moment, the details of a photograph reveal the pride the indivdual took in personal accomplishments, the day-to-day details taken for granted at the time, and now treasured for research and viewing enjoyment.

• A brief introduction to vintage photographs
• Carpenters & Joiners, incld'g Cabinetmakers & Amateurs
• Cabinetmakers & Furnituremakers
• Coopers
• Hardware Store Interiors
• Wheelwrights, Carriagemakers & Blacksmiths
• Wood Turners
• Patternmakers & Foundrymen
• Sawmills, Millwork, Lumberyards & Lumbermen
• Leatherworkers & Shoemakers
• Maritime
• Printing