Has Spring finally arrived at your home? In our age, contact with farm livestock is rare for most people, yet Easter and the arrival of Spring evoke lambs and chicks in the imagery around us. For the first colonists, livestock was crucial to survival and continued settlement. By 1627, Pilgrims in Plimoth had four cows, seven heifers, two calves, two steers, and a bull. There were at least two dozen goats, plus chickens and pigs.
Today, Plimoth Plantation operates a very special Rare Breeds Program. Rare is a term used for livestock breeds that number fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in North America. Kerry and Milking Devon cattle graze in pastures near the walled town. Small flocks of Wiltshire horned sheep and San Clemente and Arapawa Island goats and several Dorking hens also inhabit the town.
The videos below share more sights, sounds, and insights into this very important program. Be sure to include a stop at the Nye Barn during your visit to Plimoth Plantation with EAIA!
Working on a saw is careful work, as seen in this 1938 photo of a man filing a saw in North Carolina at the Roanoke Farm Project. Come meet Matt Cianci, The SawWright, at EAIA’s Annual Meeting and learn how to properly tune and sharpen your saws! http://earlyamericanindustries.org/Hyannis2013/the-sawwright/ (Photo from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print)
Photograph of a Broken Fire Escape after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 03/25/1911
One of the deadliest industrial disasters in United States history, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City left 146 workers dead in 18 minutes on March 25, 1911.
Locked doors kept the workers from escaping; there was not enough water to put out the flames, and firemen’s ladders were too short to reach the upper stories. Many of the young women and men working there leapt out the windows and fell to their deaths onto the sidewalk outside. Others were crushed in the elevator shaft or when the fire escape collapsed.
The fire led to sweeping reforms in labor laws and safety standards, providing a boost to labor unions, and was a pivotal event in the career of future labor secretary Frances Perkins.
(Last year’s post has additional photos of the fire and the victims, a few may be considered graphic.)
So two Goodmen Walk into an Iron Bar…
EAIA is looking forward to its annual meeting, including a trip to Plimoth Plantation!
Does dreaming about concept cars make you want to sing out loud like this 1956 family? The special guided tours of the exhibit “Driving our Dreams: Imagination in Motion” are nearly full–register for the Annual Meeting now to secure your spot in this special tour! http://earlyamericanindustries.org/Hyannis2013
The two-man pit saw, in action!
A brief sample of the skill and art of the cordwainer.
Process of making a pair of 1810s silk slippers.
Stickley Archive Photo of the Week
L. & J.G. Stickley employee crafting rush seats at the Fayetteville Factory ca. 1930.
F.M. GREENLEAF LITTLETON N.H. “walking” log caliper, with intact 10-spoke wheel.
The spoked wheel allowed for easy and accurate measurement of the length of a log. The black leg is weighted with lead and starts the wheel off.
This log caliper will be in the EAIA auction this May.