CR 6:-- The Colonial Revival in the Industrial Arts Movement and in the Amateur Woodworking Movement

Directory to "Notes" on the Colonial Revival Movement, a Series of Six Narratives Detailing How Colonial Furniture Design Became So Popular in Amateur Woodworking CR 1: Before 1876: The Rise of Nativism CR 2: 1876: The Cententennial Exhibtion in Philadelphia CR 3: After 1876: Antique Hunters CR 4: After 1876: Books on Colonial Antiques CR 5: The Rise of of the Material Culture Museums CR 6: CR in the Industrial Arts Movement and Amateur Woodworking CR 7: The Colonial Revival Today

CR 6: CR in the Industrial Arts Movement and Amateur Woodworking

Between 1920 and 1945, in the amateur woodworking movement, the choice of early American furniture designs for projects in the home workshop was part of a larger movement, since the 1870s, to bring back colonial design. This movement -- known as the Colonial Revival Movement -- is still with us.

(Before 1920 -- from 1900 until about 1916, when Gustav Stickley went bankrupt -- the Arts and Crafts style was popular. Increasingly, however, supporters of Colonial Revival -- such as Harold Donaldson Eberlein, author of number of books on the Colonial Revival -- made fun of modern design. John Freeman Crosby, a biographer of Gustav Sticley, leading figure in America's Arts and Crafts Movement, notes, for example, that

"Mission had promised Americans an enduring style, but the promise had not been kept when Eberlein wrote: 'By what can we know quality in furniture? . . . The one unfailing test is that of time . . . Those that have survived changes in taste are the eternal.' With this as a rationale for an intensified historicism Eberlein and others sneered at 'Mission furniture in the dullest of oak, and leather cushions of the same hue, unrelieved by any ray of brightness, a veritable symphony of mud and mustard!"

Sources: Harold Eberlein, et. al., The Practical Book of Interior Decoration Philadelphia, 1919, pages 201 and 297; also cited by John freeman Crosby, Forgotten Rebel: Gustav Stickley and His Craftsman Mission Furniture ?: Century House, 1965, chapter 5.

The Colonial Revival activity in American domestic architecture in 1930s

(The paragraphs that follow owe much to David Gebhard, "The American Colonial Revival in the 1930s", Winterthur Portfolio, 22, No. 2/3 Summer - Autumn, 1987, pages 109-148.)

Gebhard's Take on House Style Evolution Between 1880 and 1930

David Gebhard, historian of American architectural history, uses a wide lens -- newspapers, articles in popular and shelter magazines, architectural magazines, movie sets -- to document his study of colonial revival themes in domestic architecture of the 1930s. (His 40-page article includes numerous photos and a 78-item bibliography of sources consulted.)

In 1930, writing in the shelter magazine, Country Life, the architect Claude H Miller claims that
"every community should have at least one example of a type of architecture [the colonial] that has survived for more than two hundred years and that has, today, a far greater appeal than any time in its history."

And, argues Gebhard,

"indeed, the architects, builders, and clients of the depression years of the 1930S not only made sure that there was one example but also made the colonial the most prevalent and popular architectural image of the time.

Brief Chronology of Domestic Architectural Trends

In the 1880s and later,

the colonial house style morphed with the English Queen Anne to produce the shingle style;

In the 1890s and on into the 1900s,

the colonial house emerged in its own version of the classical beaux-arts.

In this century,

elements of a colonial house design blended into craftsman architecture and design, until finally usurping it,

In the twenties,

the colonial house styles became one of the contending, openly romantic, period-revival styles.

By the thirties,

the colonial had already enjoyed well over half a century of revival. As a continually transformed image, it had shown a remarkable ability to shift its ground and to absorb whatever happened to be the current fashion, whether visual or ideological."

Sources: (Check out this website for example images many of these architectural styles.) of David Gebhard, "The American Colonial Revival in the 1930s", Winterthur Portfolio 22, No. 2/3 Summer-Autumn, 1987, page 109; Claude H. Miller, "Building an Early American Home," Country Life 57, no. 4 April 1930, page 41; William B. Rhoads, The Colonial Revival New York: Garland Publishing, 1977; William B. Rhoads, "The Colonial Revival and American Nationalism," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 35, no. 4 December 1976, pages 239-254; Alan Axelrod, ed., The Colonial Revival in America New York: W. W. Norton, 1985.

Colonial Revival in the Decorative Arts in 1920s and 1930s

Another sign of the omnipresence of the colonial past, Gebhard reminds us, was the ubiquitnousness of CR in the decorative arts of the 1920s and 1930s: furniture, wallpaper, fabrics, clocks, and dollhouses, in the idiom of the day, "wall-to-wall".

For Gebhard,

Colonial furniture -- reproductions and new variations on the originals -- had fully come into their own in the 1920s. As was the case with architecture, colonial furniture emerged as the predominant traditional furniture of the 1930s. The tendency of colonial furniture of the thirties was either to approach the theme rather freely, as one finds in so much moderate-to-inexpensive informal maple and pine living-room, dining-room, recreation-room, and children's bedroom furniture, or to insist on its being authentic and "correct," as one finds in the far more expensive Williamsburg reproductions. The approach, though, in both cases, was to return to either, first , the simple, earlier period -- for maple and pine furniture, to the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries; or, second, for Georgian, to the early to mid-eighteenth century. Source: David Gebhard, "The American Colonial Revival in the 1930s", Winterthur Portfolio 22, No. 2/3 Summer-Autumn, 1987, page 109.

In the Decorative Arts, First Colonial, Then Queen Anne, Chippendale and Others, and Finally Georgian Federal Regency and Greek Revival Styles

By the end of the 1930s, according to Gebhard, the two approaches (above) to colonial furniture and decoration were joined by a third: that of

"the urbane sophistication of the federal/regency and the Greek revival."

And his claim -- what would in another idiom of the day be called "the kicker" -- becomes a platform for any discussion about how amateur woodworking figures into this equation.

"it was this later furniture and decoration that was seen as the closest link between traditionalism and the modern. The ability to furnish and decorate a room in the colonial made it possible for the colonial environment (usually, of course, not as a whole, but as a fragment) to be realized by an appreciable segment of the middle class who were not in a financial position to purchase even a new "spec-built" house."

"Making Do" in the Depression to Achieve That Colonial Look, Or, "How to Otain a Fashionable Image Inexpensively"

"Millions in Power Tools for Craftsman Hobbies" (1937)

or

"Working Drawings of Colonial Furniture" (1922)

Architectural commissions declined in the thirties, sending architects and their clients increasingly to remodeling older buildings. In domestic architecture, according to Gebhard's findings, the drive was to "colonialize" older dwellings, particularly homes victim of

"the 'misguided' taste of the late nineteenth-century, Victorian era, or, the 'ungainly' craftsman period in the early twentieth century.

If a family's budget was really limited, another strategem was to bring about some sort of colonial transformation by purchasing catalogue items: -- entrance doorways, bay windows, and fireplace mantels --- from Curtis Woodwork and other national and regional companies.

The Colonial Movie Set

For almost every film set in a contemporary American suburban environment in the 1930s, an image the colonial provided the backdrop. And the consequences are clear: "Hollywood went traditional," noted an article in Good Housekeeping, "when it created this refreshing version of an old Connecticut house to serve as a background... [Y]ou will find in this house numerous good ideas that you will like to use in your own house."

Source: "Hollywood Creates a Connecticut Farmhouse as a Background for a Movie," Good Housekeeping 106, no. 5 June 1938, page 52. Pasadena architect Elmer Grey wrote in 1936:

"The buildings they [the movie sets] depict are not permanent to be sure, but they reach many more people with their message than do many perma­nent buildings, and often in a way that makes very lasting impressions. It must be gratifying to feel that one is composing pictures which, in their ultimate life-like realism, enthrall and instruct audi­ences of thousands the world over!"

Source: Elmer Grey, "Breaking into the Movies," Pencil Points 16, no. 1 January 1935, page 33; Charles Lockwood also illustrates a number of these colonial revival houses built for those associated with the Hollywood motion picture industry in Dream Palaces: Hollywood at Home (New York: Viking Press, 1981). Lockwood's book is not online; numerous other sources mentioned by Gebhard are not cited here.)

The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg

Motives attributed to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., financing Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg were varied:

but mainly to reconstruct an entire pre-revolutionary community, following -- evidently -- model restoration set by France's nineteenth-century restorer Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, the adjacent Colonial National Park, along with other similar museums, folk communities, and the like, also helped to promote the colonial revival of the thirties. For more background, click here

here 12-22-08

Second track on CR:

The industrial arts movement, as part of a larger education program, greeted the colonial revival with approval, but for reasons different than nativistic nationalism. By giving popularity to the designs of America's past -- especially designs for furniture -- instructors in Inustrial Arts course could wean their students away from the straight-lined mission furniture projects that, among instructors and students alike, were causing increasing disinterest and boredom.

What is the Origin of Interest in Colonial Design among Teachers of Industrial Arts?

However, on another issue that Hjorth became associated, the rise of Colonial Revival design as a model for IA student projects is not as easy. Sorting out who -- among many Industrial Arts officials of the era -- who was a leader in the shift from Arts and Crafts designs to Colonial Revival is not, as far as I can tell, been a topic of study.

Several years before Hjorth 1922 series on CR design, another prominent figure in IA, Frederick R Love, published an article, "Period Style Furniture For High School Work", Industrial Arts Magazine 1918 7 April 1918, pages 135-137.

The article, including the six images of furniture and plans that accompanied Love's text are reproduced in the Inline Frame below. Clearly, CR is the central interest, because in his first paragraph, Love voices what seems to be a wide-spread dislike among IA instructors for the ubiquitousness of Arts and Crafts furniture designs as the easy choice fro student projects in IA courses.

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WRITINGS BY THE AUTHOR:

1924: Reproduction of Antique Furniture by Hjorth, Herman

Milwaukee: The Bruce publishing Company, 1924.

notes on homeworkshop movement written by Gordon Bonser and Lois Mossman .. michael knoll, the project method: its vocational .. more diversified field involving the project method of presentation. To meet the

contributions to the project movement by bonser and hjorth are discussed Gordon Owen Wilber, Industrial Arts in General Education 1967

also: C:\cygwin\home\Marketrends\ericson on project method.html project method can be divided into five phases: 1590-1765: The beginnings of project .. Project Method. Much has been said about the "project method" of teaching

In the Windows below are Hjorth's "Preface" and Frederick G Bonser's "Introduction" to Reproduction of Antique Furniture. Two years earlier, over several months of 1922, chapter-by-chapter, the text of this manual appeared as articles in Industrial Arts Magazine . Throughout this era, Bonser is a major player in industrial education, even though he was himself not a woodworker. Instead -- as I'm outline here -- he is one of the chief theorists of the project movement. For background on the project movement click here

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The reasons for the attention to Hjorth's achievement as a director of a program of high school IA courses on furniture making are instantly obvious when you see images of the results:

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shifting of the emphasis from class instruction supplemented by individual instruction to individual instruction supplemented by class instruction

Another tendency which is in keeping with the newer philosophy of education has been the shifting of the emphasis from class instruction supplemented by individual instruction to individual instruction supplemented by class instruction. Attempts were made at first to solve the problems of class instruction by means of indi­vidual oral instruction, but the method imposed considerably more work upon an already busy teacher. Since the period of the World War many forms of written instruction sheets have appeared in an effort to improve the efficiency of instruction. [69 : 4169. FRYKLUND, VERNE C. "Instruction Sheets and Principles of Teaching." Industrial Arts Magazine, XVI : 41-44, February 1927.]

The Push for Colonial Revival Design Into High School Woodworking Courses Springs From Aesthetics, Not Patriotic Motives, Or, In Industrial Arts, "Why Was the Mission Style Popular?"

At the end of the Great War, Frederick R. Love, Head of Manual Arts Department, Stockton High School, Stockton, CA, signals a shift in what is considered appropriate as a project in Industrial Arts woodworking courses. The selected material below (and the image) are from Love's 1918 article. The article contains several other similar images of period furniture and scale drawings for this table and for a gateleg table.

A few years ago, says Love, shop projects were very easily chosen, as the predominant style was Mission with designs very simple and easy to reproduce.

Times, customs and demands, however, have changed, he says.



"If we wish to keep pace with the latest and best commercially", Love argues, "we will have to look to something besides mission furniture for an inspiration."



Rhetorically we might ask, in Industrial Arts,



"Why is Mission popular?"



And the answer is,

"Most of us continue in the Mission work because we were raised on it and believe it to be much easier designed and made." Now, he says, "Why pick the easiest for our work?"



To challenge our students, "Does mission furniture really have enough variety in design, detail and construction for us to use it and nothing else?"

Realistically, "work in period styles requires more study, closer supervision, but -- in the end -- it is worth it."

Here, according to Love, are a few reasons for the shift.


"You have an endless variety of designs and

most any period style can be so modernized that a first-year high school boy can produce it."


His schools, Love claims, have been doing period work for four years, and each new year brings added interest in it.

We average one talk every two weeks on some particular style and the boys make reports on the different pieces shown in the display rooms of our furniture stores. The work is outlined to require a minimum amount of reading. Most of it is done from observation and reports made from these.

For example, in the designing and construction of our work, we try to proceed the same as they do commercially. The boy chooses the particular style or period that he thinks he wants, then talks it over with the teacher. They decide whether that particular style will fit in and harmonize with the other furnishings in the room in which it is to be placed. Here he is given some idea in regard to the relation between architecture, interior decoration, and furnishing.



Source: F R Love "Period Style Furniture For High School Work", Industrial Arts Magazine 1918 7 april 1918 pp 135-137.



another major player in the colonial revival movement, Frederick R Love -- and who most likely had an impact on Hjorth's decision to move forward with publishing designs for colonial revival pieces -- published an aritcle, "Period Style Furniture For High School Work", Industrial Arts Magazine 1918 7 April 1918, pages 135-137: PREFACE Because of the increasing demand for woodworking projects embracing the designs of the famous masters, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton, the author has endeavored to secure dimensioned sketches and photographs of old fashioned furniture. While this collection does not represent the highest types, there are features in all which merit distinction. Only those which could be copied by junior and senior high-school-students have been considered. Nothing has been added to or detracted from the original measurements. It is hoped that these drawings and illustrations will afford an inspiration for instructors and students. For reference work, Woodwork for Secondary Schools, by Ira S. Griffith, (The Manual Arts Press, Peoria, Ill.) will prove of great value. While this book is designed for use in the schools, it need not be so confined. Its scope and practical treatment should fit it for the use of all who enjoy the pleasure of creating things of wood. Acknowledgment is made to the magazine The House Beautiful for the use of one of the illustrations. WINDSOR chairs were first made in England. They were very common during the Colonial days. The seats were made of pine and the backs of some kind of hardwood as ash or hickory. Quite a few furniture dealers can now furnish reproductions of the Windsor styles in mahogany with more comfortable lines and nicer finish than the older types, which makes them very desirable. The directions given below are suited for any of the Windsor chairs which are included in this series. FREDERICK J. BRYANT. Auburn, Maine, July 1921 Text below comes from page 36. DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING THE CHAIR Make the seat first, locating the centers for the holes where the legs are to set in place on the underside. Use wooden jigs as illustrated in Fig. 15, page 29, for boring the holes at the proper angles. Bevel the edges of the seat and hollow the top surface so that it looks and feels comfortable. Do not bore the holes through the seat unless the drawings show them that way. Turn the legs and rounds on the lathe and attach them to the seat. The rim for the fan-shaped backs can be bent on a form marked out on a work-table or on the floor. Make a full size lay-out of the shape of the back and nail small blocks every 6" apart to hold the rim in place. Seam or soak the rim in hot water and place it in the form where it should be left for at least 36 hours. When it is thoroughly dry, remove it and fit it to the holes on the seat. Pass the ends through to the under side of the seat and split the ends open and drive in wooden wedges. Shape up the spindles with a spokeshave and bend on a form. When they are ready, bore the holes through the rim and push the spindles up through the holes. Then place glue in the holes on the seat and pull the into place. When the the projecting ends off spindles down glue is dry, cut to that they are even with the outside of the rim. Sandpaper all parts and paint the chair with two coats of black enamel. The small ridges or grooves on the legs and spindles should he colored with two or more coats of gilt or bronze paint. These finishing directions refer to the chair if pine and ash are used in its construction. The drawings on pages 39 to 42 show Windsor chairs of varied details. The method of construction is largely the same as described above. If mahogany is used, see page 52. Not stressed in Bryant's manual -- at least not to the extent deserved -- is the shear determination required by the junior and/or senior high school students who undertake this project. Or maybe I am being too critical. However, to get an idea of the complexities involved in Windsor chairmaking, look at the entry on Michael Dunbar's classic manual -- click here -- on Windsor chairmaking, published a half century after Bryant, in 1976.



As indicated in Chapter 4:8, a considerable enrichment in the course content has occurred both with respect to the related informational material and the shop activities.

The box below reprints a 1927 fragment from Arthur B Mays Assessment of Industrial Arts

Checking on "High School Movement" in 1920s See Defining Industrial Arts

Industrial Arts in the 1920's

By the end of the second decade of the 20th century, the concept of manual training was greatly misunderstood. Given the turmoil in the 1920s -- pressure to change manual training came from many groups, professional and non-professional.

First, manual training was largely overshadowed by the popularity of the vocational education movement. The promoters of vocational education -- rejoicing in the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act -- were anticipating legislation designed to foster vocational education programs.

Second, supporters of vocational programs were encouraged because one outcome of WW I was a stress on the importance of preparing vocationally proficient citizens. "Vocational education had an immediate purpose and, equally important, it had the financial means necessary to support this cause," Says Sredl, "Manual training, as the most popular of the manual training subjects at this time, had the remnants of a past glory."

Third, with growing compulsory education laws, no longer was a high school education reserved for youth of the privileged class.



Modern Trends. (see Source below:- In recent years certain significant trends have appeared in the industrial arts offerings in the public schools. [Courses have been enriched, including adding informational material such as instruction sheets, i.e., course outlines, and through the "project method", activities on the shop floor were upgraded.] With reference to the related material, there is a tendency to increase the amount of time given to library reference study, class reports, essays, lectures, use of stereopticon slides, moving pictures and factory excursions in teaching facts about the origins, transportation, preparation and transformation of raw materials in a very wide range of industries. The shop work is constantly improving in quality and difficulty. The tendency is to undertake projects which a few years ago would have been regarded as impossible for boys to handle. Not only is this true, but much higher standards of workmanship are demanded of the boys than formerly. A continuous improvement in design and finish is apparent and this is obtained, as are the other improvements in quality of work, by the use of all sorts of modern equipment and devices. The earlier shops scorned the use of machines, whereas the modern school complains if its machinery be not of the latest design, and the use of jigs and fixtures are now considered an important factor in the course. Not only is the quality of shop work improving but the variety of shop courses is constantly increasing. For many years "Manual Training" meant wood work. To-day the industrial arts, or "Manual Arts," as it is frequently denominated, includes machine-shop work, electric wiring, auto-mechanics, house carpentry, conCrete work, furniture construction, pattern making, foundry work, printing, plumbing, "home mechanics" courses and various other types of shop work, besides a greatly enriched offering of mechanical drawing courses. All of the courses are constantly being strengthened and enriched and the methods of instruction are steadily improving. Courses are being more carefully planned, and the instruction sheet is becoming firmly established as a teaching device. Reference books and textbooks are becoming increasingly common in the shops. Source: Arthur B Mays, The Problem of Industrial Education New York: The Century Co., 1927, pages 206-208. here 10. Two Centennials: 1876 Philadelphia Sideboard Vs 1976 Shaker Rocking Chair:-- A Study in a Contrast of (Human) Scale International exhibitions of the nineteenth century were, evidently, intensely competitive events. National pride -- in the context of exhibiting technological advances -- was barely under restraint. Ames' article -- cited below -- discusses the sideboard as the prime competitive form for furniture manufacturers. Sideboards exhibited between 1851 and 1876 show France's position of design leadership affirmed, then challenged, and ultimately denied as England moved into primary position. Ames notes that the sideboard that initiated the battle -- made by Fourdinois of Paris -- was exhibited in London in 1851. "Subsequent English designs emulated French models or sought explicitly English alternatives." European and American sideboards exhibited in Philadelphia in 1876 show the continuing influence of Fourdinois. The English objects, on the other hand, were in eighteenth-century neoclassical, reformed Gothic, or art furniture styles. American work followed English ideas. Mercifully, after 1876, furniture displays at international exhibitions gradually became less prominent. In the contrast between Smith in 1876 and Shea in 1976, scale, i.e., "human scale" is above all the leading comparison. In 1876, the scale was industrial, production-line operation -- with woodworking machines appropriatley massive in size; in 1976, the scale was "human", individually-operated stationary power machines, but increasingly, portable. In England this piece of furniture would be be called a Buffet, but in this country it is almost universally known as a Sideboard. The prominent position which a sideboard occupies in a dining-room, its use for the display of silver and china, as well as for the necessary articles pertaining to the meals while the latter are going on, make the consideration of artistic design and harmony in its construction a matter of primary importance. For a sideboard of this era, notes material culture historian, Kenneth Ames, it is "an admirable specimen" that shows off the workmanship of its Philadelphia manufacturers, Allen and Brother. The principal wood is American walnut, the veneering of the panels and fillets, French walnut. The sideboard's lower portion is divided into three "closets", for china storage, etc. The doors to these closets are paneled and ornamented with artistic designs. On either side of the outer divisions rise walnut columns, with ornamental bases and capitals, supporting slabs of French Jasper. Above these slabs rises the back of the sideboard, its middle portion being occupied by one large sheet of plate-glass, separating the two sides, which also are backed by plate-glass from each other. In front of these latter an artistic arrangement of shelves, supported by floriated pillars, furnishes a means of effectively displaying rare vases, china or bric-a-brac of any kind. These outer columns are surmounted by ornamental vases, which serve to balance and give harmony to the elaborate entablature which surmounts the inner columns. . Source: Walter Smith, Examples of Household Taste New York: R Worthington, 1880, pages 13-14; Kenneth Ames, "The Battle of the Sideboards" Winterthur Portfolio 9 1974 pages 1-27. With 29 illustrations, this article contextualizes the "mechanization" of the furniture industry, and the subsequent excesses of "taste" wrought by mechanization, themes also referenced by Siegfried Giedion. John Gerald Shea, Antique Country Furniture of North America, Van Nostrand Reinhold; 1975, page 17; in 1994, Dover reissued the book, retitled as Making Authentic Country Furniture: With Measured Drawings of Museum Classics. A truly exceptional book in the genre of woodworker's manuals, Antique Country Furniture of North America is a work of both scholarship and artistic flair. Evidently published to coincide with the nation's Bi-cententennial celebration, 1976, this book celebrates the "simple, functional, handmade designs, which reveal the devotion and craftsmanship of the many nationalities that settled in the United States and Canada" and -- using detailed drawings -- shows amateur woodworkers the steps for creating these masterpieces of folk art. Rightly, Shea is regarded as a leading authority on American furniture. Initial chapters -- brief but authoriative -- trace the arrival of different ethnic groups to North America and explain how their lifestyles, their native cultures, and their geographic surroundings combined to develop characteristic styles of furniture:- Spanish Colonial New England Colonial Dutch Colonial Pennsylvania German French Canadian Shaker Connecticut Hitchcock Southern Plantation Maine Curiosities Ohio Zoar Norwegian American Texas German Preface: A GENERAL refinement of the public taste in matters pertaining to art and interior decoration is making itself felt more and more clearly. One of the phases of this feeling and desire for better things is undoubtedly the realization of the charm, beauty of line, and individuality of antique furniture. Unfortunately the available supply of genuine antiques is so far below the demand that only the favored few can enjoy the possession of artistic old pieces. For the great majority reproductions will have to do. If well made and of true proportions, they will be found to be just as pleasing as the originals, besides being much stronger. The higher class of furniture factories are meeting the demand of the times by turning out many excellent reproductions, which are not merely common adaptations but follow the original in every detail. But reproduction of antique furniture need not necessarily be confined to professional cabinet-makers. It may well be undertaken by high school boys, and many pieces can even be made by students of the eighth grade. Work of this kind may at first appear too difficult; but, when the processes are carefully analyzed, these difficulties will disappear, and the result will he ever so much more pleasing and satisfying than the usual "Mission" type of furniture. [In 1924, when Hjorth dismisses "Mission" design, he is reflecting the sentment of many in an era of eclipse of Arts and Crafts design in America. Popular in America between 1900 and 1915, Arts and Crafts (and Mission) went underground until about 1970, when it was revived and remains into the 21st century the most popular of "tastee" in surniture design among Americans.] With this idea in mind, the following material has been compiled. The pieces of furniture illustrated have been selected for their general simplicity and adaptability to the average home. They have been photographed, measured, and translated into working drawings, thus making them available for reproduction. A few suggestions and a short description of the principal technical difficulties involved in the construction of each piece have been added. as well as a chapter giving a brief outline of the art periods and how to distinguish the most important of them. While the book is intended chiefly for school use, it is hoped that it may also prove of interest to cabinet-makers, amateur woodworkers, and people in general who are interested in good furniture. Source: Herman Hjorth, Reproduction of Antique Furniture Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1924

Or, following the rhetorical question in 1938 by John Gerald Shea -- in Provincial Furniture --

INTRODUCTION INTEREST in woodworking often implies an associated interest in furniture making. Because of this, the student or amateur woodworker is usually on the alert to discover new and makable furniture designs. Unfortunately, a great many woodworkers have been led astray by poor designs, and, consequently, have lost sight of the importance of furniture as an expression in itself. Good furniture exists in a realm of its own, and whether it be made by the amateur woodworker or the professional cabinetmaker, its conventions and its traditions should be strictly observed. The furniture designer is the standard-bearer in all furniture making. Thus it has been through the centuries and thus it will be as long as furniture is made. In the past, such men as Chippendale, Hepplewhite Sheraton, Boulle, Goddard, Duncan Phyfe, and numerous others, have been leaders in this field. ... Responsible for the origination of styles of design, ... their contribution has been lasting and their influence is felt even to the present day. ... [T]he furniture designer may choose to work in one of many ways. ... [I]f he is developing fine furniture -- for his inspiration -- he will ... adhere closely to the important traditions ... [even to] go back many centuries ... and look upon the principal furniture periods. This designer will be ever aware that he is molding subtle clay and that with every touch he must be rigidly on guard to maintain the proper degree of cultured restraint. ... [A]nother type of designer [is] ... not ... so particular about his adherence to the traditions of furniture. ... This designer usually improvises ... so-called "tricky" or "snappy" pieces ... widely popular with people who are not acquainted with the background of furniture design. From the standpoint of good design there is little value in this type of work. In many instances, it represents the out-and-out mutilation of the most significant characteristics of good design. It is particularly important that the woodworker give careful thought to the selection of his own design. When deciding upon a project he should keep in mind that equivalent hours of work may result in either a beautiful and valuable article of furniture or a cheap and worthless contraption. Furthermore, he should observe that good hand workmanship acts as a positive enhancement to good design; while it is a wasted ingredient when lavished upon a cheap medium. [Keep in mind that Shea's comments are for woodworkers of the 1930s, and not post-WW II, in an age of more widely available electric portable and stationary woodworking machines.] Therefore, in the preparation of this book, a basic and proper style of furniture is dealt with. It seemed imperative that only the work of the more thoughtful school of designers be herein presented. Each article was carefully selected according to the criteria of makability, value, and authenticity. Every effort was made to offer a correct representation of the French provincial furniture style, in thoroughly makable form, and to safeguard this offering by utilizing only those designs which possessed genuine value.... Source: John Gerald Shea and Paul Nolt Wenger French ProvincialMilwaukee: The Bruce publishing company, 1938 (not online)

From the late nineteenth century on, there was a range of simultaneous responses to and uses of Arts and Crafts ideas and rhetoric.

The recognizable styles of the Arts and Crafts movement may have changed with fashion and been replaced by Colonial revival, Beaux-Arts, and moderne styles, but the legacy of the movement in American furniture was fourfold

:

First, the language of craftsmanship became a new means of marketing furniture. Through the various writings on both intellectual and popular levels, "craftsmanship" became a signifier recognized by both consumer and producer. In merchandising their works in a more competitive fashion, firms sought to educate their clientele about quality through broad general advertising and instructive booklets.

Mere pictures of products and prices were not sufficient. The new advertisements and publications emphasized the importance of construction and the integrity of the process and maker.

For example, the Limbert Company described its workers as being "in sympathy with our ideals of furniture making-men of quick perception and skill, who take an interest in their work and enter into it with enthusiasm-men who derive pleasure and satisfaction in producing articles of superior modeling and construction."31 In the 1920s, the importance of craftsmanship fueled the interest in colonial cabinetmakers and contributed to the widened popularity of American preindustrial furniture, or antiques, which possessed the important qualities of high technical accomplishment by hardworking, honest men.

Even as recently as the early 1980s, craftsmanship remained a primary measure of quality. A catalogue from 1981 explained: "Essential to the success of any piece is the quality of its execution-command of technique through discipline is the sine qua non for any object."32

Second, the groundswell of home workshops preserved some basic technical traditions and laid the foundation for a resurgence of handcrafted furniture in the 1950s.

During the prosperity after World War II, many college graduates turned their avocation into a career. But the hobbyist emphasis of much of the century actually led to technical atrophy in the custom part of the industry.

No base for training existed, and it became harder to recruit qualified woodworkers.

Lost was the cumulative intensity of a continuous tradition.

Third, the aesthetic nature of the reform debate, occurring at a time when marketing and advertising began to exert great influence upon production and consumption decisions, spurred the beginning of academic interest in furniture design and construction.

Initially, this could be seen in the design programs or schools set up by the firms, or in the art schools associated with museums.


The former tended to foster the professionalization of in-house furniture designers, and

the latter tended to produce interior designers or informed consumers.


Although the new academic training focused closer attention on the style of furniture, making design the key signifier in the late 19205 and 1930s, it did not produce a new generation of school-trained craftsmen to replace the dwindling supply of apprentices or immigrant craftsmen.

Only after the GI Bill, the expansion of craft curricula in the 1950s, and the growth of woodworking programs in the 1960s and 19705 was there a sufficient critical mass of skilled furnituremakers trained in the university system. The training of skilled craftspeople lagged behind that of designers.33

Fourth, the production and writings of architects who favored a graphic, two-dimensional approach to furniture became the philosophical legacy for the notions of pure design favored by the next generation.34 Architects' interest in furniture, and their self-conscious writings about their furniture, introduced many to the notions of ahistorical design based upon the princi­ples of harmony, balance, rhythm, symmetry, and other graphic abstractions. This activity also provided the precedent for the anointment of architects, such as Michael Graves and Robert Venturi, as "design stars" in the 1970s and 1980s. These architects provided designs for furniture, coffee services, jewelry, and even doghouses.35 In these ways, the Arts and Crafts movement in furniture design and construction had far-reaching effects that continue to color the making and buying of furniture today.

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From William B. Rhoads, "Colonial Revival in American Craft: Nationalism and the Opposition to Multicultural and Regional Traditions", in Janet Kardon, ed., Revivals! Diverse Tradtions, 1920-1945: the history of 20th c American craft. New York: Abrams, 1994, pages 41-54. (get pages from opd)

Rhoads: The link between ancestry and commitment to the colonial was not always predictable. Herman Hjorth, an educator in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with no known ancestral links to Anglo-colonial America, was an expert at reproducing colonial furniture in school industrial-arts shops. Such reproductions, he believed, were valuable not only for technical and aesthetic education but as a supplement to American and English history courses.

Israel Sack, trained as a cabinetmaker in Lithuania, became a noted dealer in American antiques and, through this experience,

"captured the true spirit of the greatness of American character as reflected in our finest furniture."

He also reproduced furniture hardware and manufactured colonial tin sconces. Continuity was important to Sack, who advertised that beautiful objects served to join generations.44

Source: Herman Hjorth, "Reproducing Antique Furniture in the Schools," Industrial Arts Magazine, vol. 11 (April 1922): 137; Albert Sack, Fine Points of Furniture: Early American (New York: Crown, 1950), dedication page; Antiques, vol. 11, no. 6 (June 1927): 477, 493; I. Sack, Reproductions of Antique Fittings (Boston: I. Sack, n.d.); Antiques, vol. 16, no. 3 93; (September 1929): inside front cover.]

PREFACE A general refinement of the public taste in matters pertaining to art and interior decoration is making itself felt move and more clearly. One of the phases of this feeling and desire for better things is undoubtedly the realization of the charm, beauty of line, and individuality of antique furniture. Unfortunately the available supply of genuine antiques is so far below the demand that only the favored few- can enjoy the possession of artistic old pieces. For the great majority reproductions will have to (1o. If well made and of time proportions, they will be found to be just as pleasing as the originals, besides being much stronger. The higher class of furniture factories are meeting the demand of the times by turning out many excellent reproductions, which are not merelv common adaptations but follow time original in every detail. But reproduction of antique furniture need not necessarily be confined to professional cabinet makers. It may well be undertaken by high school boys, and many pieces can even be made by students of the eighth grade. Work of this kind may at first appear too difficult; but, when the processes are carefully analyzed, these difficulties will disappear, and the result will be ever so more pleasing and satisfying than the usual "Mission" type of furniture. With this idea in mind, the following material has been compiled. The pieces of furniture illustrated have been selected for their general simplicity and adaptability to the average home. They have been photographed, measured, and translated into working drawings, thus making them available for reproduction. A few suggestions and a short description of the principal technical difficulties involved in the construction of each piece have been added, as Well as a chapter giving a brief outline of the art periods and how to distinguish the most important of them. While the book is intended chiefly for school use, it is hoped that it may also prove of interest to cabinet-makers, amateur woodworkers, and people in general who are interested in good furniture. HERMAN HJORTH San Juan, Porto Rico Source: HERMAN HJORTH, Reproduction of Antique Furniture Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988, pages 176-177. INTRODUCTION, by frederick g bonser (note on frederick g bonser: bonser is famous for saying that The industrial arts are those occupations by which changes are made in the forms of materials to increase their values for human usage. As a subject for educative purposes, industrial arts is a study of the changes made by man in the forms of materials to increase their values, and of the problems of life related to these changes (Source: Frederick. Gordon Bonser and Lois Coffey Mossman,. (1928). Industrial arts for elementary schools. New York: Macmillan, 1923, page 5. Between 1900-1925 in industrial arts, the Bonser-Mossman study is considered the pivotal contribution to the field. Its significance is marked statistically by the frequency with which it is cited by later scholars in technology education. As a spokesman for progressive education, Bonser's ideals for american education, were: freedom to develop naturally interest as a motivating influence guidance and leadership as the function of the teacher intelligent study the learner's development attention to health and physical growth close cooperation of school and home to meet the learner's needs For background on both Bonser and Coffey's contribution to IA, click here. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ james g edwards. "Samson's Hair: Denuding the Technology Curriculum", Journal of Technology Studies Frederick Gordon Bonser's Views We travel 90 years back in time to trace the recognition of the strength and importance of hand skill development in industrial arts instruction. The historical roots are found at Columbia University with the "father" of industrial arts, Dr. Frederick Gordon Bonser. Born on June 14, 1875, on a farm in Pana, Illinois (Bawden, 1950), Bonser's early life was filled with doing chores and learning the hand skills necessary for working on a small farm. There were no schools in Pana, and when he reached high school age Bonser moved 160 miles from home to attend high school. After high school he attended the University of Illinois and completed his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1901 and a master's degree in 1902. In 1905 Bonser received a graduate fellowship to Teachers College, Columbia University, where he completed his doctorate in 1906. After teaching in the field for three years, Bonser received an appointment to Teachers College, Columbia University, as head of the newly formed Department of Industrial Education. In 1912, Bonser and James Russell, dean of Teachers College, published a pamphlet that focused on the introduction of the industrial arts hand skill development curriculum as a way to reform education. This landmark publication emphasized the importance of the hand and the mind as co-equals in education of all children. Bonser believed that hand work was not just for the development of a skill, but was a means of developing understanding and attitudes (Russell & Bonser, 1912). He also believed that hand skill development was a means of satisfying the constructive impulses of the learner and that all students would benefit from the development of "general dexterity and control appropriate for normal physical growth and general life participation' (Bonser, 1932, p. 158). He emphasized that "the industrial arts as a study utilize hand work as a means to help in developing meanings and values, as a way of clarifying ideas and cultivating appreciations" (Bonser, 1932, p. 203). Some years later, Bonser (1932) advocated that the purpose of hand skill development of industrial arts was to "bring more meaning to life. Hands would be used, true enough, but as the willing servants of a better and finer mind and soul" (p. vii). He also supported the importance of his view by the conjecture "as if something good could be done by the hands apart from the mind and soul" (p. viii). With these statements Bonser focused on the integration of hand work into all aspects of education. It should be added that as an early advocate of the hand and the brain as co-creators of the young person's perception of meaning and value in life, Bonser said: The use of the industries is basic as a material out of which and up which to build that culture of hand and brain and soul which make the individual alert, inventive intelligent, appreciative, and moral in any vocational activity which either choice or circumstance may impose. (Russell & Bonser, 1912, p. 36) Bonser (1912) asserted that culture "that is genuine" (p. 36) is founded upon and vitally involved in utilitarian activities. His vision of hand skill training and its role in education was of two parts. The first part emphasized the importance of hand skill training as a means for having a fulfilling life. In this regard his vision supports the unit shop of industrial arts. However, the second part of his vision emphasized the importance of hand skill training as an integral part of every child's education. In this regard his vision more closely supports the underpinnings of today's technology curriculum. References Barnett, E. (1999). Critical changes in technology education. In M. R Karnes (Ed.), Technology education in prospect: Perceptions, change, and the survival of the profession. The journal of Technology Studies, 25 (1), 13. Bawden, W. T. (1950). Leaders in industrial education. Milwaukee, WI: Bruce. Bonser, F. G. (1932). Life needs and education. New York: Columbia University, Teachers College, Bureau of Publications. Buffer, J. J., Jr. (1999). In M. R. Karnes (Ed.), Technology education in prospect: Perceptions, change, and the survival of the profession. The journal of Technology Studies, 25(1), 15-16. Custer, R L. (1999). Prospects for the future: It's our call. In M. R Karnes (Ed.), Technology education in prospect: Perceptions, change, and the survival of the profession. The journal of Technology Studies, 25 (1), 17. Foster, P. N. (1994). Technology education: AKA industrial arts. journal of Technology Education, 5 (2), 15-30. Herschbach, D. R (1996). "What is past is prologue": Industrial arts and technology education. The journal of Technology Studies, 22(1), 28-39. Herschbach, D. R (1997). From industrial arts to technology education: The search for direction. The journal of Technology Studies, 23(1), 24-32. Jewell, L. (1995). Attitudes of North Carolina principals toward secondary technology education programs. In V. Arnold (Ed.), North Carolina Council of Vocational Teacher Educators tenth annual research council report (pp. 14-21). Greenville, NC: East Carolina University. Karnes, M. R (1999). Technology education in prospect: Perceptions, change, and the survival of the profession. The journal of Technology Studies, 25(1), 11-35. Lux, D. (1998). Change imperatives. In M. R Karnes (Ed.), Technology education in prospect: Perceptions, change, and the survival of the profession. The journal of Technology Studies, 25(1), 22. Moss, J., Jr. (1999). Connections. In M. R Karnes (Ed.), Technology education in prospect: Perceptions, change, and the survival of the profession. The journal of Technology Studies, 25(1), 23. Petrina, S., & Volk, K (1995a). Industrial arts movement's history, vision, and ideal: Relevant, contemporary, used but unrecognized-Part I. The journal ofEpsilon Pi Tau, 21(1), 24-30. Petrina, S., & Volk, K (1995b). Industrial arts movement's history, vision, and ideal: Relevant, contemporary, used but unrecognized-Part II. The journal ofEpsilon Pi Tau, 21(2), 28-35. Russell, J. R, & Bonser, F. G. (1912). Industrial education. New York: Columbia University, Teacher College. Volk, K S. (1996). Industrial arts revisited: An examination of the subject's continued strength, relevance and value. journal of Technology Education, 8(1), 27-39. Wilson, F. R (1998). The hand: How its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture. New York: Pantheon Books. see also stephen petrina, the politics of technological literacy, international journal of technology and design education 10, no 3, october 2000, pages 181-206 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Bonser had no formal shop-work training, but he recognized the need and the place for industrial arts in the school and he proceeded to do something about it. The significant part of Dr. Bonser's work came during that difficult transition period when manual training was struggling to free itself from its cocoon of formal discipline, and its more or less wooden concept of its mission, and to emerge into a wider horizon of industrial arts inspired by a new psychology and by modern discoveries in the growth and development of child life (Bawden, 1950, p. 35). Bonser's ideas appeared in the first decade of the twentieth century in speeches and writings. In an article entitled "Fundamental Values in Industrial Education", he summarized the two forces coming together to reform indus­trial education: Two entirely different elements have contributed to focus attention and effort upon the problem of readjustment looking to the appropriate recognition of the industrial arts. The one already suggested is the recent demand for a higher degree of skill and efficiency in the industrial worker. The other embraces a number of historical influences which have been developing with increasing clearness in the field of pedagogy since the Renaissance. In the realism of Bacon, Comenius and Pestalozzi; the naturalism of Rousseau; the doctrines of apperception and many sided interests of Herbart; the principles of development by participation of Froebel; and the general pragmatism evolved in the recent years through the scientific and sociological movements in education -- in all of these we see a progressively broadening tendency to bring the work of the school into a more vital relationship with the immediate world of activities and interests in which the child lives (Bonser, 1912, p. 24). The article attempted to focus attention on the importance of including the study of industries as a part of a general education for life in an industrial society. Bonser proposed that: (1) industrial arts, rightly interpreted, deserved an equal place in an elementary and secondary school curriculum (although he was primarily concerned with industrial arts at the elementary level); (2) industrial arts as a part of the curriculum would correlate with and enrich other subject areas; and (3) "the social and liberal elements in the study of industrial arts are more significant than are the elements involved in the mere manipulation of materials" (Bonser, 1912, p. 28). He strongly emphasized the thought content and the humanistic value of industrial arts. Bonser was the director of the Speyer School, the experimental school associated with Teachers College, from 1910-13. The report of the work there, "The Speyer School Curriculum," as well as other articles by Bonser, helped spread his influence on reform in the industrial arts. Cochran (1970) noted that interwoven in the industrial arts movement was a concern over the limitations of a one-activity shop. Individuals involved with industrial arts began to experiment with a general shop orientation in order to participate in various activities with a variety of equipment and materials. During this same time period others were concerned with the needs of American industry and promoting the vocational aspects of industrial education. For several decades there had been increasing demand for and interest in vocational education programs in public schools, but the beginning of the movement is usually identified with the Douglas Commission Report--The Commission on Industrial and Technical Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in 1906 (Martin and Leutkemeyer, 1979). The report recommended modifying both elementary and secondary programs to include more instruction and practice in the elements of productive industry and to show the application and use of math, science, and drawing in industrial life. The second recommendation was the establishment of inde­pendent industrial schools parallel to the public school system (Bennett, 1937). In the same year, the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education was founded. Its chief purpose was to promote industrial training and vocational education (Barella, 1981) reflecting a deep, widespread interest in industrial education across the country (Bennett, 1937). Through bulletins, conventions, committees, studies and state surveys, the group gained support and promoted the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917, creating federal direction and funding for certain types of vocational education. As the vocational movement gathered momentum, some of its proponents called for the eradication of manual training (Barella, 1981). Many in the profession, put on the defensive, attempted to show how manual training could be used for vocational purposes. Smith (1981) noted that: the outcome of such dual purpose programs undoubtedly served vocational interests much better than it did general education interests. While not entirely satisfactory to either, these vocationally oriented programs tended to move manual training, and later industrial arts, toward a trade­skill-development emphasis (p. 189). Discussing the same problem, Barella (1981) wrote: Perhaps the greatest harm incurred by manual training and done to industrial arts was the adoption of the trade and job analysis techniques which were based on the efficiency methods for business and industry by Frederick Taylor in 1911 (p. 159). Because of the pressure from advocates of vocational pro-grams, trade and job analysis was suggested as a means of organizing instruction in manual training and industrial arts. Many leaders in the vocational movement suggested that manual training or industrial arts should be prevoca­tional in nature. Courses at the junior high level were often affected by the prevocational emphasis. Concerned about the developments on the East Coast (the threats to manual arts and manual training), Bennett, Selvidge, and other Midwestern educators formed the Mississ­ippi Valley Conference in 1909. It was to wield influence over the field in future years (Smith, 1981). This was the beginning of a new era for industrial education. The push for vocational education has had a lasting impact on industrial arts. These early ideas and the social conditions in which they evolved point out the question that has been debated since then regarding the differences between vocational education and industrial arts. "Since 1917, the relationship between industrial arts education and trade and industrial education has been rather tenuous" (Martin and Leutkemeyer, 1979, p. 29). Clearly, "those who represented what is called 'industrial arts' traced their lineage back to one set of ideas, and the advocates of vocational industrial education to another" (Herschbach, 1979, p. 16). The First World War had a great impact on the indus­trial arts movement. Both areas of public school industrial education were called on to contribute in a tangible way to the war effort (Barlow, 1967). Industrial arts shops became involved with Junior Red Cross programs preparing specific articles for use by soldiers. An advisory group of industrial arts educators met in 1918 and recommended increasing enrollment in existing industrial arts programs, encouraged new programs to begin, and tried to "improve the effectiveness of shop instruction by relating it to the needs of the war crisis" (Martin and Leutkemeyer, 1979, p. 32). The war had the effect of strengthening the argu­ments of those advocating trade training over more general technical studies (Lux, 1981). During the decades of the 20's and 30's, the place of industrial arts in the school curriculum, its aims and objectives, was continuously discussed. Manual training subjects were somewhat accepted at the elementary school level primarily due to the influence of Bonser. He and Mossman published their book, Industrial Arts for the Elementary School, in 1923, which became the standard text for elementary industrial arts. Junior high industrial arts, increasingly a required subject for boys, grew rapidly. In response to the growth in the junior high, "industrial arts educators began to emphasize both an exploratory objective and the concept of the general shop" (Martin and Leutkemeyer, 1979, p. 32). Prior to the 1870's, the physical make-up of manual training and industrial arts facilities was influenced by the work of the various individuals involved and the nature of their reform (Gemmill, 1979). Unit shops, developed through the efforts of those allied with Calvin Woodward, were the first type of school shop (Ericson and Seefeld, 1960). Each of the reformers of the era developed learning environments in congruence with their curricula. "Con-current with the junior high school movement, diversified shops were implemented for their explorative and guidance value" (Gemmill, 1979, p. 92). The term "general shop" was used and soon covered a variety of classifications. Lux (1981) felt that the opportunities for industrial arts in this era were very strong, yet the profession responded to the challenge to find comprehensive, liberal, technical studies for the emerging junior high school in a most unimagin­ative way.... Despite the clear advocacy of and the increasing theoretical support for studies [Bonser, et al] of contemporary industry rather than the declining crafts, the main stream of industrial arts continued down the path that had been set by senior high school manual training (p. 207). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ stombaugh: Another tendency which is in keeping with the newer philosophy of education has been the shifting of the emphasis from class instruction supplemented by individual instruction to individual instruction supplemented by class instruction. Attempts were made at first to solve the problems of class instruction by means of indi­vidual oral instruction, but the method imposed considerably more work upon an already busy teacher. Since the period of the World War many forms of written instruction sheets have appeared in an effort to improve the efficiency of instruction. [69 : 4169. FRYKLUND, VERNE C. "Instruction Sheets and Principles of Teaching." Industrial Arts Magazine, XVI : 41-44, February 1927.] @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Thus Bonser is generally credited as being one of the most influential educators in industrial arts of the era. For Hjorth to call on Bonser to inTroduce his woodworker's manual in 1924 makes much sense, because, together, Bonser and Hjorth are leading Industrial Arts to another level of pedagogy. My claim makes more sense when you consider that, two years earlier, in 1922, Hjorth's woodworker's manual was published as a series of ten articles in the monthly issues of Industrial Arts Magazine (IAM is a periodical begun in Rather than a strict focus upon acquisition of technical skills, there was instead greater stress upon the content of manual arts, where the concept behind the discipline was visualized as more of an educational instrument covering a broader teaching goal. Parallel with the development of the junior high school there is to be noted, as a result of the effort to give training that would fit pupils better to meet real life experiences, a change not only in the content of the courses in industrial arts, but in the organization of the shop for purposes of instruction. The first new type of shop organization was the home mechanics shop wherein the pupil was taught those fundamental processes underlying repair and mainte­nance jobs in the home. Closely following this organization was the general shop plan, whereby several activities dealing with a variety of materials and processes are brought together in a single shop. Another tendency which is in keeping with the newer philosophy of education has been the shifting of the emphasis from class in­struction supplemented by individual instruction to individual in­struction supplemented by class instruction. Attempts were made at first to solve the problems of class instruction by means of indi­vidual oral instruction, but the method imposed considerably more work upon an already busy teacher. Since the period of the World War many forms of written instruction sheets have appeared in an effort to improve the efficiency of instruction. wherein the activities appear to center around the one general objective of personal growth of the pupil. In the latter all problems are pupil selected according to individual interest and needs, and are limited only by the ability of the pupil and the limitation of the equipment. Specific skills and knowledges are not taught except as they further and find application in the problem. According to this theory it is more important that a pupil have an opportunity to think through a problem and express himself according to his interpretation than it is for him to be rotated through a sequence of adult selected tools and processes. "General Shop": A "Program" Morphs Into a Movement A important concept from the Industrial Arts era of technology education, General Shop refers to the program established in the 1920s which combines manual training, drawing, and home economics into Industrial Arts. Out of General Shop emerged the concept vital to the history of the amateur woodworking, the homeworkshop movement (links coming). [notes, to be edited] In 1908, Lois Coffey justifiably had begun to attract attention for her work from the State Department of Education in Illinois. While at Macomb, Coffey -- assisted by several other teachers -- she set up the first "general shop," in which students alternated through experiences in shopwork, drawing, and home economics. Impact: Creation of the Term, "Industrial Arts" This eventually led to the integration of manual training, drawing, and home economics into "industrial arts," a term Coffey was using by 1909. (Four years earlier, in 1904, Industrial Arts was coined by Charles Richards) William E. Warner's interpretation of the "general shop" idea, Policies in Industrial Arts Education: Their Application to a Program for Preparing Teachers, would later revolutionize industrial arts, and Warner would later credit Columbia University industrial arts professor Frederick G. Bonser with the general shop theory. (see P. Gemmill, "Industrial arts laboratory facilities-Past, present, and future", in Martin, G. Eugene, ed., "Industrial arts education : retrospect, prospect" Bloomington, IL: American Council on Industrial Arts Teacher Education, 1979)... Source: Patrick N. Foster "The Founders of Industrial Arts in the US", Journal of Technology Education 7, no 1 1995 IN the making of household furniture in school shops, the art quality of the work has often been neglected. The choice for the instructor has seemed to be either that of making pieces of simple construction, using the rather commonplaces current examples as models, or in making somewhat heavy pieces with the simple but severe and uninteresting lines of the revived mission style. This limitation has existed largely because of two reasons. The first of these is the fact that the students had not developed much skill in construction, and it was thought unwise and unsafe to permit them to attempt cabinet work involving the use of finer grades of material, and the more difficult forms of construction required in models of any marked degree of complexity or variety in finish. The second reason has been the absence of any source of models and instructions which would provide good examples in designs that are interesting in variety, classic in style, and yet simple enough in construction to be within the capabilities of students who were not yet expert in workmanship. Mr. Hjorth has succeeded in presenting a book which should do much to remove the limitation to finer grades of work by meeting both of the difficulties which have stood in the way. He has selected examples of furniture representative of the most significant and typical features of the several periods of greatest achievement in furniture making. At the same time, he has developed these in such simple form that the student with good mechanical ability, although still am amateur, may produce results that are highly satisfactory. In making pieces of furniture that are of excellent design and representative of the types of work of the greatest master designers and craftsmen, the student is securing the best kind of training in construction, becoming acquainted in a firsthand way with the finest designs in furniture, developing an appreciation of the qualities of design that will be of lifelong value to him. This will be true with reference to his judgment of what is good in selecting furniture as well as in its production. From this point of view, the work may be rated as having general or cultural value as well as vocational value. Such a book will also be a valuable reference for any who are interested in a study of period furniture but who are unable to go into the matter intensively, or who perhaps may do no constructive work whatever. Most books dealing with period furniture treat of the subject so very comprehensively and with so much technical detail that the average man or woman can make little of it. This book should meet a general and popular need for a clear and simple treatment of period furniture. It should therefore be of use in classes studying household furnishings from the standpoint of home makers or purchasers of furniture in any capacity. The chapter on period furniture is not so detailed or elaborate as to be obscure or tiresome, and, at the same time, it is sufficiently full to give a reasonably clear conception of the significant features of each period and its points of chief differences from other periods. Wherever there is an interest in good furniture of fine design, either from the point of view of making furniture or of selecting it, this book should be of use. In the simple, yet adequate treatment developed by Mr.Hjorth, he has made a contribution which should be of service to junior and senior high schools, vocational classes in cabinet making, furniture manufacture, furniture salesmanship, or home making, and to any other forms of extension classes having to do with problems in the selection and use of furniture. May the book find its way to all of those who are in need of its message. FREDERICK G. BONSER Teachers College, Columbia University Back top "notes" on colonial revival Back to Top Avalonstar Click here for directory of "notes" on colonial revival SuperfluousBanter