Links to history, archaeology and tool museums
and information sources not
in Maine
Located in the United States
(see below for those located outside the United States)
Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America: PO Box 816, Farmington,
GA 30638, 706 310-1030. American Association of Museums:
1575 Eye St. N.W., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 289-9132. American
College of the Building Arts: 21 Magazine Street, Charleston, South
Carolina 29401, 877.283.5245, 843.577.5245, Fax: 843.577.2451. American Journeys:
Sponsored by the Wisconsin Historical Society
- This site has scanned old texts, which can be viewed and printed a page
at a time. They are indexed for searching and also can be located
using the historical highlights listings.
American Museum of Natural History
American Precision Museum:Windsor,
Vermont.
Analysis and Replication
of Historical Materials: Dr Stephen Birkett, Department of Systems
Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L
3G1, 519-888-4567 Ext. 3792.
- Dr. Birkett's research includes topics on "Why didn't historical makers
need drawings?" and "a detailed analysis of historical wire-drawing technology
and the development of an economically viable modern technique for replicating
carbon-free, high phosphorus content historical iron wire."
Antique
Gun Room: This is a business that sells guns, their website includes
a great set of links to sites on Colonial American history.
Archaeological Institute
of America: Boston University, 656 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Boston,
MA 02215-2006
Tel: 617-353-9361 FAX: 617-353-6550. Archiving Early America:
dvitale@attglobal.net
- "a unique array of primary source material from 18th Century America. Scenes
and portraits from original newspapers, maps and writings"
ArchNet: Worldwide
Web Virtual Library for Archaeology.
- Note: The above link does not work in our version of Netscape Navigator,
try Internet Explorer.
- Sponsored by the Archaeological Research Institute (ARI) at Arizona State
University.
Association for Preservation Technology
International: 4513 Lincoln Ave., Suite 213, Lisle, IL 60532-1290.
Astragal Press: 5
Cold Hill Rd. S., Suite 12, PO Box 239, Mendham, NJ 07945-0239, (973) 543-3045.
- This publisher specializes in books on tools and trades.
Bahr's Mill:
Gabelsville, PA, 610-369-7266, fax: 215-679-5388.
Baker
Library at Dartmouth College: Hinman Box 6025, (603) 646-2560. Berger: CST/Berger,
255 West Fleming Street, P.O. Box 359, Watseka, IL 60970 U.S.A. Bicknell Supply
Company: PO Box 900, 360 College Ave., Elberton, GA 30635, (800)241-7105. Bill Hooks
- Definitions and descriptions.
Boring Tools
- Hole making and screw driving tools: braces, geared drills, push, bow,
pump drills, tool handles, screwdrivers
Boston Athenaeum: 10
1/2 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108, (617) 227-0270.
Brown & Sharpe Co. Cape Cod Maritime
Museum: 135 South St., PO Box 443, Hyannis, MA 02601, (508) 775-1723. Clamps
- Wooden and metal clamps, uses, manufacturers, etc.
Charles River Museum of Industry: Charles River Museum of Industry, 154 Moody Street, Waltham, MA 02453
Crabtree Publishing Company:
Dept 2TPHC1F, PMB 16A, 350 Fifth Ave. Ste. 3308, NY, NY 10118, (212) 496-5040
- A great source of children's books on a wide variety of topics: Native
Americans, colonial life, tools and trades.
Collectors of Rare And Familiar
Tools Society (CRAFTS): 38 Colony Court, Murray Hill, NJ 07974.
Colonial Williamsburg:
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776,
(757) 220-7286. Concord Museum: 200
Lexington Road, Concord, MA 01742, (978) 369-9763.
D'Elia Antique Tool Museum:
PO Box 164, 21 Brook Road, Scotland, CT 06264, (860) 456-1516. Delphion Research
C. DREW & CO.
Tool Collectors Research Group
- Their mission is to gather and publish information on all aspects of C.
DREW & CO. and its products. They are also eager to gather and publish
information on Nahum Bailey, Daniel Bisbee, Thomas Cushman, John Washburn
and other tool manufacturers who worked in Kingston, Massachusetts.
Early American Industries Association
(EAIA): 167 Bakerville Rd., South Dartmouth, MA 02748-4198, (508)
993-4198.
Eastern States Archeological
Federation (ESAF): PO Box 11256, Alexandria, Virginia 22312, 703-256-1304. Early Rhode Island
Toolmakers and Tradesmen Everything Carpenters,
from About Carpentry to Trim Carpenters Everything Saws, from Air Saws to Zero
Clearance Farmers' Museum:
Lake Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326, 888-547-1450. Fraunces Tavern Museum:
54 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10004-2429, 212-425-1778 Fax: 212-509-3467. First American tinsmiths:
William and Edgar Pattison
- "The earliest tin items were manufactured by hand using forming stakes.
It wasn't until 1806 that machinery for forming and tinwork was invented.
By 1819, a machinist from Southington, Connecticut had patented several
metal working machines. Many of the companies that received patents
then are still in existence today -- such as PEXTO, Roper-Whitney, and
Niagara. Tin manufacturing thrived in America from the early 1700's
through the late 1800's. Tin items were used for many functions in
homes." Randy Hulsey, Jennings Creek Tin Shoppe, Bowling Green, KY.
Genesee Country Village and Museum:
1410 Flint Hill Road, Mumford, NY 14511, Fax: (585) 538-6927, Telephone:
(585) 538-6822.
- Of interest to the Davistown Museum due to its collection of cooper's tools.
Hagley Museum and Library:
PO Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807-0630, (302) 658-2400.
Hamau Webdirectory
HammerInHand:
To help preserve the tradtional techniques of the blacksmith. Hargrett
Rare Book and Manuscript Library: University of Georgia Libraries,
Athens, GA 30602-1641, (706) 542-7123 / FAX: (706) 542-4144 / Email: hargrett@arches.uga.edu.
- "A collection of more than 800 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years,
from the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century."
Harvard Business School Baker
Library
Historic Deerfield:
Box 321, Deerfield, MA 01342-0321(413) 774-5581, Fax: (413) 775-7220.
Hopewell Furnace: National
Historic Site, 2 Mark Bird Lane, Elverson, PA 19520, 610-582-8773.
Internet Archive: "...building
a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital
form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians,
scholars, and the general public." Kendall Whaling
Museum: Sharon, MA, (781) 784-5642. Kramer Museum of Tools & Technology
- This site contains information on conversion charts for historic to modern
chemicals/materials, tables of historic weights and measures and receipts
for stains, coloring, cements, cleaners, etc.
L. S. Starrett Company:
121 Crescent Street, Athol, MA 01331, 978-249-3551, FAX: 978-249-8495.
Landis Valley Museum:
2451 Kissel Hill Road, Lancaster, PA 17601, 717.569.0401, Fax: 717.560.2147. Lester F. Larsen Tractor
Test & Power Museum: University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
PO Box 830833, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583-0833, (402) 472-8389, FAX (402)
472-8367. Massachusetts Archaeological
Society, Inc. (MAS): PO Box 700, Middleborough, MA 02346-0700,
508 947-9005. Mayflower
Web Pages: Caleb Johnson.
Miller's Falls
Company Miller's Patent
Plow Plane (Stanley Rule & Level Co.) Missouri Valley Wrench
Club
Mocotagan:
A nice website describing crooked knives.
Mourt's Relation:
(1622) by Eward Winslow, reprinted on the web. Museum of Our Industrial
Heritage: 77 Petty Plain Rd., Greenfield, MA 01303, (413) 773-5463. The
Museum of Surveying: 220 S. Museum Drive, Lansing, MI 48933, (517)
484-6605. Museum of Woodworking Tools Musical Saw Manufacturers
- Natalia Paruz plays the MUSICAL SAW, keeping this old American tradition
of making music with a carpenter's saw alive. History of musical
saws, sound clips, composers manual, CDs, poetry that mentions saws, etc.
Mystic Seaport:
P.O. Box 6000, 75 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic, CT 06355-0990, 860-572-0711.
- A maritime museum including a "bustling 19th-century village of tall ships
and historic buildings, exhibit galleries brimming with the culture of
seafaring lives, and a unique shipyard where the nearly lost art of wooden
shipbuilding endures."
National Ornamental Metal Museum:
374 Metal Museum Drive, Memphis, TN 38106, 901-774-6380.
New Bedford Whaling Museum:
18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740, (508) 997-0046. New Britain Industrial Museum:
185 Main St., I.I.E.T. Building, Second Floor, New Britain, CT 06051, (860)
832-8654.
New York State Historical Association:
Lake Rd., State Highway 80, PO Box 800, Cooperstown, NY 13326, library@nysha.org. North American Model
Engineering Society: 36506 Sherwood, Livonia, MI, 48154. North Carolina Museum of
History: 4650 Mail Service Center, 5 East Edenton Street, Raleigh,
NC 27699-4650, (919) 715-0200. Old Sturbridge Village: 1 Old
Sturbridge Village Road, Sturbridge, MA 01566, (508) 347-3362.
- "The museum re-creates the daily work activities and community celebrations
of a rural
19th-century town in authentic -- living history -- fashion."
Old Woodworking Machines
- "Information on the history, restoration and use of vintage woodworking
machinery."
Omohundro Institute of Early American
History and Culture: P.O. Box 8781, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8781Telephone:
(757)-221-1110, FAX: (757) 221-1047, E-mail: ieahc1@facstaff.wm.edu.
- "Exclusively dedicated to the advancement of study, research, and publications
bearing on the history and culture of early America to approximately 1815"
Oyster Bay
Historical Society: P.O. Box 297, 20 Summit Street, Oyster
Bay, New York 11771-0297, (516) 922-5032.
Patented
American Marking and Mortise Gages: 1854 - 1900 Peabody Essex Museum: East
India Square, Salem, MA 01970.
- A museum of art, architecture and culture. Its Phillips Library is
"a major resource for residents and scholars with interests in genealogy,
maritime history, New England history, or documents relating to the museum's
vast and diverse collections."
Robbins Museum of
Archaeology: 17 Jackson Street, Middleboro, MA 02346-0700, 508
947-9005.
Roger K. Smith Antique
Tool Catalogs: P.O. Box 177, Athol, MA 01331, (978) 249-5990. Rose Antique Tools
- This site has several bibliographies on tool manufacturers including: Belknap
Blue Grass, Brown & Sharpe, Capewell, Craftsman, Dietzgen, Disston,
Keen Kutter, Luftkin, Millers Falls, Red Devil, Stanley, Starrett and Winchester.
Saugus Iron Works:
National Historic Site, 244 Central Street, Saugus, MA 01906-2107, 781-233-0050.
Shelburne Museum:
U.S. Route 7, P.O. Box 10, Shelburne, Vermont 05482, 802/985-3346, Fax:
802/985-2331.
- "37 buildings that are home to vast collections of fine and decorative
arts, paintings, folk sculpture, weathervanes, decoys, quilts, toys, dolls,
circus memorabilia and more. Even the buildings are historic, with traditional
New England structures dotting the Museum's beautifully landscaped 45 acres."
Slater Mill Historic Site:
175 Main Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island 02860, 401-725-8638.
The
Sloane Stanley Museum: Connecticut Historical Commission, 59 South
Prospect St., Hartford, CT 06106, 203-566-3005.
Society for American Archaeology:
900 Second Street NE #12, Washington, DC 20002-3557, 202-789-8200, Fax:
202-789-0284. Society of Early
Americanists: Prof. Michael P. Clark, Dept. of English and Comparative
Literature, University of California, Irvine, mpclark@uci.edu.
- "The purpose of this Society shall be to further the exchange of ideas
and information among scholars of various disciplines who study the literature
and culture of America to approximately 1800."
Society for the History of Technology
(SHOT): Department of the History of Science Medicine, and Technology,
216B Ames Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, (410) 516-8349
FAX: (410) 516-7502.
Society for Industrial Archaeology:
Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400
Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295, (906) 487-1889. Society for the Preservation of New
England Antiquities: SPNEA, 141 Cambridge St., Boston, MA 02114,
617-227-3956. Society for the Preservation and
Study of American Wooden Planes: P.O. Box 152, New Milford, NJ
07646-0152. Society Hill
Directory:
- "Directories of historical society listings [for the whole country] are
the result of contributions from dozens of volunteers."
Squantum (Squanto, Tisquantum):
The website contains information about his life history.
Stone Quarries and Beyond Strawbery Banke:
P.O. BOX 300, Portsmouth, NH 03802, 603-433-1100 FAX 603-433-1115. Super Tool: The
Superior Works: Patrick's Blood and Gore.
- This website is an important information source containing tons of information
on Stanley Planes.
Trade
Axe & Tomahawk Collectors Association
- "Devoted to the exchange of information about, and images of early trade
axes and tomahawks, and to share the joy of collecting these."
Timber Framers Guild:
PO Box 60, Becket, MA 01223, Phone and fax 888-453-0879.
Tool Talk: PAST (Preserving
Arts and Skills of the Trades)
- "The online place to learn about the tools and trades that made America."
Tremont Nail: 8 Elm Street,
Wareham, MA 02571, 800-842-0560
- Established in 1819, nail makers for over 180 years, the present nail factory
has about 60 nail machines and was completed in 1848. Through all the changes
and the hurried pace of modern industry the same product is still being
produced for customers who prefer the superior holding power and durability
of this time-tested nail.
Understanding
the Colonial Economy: This website is part of the National Council
on Economic Education and offers lesson plans for teachers.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Vintage
Saws Library
- This website contains reprints of many references written by Pete Taran
in The Fine Tool Journal on Disston saws and other saw related information.
The
Virtual Tools Museum: Southern Polytechnic State University.
Whalecraft: by Thomas
G. Lytle Wilton Heritage Museum: 244 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897, (203)
762-7257.
Winterthur Museum: Winterthur,
DE 19735, 800-448-3883.
- "A museum of early American decorative arts that opened to the public in
1951. The collection of more than
89,000 objects spans the years 1640-1860 and is displayed in
two buildings, the Period Rooms and the
Galleries."
Worcester Historical Museum:
30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA 01609, 508/753-8278.
Located
outside the United States
Australia Hand Tool
Preservation Association of Australia: PO Box 1163, Carlton,
Victoria, Australia 3053. Belgium Museum
for Old Techniques
- This link will take you to their search page, where
you can look up a mystery tool by its name, shape or craft. The link
is to the English site, but they also have French and Flemish(?) ones.
Canada
Early Canadiana Online
- A digital library providing access to 1,834,223 pages of Canada's printed
heritage. It features works published from the time of the first European
settlers up to the early 20th Century. ECO is produced by the Canadian
Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM), a nonprofit organization
for preserving and providing access to early Canadian publications, first
on microfiche and now online.
MacLachlan
Woodworking Museum: 2993 Hwy 2 East at Grass Creek Park, Kingston,
Ontario, Canada K7L 2Z3, (613) 542-0543 Fax (613) 547-5968.
New Brunswick Museum:
1 Market Square, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada E2L 4Z6, (506) 643-2300
- Mon. - Fri. - 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., Sat. - 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. - noon - 5
p.m., Holidays - noon - 5 p.m.
Denmark
Nationalmusseet:
National Museum of Denmark, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Havnevej 7,
2. DK-4000 Roskilde, Tel.: +45 4632 1600, Fax: +45 4632 2477.
- Museum in a former cloth mill. Exhibitions of early
Danish industry: The Brede Værk, I.C.Modewegs Vej, 2800 Lyngby.
- The Open-Air Museum: Kongevejen 100, 2800 Lyngby.
France
Maison de l'Outil et de
la Pensee Ouvriere: Tool Museum at Troyes, 7, rue de la Trinité
- 10 000 Troyes - France, Tél : (33).03.25.73.28.26 - Fax : 03.25.73.90.47. Sheep shears
- Currently this website is only in French, a look at the history of sheep
shears and some of the makers of shears.
Germany
Deutsches
Museum: 80306 München, Germany.
- "The museum not only sets out to investigate the
historical development of the natural sciences, technology and industry,
but also to demonstrate their cultural significance."
Deutsches
Werkzeugmuseum: Historisches Zentrum Remscheid, Cleffstr. 2 - 6,
42855 Remscheid, Germany, 0 21 91/16 25 19, Fax 0 21 91/16 31 55.
Germanisches
National Museum: Kartausergasse 1, D-90402 Nurnberg.
Hobelmuseum: in Langenfeld, Germany: Hobelmuseum Gerhard Schmitz, Hansastraße
11, 40764 Langenfeld, Tel. 02173 13018.
- 15,000 woodworking tools (mostly planes). The
website is in German.
Städtisches
Museum: Am Löwenwall, DE-38100 Braunschweig, Germany.
Tischlerei-Museum
Bremen: Ansgaritorstraße 24, 28195 Bremen, Tel. 0421 - 171703.
- The museum of the Bremen Joiners' Guild includes
displays of tools, a workshop, and antique steam-powered machinery, the
website is in German.
Italy
L. Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and
Ethnography: Piazzale Guglielmo Marconi, 14, Rome
- "The museum's material is divided between two sections
devoted to pale-ethnology and ethnography. The
pale-ethnological section mainly concentrates
on Latium prehistory and protohistory, with exhibits from
the local human settlements dating from
the Iron Age onwards."
MUSEO
DEL FALEGNAME (THE JOINER'S MUSEUM):
Via Papa Giovanni, 59 24030 Almenno S. Bartolomeo (Bergamo), tel. +39-035-549198.
Villa
Giulia National Museum: Piazzale di Villa Giulia, 9, Rome, phone:
3201951/3201993.
- It has "the aim of collecting together all the pre-Roman
antiquities of Latium, southern Etruria and Umbria, and mostly contains
finds from excavation conducted in Latium between the Tiber and the sea
and belonging to the Etruscan and Faliscan civilizations."
Netherlands
Amsterdams Historisch
Museum: Kalverstraat 92, Sint Luciensteeg 27 en, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal
357, 020 523 17 43. Fries
Museum: Postbus 1239, 8900 CE Leeuwarden, telefoon (058) 255 55
00, fax (058) 213 22 71. Nederlands
Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam: Kattenburgerplein 1, 1088 KK Amsterdam,
+31 (0) 20 523 22 22, Fax +31 (0)20 523 22 13.
- Netherlands Maritime Museum Amsterdam.
Sweden
The
Museum of National Antiquities (Statens Historiska): Box 5428,
S-114 84 Stockholm, Phone: +46-(0)8-519 556 00.
- "The central museum for the culture of older times
in Sweden, above all the prehistoric and medieval times of the country.
It manages the central archaelogical collection of the country and is the
museum responsible for the archaeological field. "
United Kingdom
Antiquetools.co.uk: Tool
articles from the Toolshop International Auction catalogues about both
tools and manufacturers. The Ashmolean Museum of Art
& Archaeology: Beaumont Street, OXFORD OX1 2PH UK, Tel: Oxford
(01865) 278000, Fax: Oxford (01865) 278018. The British
Museum: Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG, London, England, Telephone:
020 7323 8605 / 8195 fax: 020 7323 8985.
- It contains one of the world's great collections of Roman, Anglo-Saxon,
Viking and other medieval tools. An essential reference for The Davistown
Museum.
The
Canal Museum, Stoke Bruene: Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 7SE,
Telephone 01604 862229.
Haslemere
Educational Museum: 78 High Street, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 2LA,
phone 01428 642112. Hawley Collection:
c/o ARCUS, Research School of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, West
Court, 2 Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 4DT, Telephone + 44 (0)114 222 7100.
- "An internationally important collection of edge-tools and cutlery, mainly
from Sheffield, but with complementary material from Britain and the rest
of the world."
Jorvik Viking Centre:
Coppergate, York Y01 9WT, UK.
Kent Battle of Britain Museum:
Aerodrome Road, Hawkinge, Nr. Folkestone, Kent CT18 7AG, UK. Maritime History:
Michael Phillips and Jane Buchmann Phillips
- "A wide ranging collection of articles covering all aspects of maritime
history, although the general emphasis will reflect reflect our own interest
in naval history. We will continue to publish original naval documents
from the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries."
Museum of English
Rural Life: The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 229,
Reading RG6 6AG, Berkshire, England. Telephone: (0118) 9318660. Fax: 0118
9751264.
Museum
of London: 150 London Wall, LONDON EC2Y 5HN, UK.
- An excellent collection of Roman iron tools; also some nice Viking tools.
The London Museum is in a new modern building with wonderful display spaces,
but the main entrance is very difficult to locate. Take a bus to
St. Paul's cathedral and hunt around the back streets - its worth the struggle
to find it.
Museum of St Albans:
Hatfield Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 3RR, UK, Telephone 01727 819340,
Fax 44 01727 837472, Email a.wheeler@stalbans.gov.uk
- The Salaman collection of trade tools, an excellent hand (mainly woodworking)
tool collection.
National Maritime Museum: Greenwich,
LONDON SE10 9NF, UK.
National Maritime Museum Cornwall:
Falmouth, UK.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard:
Building 1/7 College Rd., HM Naval Base, Portsmouth POI 3LJ, United Kingdom,
023 9286 1512.
- The Mary Rose Museum is part of this complex. When the Mary Rose
sunk during the reign of Henry VIII (1545), a large cache of carpenter's
tools went down with the ship (along with +/- 700 crew). Approximately
20 planes and many other tools have been recovered and provide information
about the design and forms of woodworking tools at the beginning of the
16th century in England. Please see our comments on the Mary
Rose as well as the introduction to Goodman's British
Planemakers from 1700.
Salisbury and South Wiltshire
Museum: The King's House, 65 The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1
2EN, United Kingdom, +44 (0) 1722 332151.
- "The Museum's fine archaeological collection traces Man's activities from
the Old Stone Age to the Saxon period. Flint and bone tools, pottery
and [bronze age] metalwork..." There is also an exhibit on Stonehenge.
The Science Museum: (Victoria
& Albert Museum) Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD,
United Kingdom, +44 (0)870 870 4771
- The Science Museum is part of the Victoria and Albert complex of Museums
in South Kensington and a must visit for anyone interested in the history
of technology. It contains the most comprehensive exhibition on the
history of the development of the steam engine of any museum.
Sheffield Industrial Museums:
Kelham Island Museum, Alma St., Sheffield S3 8RY, UK, 0114 272 2106.
- The story of Sheffield and the history that made the city the steel capital
of the world.
White's 1857 Directory
of Derbyshire:
- This website includes a Sheffield alphabetical directory of names
and another of trades and professions.
