I’m still trying to nail down some details for a few longer posts.
Occupations
Back at the General Store
I’ve recently returned to my job behind the counter at the local mercantile. This is good—for all sorts of practical reasons—but requires an adjustment to my research and writing schedule that I’ve not quite figured out. Yet.
Main counter and clerk, 1880s General Store at Old World Wisconsin, July, 2016. Photo by Reed Perkins. Click to open larger image in new window.
I should be back with the conclusion of Infrastructure Week! next week. Meanwhile, here are a few more photos of the General Store at Old World Wisconsin — “big box” retail at its finest, circa 1880.
Continue readingThe farm garden
It’s early April, and the growing season is not far off. For a farmer like Jonathan M. Clark, it’s a little early yet for plowing and sowing, but not too early to make plans and sharpen the tools. For a farmer’s wife, like Mary (Turck) Clark, it’s not too soon to think about the farm garden, its crops and layout.
I don’t know if Mary and Jonathan were regular readers of the popular and affordable farmers’ almanacs of their era; I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. There were many to chose from. Perhaps they had a copy of something like:
The Cultivator […], New Series, Vol. VII, Albany, 1850, title page. Click to open larger image in new window.
Continue readingIn the workshop…
I’m still trying to hammer out a few new posts. Nothing’s ready today. Meanwhile…
Portrait of a Blacksmith in His Workshop, ca. 1855. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008680496/. Public domain. Click to open larger image in new window.
Another great image from the Daguerreotype collection at the Library of Congress, still in its handsome original case.
Every town in nineteenth-century America would have at least one blacksmith, ready to make or repair pretty much anything made of metal needed for farm, home, or workshop. Most blacksmiths made tools and specialty iron work, some also made wagons and carriages. Other smiths were trained as farriers, specialists the anatomy and health of the lower limbs and hooves of horses, and the making and fitting of horseshoes.
Continue reading
Clark House Historian 