Registry of Maine Toolmakers: A Compilation of Toolmakers Working in Maine and the Province of Maine Prior to 1900

The last volume in the Davistown Museum Hand Tools in History series, the Registry of Maine Toolmakers documents toolmakers working in Maine from 1607-1900. It lists information about edge tool- and plane-makers who supplied tools for Maine’s ship carpenters and timber harvesters, including blacksmiths who specialized in toolmaking, as well as toolmakers for other trades, such as cooper, carriage-maker, cobbler, and farrier. Essays explore the historical milieu of these toolmakers, discussing the toolkits of colonial settlers; 18th century New England’s prosperous ironworking, planemaking, and shipbuilding industries; and Maine’s vigorous 19th century edge toolmaking industry. The Registry offers an invaluable and unique resource for historians, tool buffs, and anyone interested in these important contributors to the industrial and maritime history of Maine and New England, many of whom have gone undocumented before the publication of this work.