Appendix 15: Woodworker's Manuals in Public Libraries
(under construction6-22-07)
"Library
Works On Woodwork"
Below is
an article, entitled "Library
Works On Woodwork"-- enclosed in a black box -- of 29books on
woodworking, published in the Lethbridge Herald,
on March 20, 1947, page 6.
I found
this list of woodworking books searching for articles on
Arthur Wakeling's Things to Make in Your Homeworkshop
on the newspaper database,
www.NewspaperArchive.com. Upon further searching in the
Lethbridge Herald,
for Thursday, October 20, 1938, page 6, I found "NEW BOOKS
AT LIBRARY: Recent books placed in the Lethbridge public
library shelves follow:", and among those listed are
De Vette,
100 Problems in Woodwork &
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries.
(At the time,
I was looking for reviews and/or simply mentions of Arthur
Wakeling's 1930 or 1939 edition of Things to Make in
Your Homeworkshop, because I wanted some evidence
that would allow me to estimate the impact Wakeling's book
had, especially whether it was widely purchased by members
of the National Homeworkshop Guild. Further searches
of the newspaperarchive.com for mention of the use in public
libraries of the
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries exposed
articles in the Salmanca (NY) Republican-Press,
April 12, 1947, page 12; Charleston (SC) Gazette
Magazine Section, July 31, 1955, page 18m; Edwardsville
(IL) Intelligencer, December 7, 1961, page 10)
Brief background on Arthur Wakeling:
From about
1920, Wakeling was an editor at Popular Science
Monthly, responsible for a section dedicated to
projects for the home-owner, including a wide-range
woodworking interests: buying hand and power tools, creating
workshop space in the home, building furniture, and so
forth. In 1933, he had a major role in the formation of the
National Homeworkshop Guild. [For background on the
NHG,
click here ; for more background on
Things to Make
in Your Homeworkshop, click here [under
construction.]
Below is a portion of the
March 1947 article in the Lethbridge Herald:
In the
gray-shaded below, scan my more-detailed listing of
these woodworking books from the article above. When you
look at it, I doubt that you will conclude that the books on
the list has the look of books selected randomly by a
worker in the Lethbridge Public Library simply to alert
citizens of Lethbridge and the rural areas surrounding this
foothills city, south of Calgary, Alberta. Mary Hazel
Bletcher was librarian at LPL from 1920-1953, strongly
suggesting that she is responsible for the events of 1938
and 1947, reported on below.
Lethbridge in 1947:
The
jpg below with the description of the Alberta
foothill city of Lethbridge below comes from the
1962 edition of the single-volume Columbia
Encyclopedia. I picked it as a source on
Lethbridge in the 1940s, primarily because of its
proximity in the den here at home where I work. And
although 1962 is not 1947, the 1962 account -- in
truth, probably late 1950s -- gives a close enough
description of this smallish Canadian city to allow
you to form a mental image about it.
[Personal
note: I was 11 years old in 1947, and lived in
the next province to the east, Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan's geographical terrain is flatter,
perhaps, but the demographics of Western Canada are
basically the same. A mosaic of peoples from a wide
range of nations, mostly northern and eastern
Europe, and at the time (1947) mostly engaged in
agriculture, or other similar jobs, none of which
yet required special education. In general, the
level of education of most of the population did not
yet reflect the rapid increase in higher education,
starting in the 1950s -- but especially the 1960s
and later -- that took place on both sides of the
49th parallel. Thus, from my perspective, in that
era, woodworking as a hobby was a luxury, not
engaged in by anybody except a privileged few.]
An extended
list of the 29 Carpentry and woodworking books available at
the Lethbridge Public Library follow in gray-shaded box --
(As time allows I will link most of these titles to their
respective entries in the woodworker's manuals section)
1. Frank Duncan Graham; Thomas J Emery ...
Audels carpenters and
builders guide ... A practical illustrated trade
assistant on modern construction for
carpenters--joiners--builders--mechanics and all
wood workers ... New York, T. Audel &
Co. 1939
[Ontario Library Review by
Ontario Provincial Library Service, Ontario.
Public Libraries Branch - 1928, Page 415;
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries:
an Annotated List of ... by H.W. Wilson
Company, Minnie Earl Sears - 1931 - 242
pages Page 187. No preview available on
google print because this book is sold as a
reprint by the Canada-based woodwork and
garden tools distributor, Lee Valley Tools.]
2. Griffith, Ira Samuel,
1874-1924,
Carpentry Peoria,
Ill., The Manual arts press, 1935
[click on link for full text.
Standard
Catalog for Public Libraries: an
Annotated List of ... by H.W. Wilson
Company, Minnie Earl Sears - 1931 - 242
pagesPage 178]
3. Edwin T Hamilton
Home carpentry.
New York : Dodd, Mead & Co., 1945 466 pages.
[
A Basic Book
Collection for High Schools
by American Library
Association - 1924 page 48]
4. Hodgson, Fred. T.
Carpentry and Joinery
Construction. New York : Industrial
Publication Co., 1898, ©1897
[Standard Catalog for Public Libraries:
an Annotated List of ... by H.W. Wilson
Company, Minnie Earl Sears - 1931 - 242
pages Page 178; this book recommended in the
Popular Homecraft Library Book
Dpartment, in PH's
January-february 1931 issue, page 472, as
well as other pages; puzzling to include
this book in a 1947 list; it is a classic
work, but dates from a pre-electrification
era]
5. Saylor, Henry H. b. 1880.Tinkering with
tools New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1942
[Standard Catalog for Public Libraries.
by H.W. Wilson Company, Minnie Earl Sears -
1931 - 242 pages, Page 170; The
Booklist, by American Library
Association 1969, Page 186]
6. Wakeling, Arthur, ed.
Home workshop
manual ... 1930, 1939.
For more information about this important
woodworker's manual, click here.
[Listed in
Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries; an Annotated List of ...
by H.W. Wilson Company, Minnie Earl Sears -
1931 - 242 pages, Page 170; Leisure
Time Education: A Handbook of Creative
Activities for Teachers and Group Leaders,
by Anna May Jones - 1946 - 235 pages, Page
21, Ontario Library Review -
Page 27]
7. Fred H Colvin,
Running an Engine Lathe.
New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1941.
[Standard
Catalog for Public Libraries,
by H.W. Wilson Company
- 1967, Page 452]
8. A S Milton.
A Course in Wood Turning;
[Listed in Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries: an Annotated List of ... by H.W.
Wilson Company, Minnie Earl Sears - 1931 -
242 pages
Page 172]
9. SHERWOOD, MALCOLM H.
From forest to
furniture; the romance of wood. Norton,
1936.
[Listed in
The Booklist -- by
American Library Association - 1969 Page
316; listed in Bulletin of the Public
Affairs Information Service, by
Public Affairs Information Service, H.W.
Wilson Company - 1920; Page 429; A
Library Book List for Elementary and
Secondary Schools in Nebraska: A Guide to
Basic School ..., by Nebraska Dept.
of Public Instruction, Ivae Walker, Nebraska
Library Association State Planning
Committee, National Council of Teachers of
English - 1945 - 201 pages, Page 110; A
Basic Book Collection for High Schools,
by American Library Association 1924, Page
48]
10. FAULKNER, HERBERT WALDRON.
Wood-carving as a hobby. Harper, 1934.
140 p.;
[Book Review Digest, by H.W. Wilson Company
- 1935, Page 304; The Booklist; by American
Library Association, Page 148; Bulletin of
the New York Public Library - Page 346; by
New York Public Library 1939]
11. HELLUM, AMANDA WALKINS, and GOTTSHALL,
FRANKLIN H. You Can Whittle and Carve.
Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company,1942. 82
pp.
[Toronto Public Libraries.
Books for
Boys and Girls 1954- Page 134;
Leisure Time Education: A Handbook of
Creative Activities for Teachers and Group
Leaders, by Anna May Jones - 1946 -
235 pages Page 212; University of Chicago
Round Table (Radio program), University
of Chicago - Page 16; Gordon Owen Wilber,
Industrial Arts in General Education,
1954 - Page 389
12. Harris Winfield Moore
Chip Carving:
Twenty-five Projects with Instructions and
Full-size Patterns 1935, 32 pages
[listed in School Arts 1935- Page 640;
Handcrafts for Elementary Schools: A
Handbook of Practical Suggestions for
Teachers - Page 6, by Frank C. Moore - 1953
- 324 pages]
13. Edward Gordon Craig
Woodcuts, and Some
Words 1925 - 122 pages
14. Doust, Len ... .
A manual on wood
engraving; with thirty-six illus. Warne,
1934. ...
[The Booklist - Page 259, by
American Library Association ]
15. Ashcroft, CC and Easton, JAG
General
shop work ; a manual for shop work
].. (Toronto, Macmillan Co. of Canada,
xii, 239pp., $1.00).
[Basic Books for Junior College
Libraries; 20,000 Vital Titles
by Charles L. Trinkner - 1963; Page 424;
The University of Toronto Quarterly
- Page 369 by University of Toronto -
1931
16. COLLINS, ARCHIE FREDERICK.
Working
with tools for fun and profit.
Appleton-Century, 1937. 228 p. $2.00. SC: "A
simple book on home carpentry. ...Several
chapters are devoted to tools and their use, and
the value of the ...."
[Book Review Digest
- Page
212, by H.W. Wilson Company 1938; Books for Boys and Girls - Page
166,by Toronto Public Libraries Boys and
Girls Services, Lillian Helena Smith - 1940
- 367 pages; Bulletin of the New York
Public Library - Page 33, by New
York Public Library 1939; The
Publishers Weekly - Page 587 by R.R.
Bowker Company, 1949]
17. A. Frederick Collins,
Working With
Tools for Fun and Profit
[The Booklist, by American
Library Association 1969, Page 50]
18. William A. De Vette,
100 problems in
woodwork The Bruce Publishing Co., 1924
[Industrial Education - Page
132, ; Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries: ..,by H.W. Wilson
Company, Minnie Earl Sears - 1931 - 242
pages, Page 172; Bulletin of the New
York Public Library - Page 347; by
New York Public Library - 1939; Boy Scouts
of America, 1931. 16 p. 20*. (Merit badge
series.); Branch Library Book News ... -
Page 133; by New York Public Library - 1924]
19. Popular Science Monthly,
Complete Home
Workshop Cyclopedia;
[The Booklist - Page 228, by
American Library Association 1969; Canadian Library (Canadian Library
Association 1968) - Page 16;
Recommended Reference Books for the
Elementary School Library, by Ruby
Ethel Cundiff - 1949 - 33 pages, Page 13]
20. Louis M. Roehl,
The Farmer's Shop
Book; Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing
Company, 1939.
[Peabody Journal of Education,
by George Peabody College for Teachers
1923; Page 211: A practical book for upper
grade children who are interested in making
....; Industrial Education Magazine
- Page 86: This volume brings
together under one ....]
21. Johnson, William, and Newkirk, Louis V.
General Woodworking. (Industrial Arts
Education Series). New York: Macmillan Co.,
1946. ...
[recommended in the
Elementary School
Journal, 1947 - Page 58]
22. Practical Delta Projects
Numbers 2-14;
23. GEORGE A RAETH,
Master Homecraft
Projects. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing
Company, 1942. ...
[The Booklist, by American
Library Association, 1969, Page 211; The American School Board Journal -
Page 68, by National School Boards
Association, William Conrad Bruce, Susanna
Cocroft - 1944' $2.75 "In this unusual
woodworking project book, the author offers
a great variety of delightful furniture
ideas, ...."; Recreation -
Page 651, by National Recreation Association
- 1965."Majority of the pieces of furniture
described in book are of the modern ....";
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries,
by H.W. Wilson Company 1967, Page 446]
24. Paul V.CHAMPION,
Creative crate craft.
Bruce, 1942, $2."
[Books for Boys and Girls
-
Page 134, by Toronto Public Libraries. Boys
and Girls Services, Thomson, Jean - 1954 -
297 pages: Detailed diagrams and careful
instructions for making useful articles such
as shelves, ..."]
25. Ken F. Sheperdson,
Furnishing the
Home Grounds New York: Bruce, 1936
[Kansas Library Bulletin -
Page 14, by Kansas Traveling Libraries
Commission, Kansas State Library - 1972;
Books of Today Selected by the Staff of
the Toronto Public Libraries
by Toronto Public Library - 1938 - 70 pages]
26. Morris Williams,
Stair Building New York : D. Williams Co., 1914.
[Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries: by H.W. Wilson Company,
Minnie Earl Sears 1931, Page 178]
27. Willoughby,
General Shop Handbook;
[The Booklist -
General
shop handbook ..Page 294 --
Willoughby. 265.
28. Hodgson,
Practical Treatise on the
Steel Square;
[Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries; an Annotated List of
...by H.W. Wilson Company, Minnie Earl Sears
- 1931 - 242 pages, Page 178; Monthly
Bulletin of Books Added to the Public
Library of the City of Boston - Page
352, by Boston Public Library - 1903: "A
practical treatise on the steel square and
its application to every-day use."]
29. Stoddard,
Steel Square Pocketbook
[Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries; an Annotated List of ...,
by H.W. Wilson Company, Minnie Earl Sears -
1931 - 242 pages, Page 178; The
Booklist, by American Library
Association, 1969 Page 86]
The article, "Library
Works On Woodwork", lists 29 books on a range of
woodworking activities, but includes only each book's
title and the author's last name, which, taken together, is
not very much information to go on, especially if you are
only just starting out in woodworking. Instead, what is
intended by Lethbridge Public Library is to merely "wet the
appetite" of interested Lethbridgeites.
As explained
above, most of these titles are recommended in the
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries, and for those
readers curious enough about why I am concerned about this,
using material gleaned from the Internet, I have prepared a
"quick-and-dirty" account:
What is meant by the
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries?
From a
variety of sources available on the Web
I gleaned the testimony posted below
about the use of Standard Catalog for
Public Libraries and other similar
publications as a "tool" for selecting books
for a Library's shelves. A key assumption is
that when books on woodworking are
critically evaluated and subsequently
described in publications such as the Standard Catalog for Public Libraries,
public libraries throughout North America
seek to purchase as many of these
recommended books as their budgets allow.
A. M E Ahern Libraries 1931
Page 136
["...
Social Science Supplement the second
supplement to the Social sciences of the
Standard Catalog for Public Libraries
has just been published by HW Wilson
..."]
B.
Harold Garfield Russell, Raymond Howard
Shove, Blanche E. Moen The Use of Books
and Libraries - Page 77 - 1933 - 128
pages
["... selection of the best guidebooks
to the various countries and principal
cities of the world, see the Standard
Catalog for Public Libraries, 1949.
...]
C.
Lester Asheim, Humanities & the Library:
Problems in the Interpretation, Evaluation
and Use of Library Materials - Page 90
1957
["Such tools as the
Standard Catalog
for Public Libraries, the Shaw
List of Books for College Libraries,
and similar publications will serve to
identify the ..."]
D.
Ralph Robert Shaw Libraries of
Metropolitan Toronto: A Study of Library
Service Prepared for the Library Trustees
... - Page 36 - 1960 - 98 pages
["... books for checking was taken from
the Standard Catalog for Public
Libraries for recent starred and
double starred items in these subject
categories. ...]
E.
Jerrold Orne Report of a Survey of the
Kirkwood Public Library for the Library
Board of the Kirkwood Missouri ... -
Page 20 by - 1951
["The fundamental took used by all
public libraries is the Standard
Catalog for Public Libraries published by the H,W. Wilson Company,
now in a new edition ...']
F.
Lydia Margaret Barrette, There is No
End - Page 95 - 1961 - 167 pages
[HW
Wilson Co., ...also publishers of Standard Catalog for Public Libraries,
has published "Basic Books," chosen
for various groups as a guide to core
collections,... "]
G. Cecil John McHale The Lansing
Public Library: A Survey of Its Public and
School Services - Page 52 by - 1943 - 74
pages
["In doing this I used as basis for
comparison the Standard Catalog for
Public Libraries, 1940 edition. In
addition, I selected at random the
library's ..."]
H. Edward Allen Wight, Leroy Charles
Merritt Public Library Service in Pacific
Grove: A Report of a Study of the
Organization, Services and ... - Page
22 1957
["Standard
Catalog for Public Libraries ...
lists only those titles which a large
panel of public libraries agree are not
only ..."]
I. William Arthur Munford
Three
Thousand Books for a Public Library -
Page 17, 1939 - 188 pages
["A
carefully chosen selection of about
15000 items is the Standard Catalog
for public libraries, NY, HW Wilson,
1940. ..."]
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