Mechanization and craft structure in nineteenth century silversmithing : the Laformes of Boston
| Author(s) | Skerry., Janine Ellen | |
| Date Accessioned | 2020-05-04T14:42:44Z | |
| Date Available | 2020-05-04T14:42:44Z | |
| Publication Date | 1981 | |
| Abstract | Factory-based mass production of silver goods had begun to achieve widespread dominence of the American marketplace in the 1860's and 1870's, and economic pressure from such competition effectively presented independent silversmiths with three primary alternatives for insuring financial solvency. A craftsman could follow the modernization trend and establish a small scale factory utilizing mass production techniques. Or secondly, an independent silversmith could forgo his self-employed status and enter into one of the many factories as a laborer. Finally, the autonomous silversmith could ignore the prevailing trends and remain an independent producer. Vincent Laforme of Boston chose the third option and worked as an independent silversmith until his death in 1893. His business operation serves as a case example of a traditional and conservative response to the changes brought about by mechanisation. ☐ It was not so much the widespread adoption of heavy machinery which altered the craft structure of the American silver making industry in the nineteenth century, as the combination of the use of machinery with the division of labor. The most profound changes caused by mechanization were wrought both on the workers, who became isolated specialists, and on the designs for the objects, which became creative recombinations of stock components. ☐ The Laforme silversmiths were an important link between the traditional working methods of the eighteenth century and the innovations of the nineteenth century. A comparison of the two hundred extant shop drawings from the Laformes with the silver designs from larger factories reveals many of the subtle distinctions which arose in the trade when the production of silver was broken down into a series of discrete operations. | en_US |
| Advisor | Fennimore, Donald L. | |
| Degree | M.A. | |
| Program | University of Delaware, Winterthur Program in Early American Culture | |
| Unique Identifier | 1153151206 | |
| URL | http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/26938 | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | en_US |
| URI | https://search.proquest.com/docview/303210729?accountid=10457 | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Laforme family | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Laforme, Vincent, 1823-1893 | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Vincent Laforme & Brother | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Silver industry -- Massachusetts -- Boston | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Silverwork -- Massachusetts -- Boston | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Boston (Mass.) -- History -- 19th century | |
| Title | Mechanization and craft structure in nineteenth century silversmithing : the Laformes of Boston | en_US |
| Type | Thesis | en_US |