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Women Cabinetmakers

“The Inventiveness of the Pioneer Women”


Woodworking Class c.1900. Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, LC-USZ62-121908

When most of us think of carpenters or cabinetmakers, we assume that they are men. The following interesting paragraph from a letter written by Lucinda Hinsdale Stone points out that pioneer women were often skilled in furnishing their homes.

“The wants of our new country developed the inventiveness of the pioneer women of our place in various other ways than in their cooking. Women made much of their own furniture; they hung their own paper, painted the wood work and floors of their own houses. They turned the barrels and half barrels in which had been shipped needed supplies into easy chairs and rockers, every nail in the rough foundation, as well as every tack in the upholstery, being driven with their own hands. They converted dry goods boxes into window seats and most comfortable lounges. They made ottomans which served for chests as well. Indeed, I have seen many a tastefully furnished parlor where almost every seat was the workmanship of the lady of the house. The modern elegant folding bedstead is but an evolution out of the necessities that forced the invention of the first pattern for many a folding cot. It was the contrivance of some pioneer woman in Michigan and often-times the entire work of her own hands.”

Kalamazoo Gazette, 28 September 1909

 

Compiled and edited by Kalamazoo Public Library staff, November 2019.

Sources

Articles

“Kalamazoo in former days”
Kalamazoo Gazette, 28 September 1909 (in the Fashion Edition), page 6, column 1

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