Cobbler
Poor children commonly had no shoes, but labourers needed shoes to perform manual work, so the art of making shoes was a local trade until the early 1800s. But from the 1830s, mass produced shoes from English factories started to dominate the market. Cobblers could not compete with the imports and had either to make high quality shoes for a limited market or offer repairs for the mass produced shoes.
/Collections/Crafts---Trades/uafp_crafts_and_trades_cobbler1)
Shoemakers plier punch, overall length 23cm. This was used for inserting small eyelets into leather.
Stamped:
W.SCHOLLHORN CO/ NEW HAVEN, CONN/ MADE IN U.S.A,
and BERNARD.
The William Schollhorn Company was founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 1870. William Bernard, who invented parallel-action pliers, sold his idea to the William Schollhorn Company. After 1945, Sargent and Company, of New Haven Connecticut, purchased the William Schollhorn Company and took over the production of Bernard brand tools. Museum number 2003.2
/Collections/Crafts---Trades/uafp_crafts_and_trades_cobbler3)
Shoemaker’s bench from Romney, West Virginia, dated about 1860. Four-legged low wooden bench with leather seat and widened work bench end. Museum number 95.344
/Collections/Crafts---Trades/uafp_crafts_and_trades_cobbler2)
Footgauge, from Newtownstewart, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Museum number 81.295A
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