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Collection: Skilled Trades and Craft

Collection: Skilled Trades and Craft

By: Hedda Maartens
In: Skilled trades and craft Building trades Metalwork and welding
6 min read
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Every type of skilled trades and craft in one place — 4 chapters, Building trades, Metalwork and welding, Automotive and the rest, with the plates and an inventory to download.

A trade's clothing is a tool. The blacksmith's leather apron, the welder's shield, the cobbler's lap-cloth and the carpenter's nail pocket are all instruments that happen to be worn, and they were shaped by the hand that used them rather than by anyone's idea of how a tradesman should look.

Which is why the apron is the organising object of this family. It appears in every chapter, in different materials for different reasons — leather against sparks, canvas against splinters, ticking against dye — and its pockets are a reliable index of what the work actually involved. Read the pockets before the silhouette.

Four chapters. The contents are public; the plates and the inventory are for subscribers.

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You are viewing a free sample. The full collection contains 1,100 images of 4 uniform subtypes and an inventory spreadsheet with metadata. Free for personal and commercial use. No attribution required. Share individual images, never the whole collection.

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Up to five plates from each of the 4 chapters, in full, free to anyone. Every one is credited to the collection that holds it and links back to the record.

Building trades

Eschelbronn Schreiner 1882
Eschelbronn Schreiner 1882 Unknown sourceUnknown source · 1118606 · Unknown date · creator not recorded · Public domain
Mid-City Carpenter New Orleans
Mid-City Carpenter New Orleans originally posted to Flickr as Mark · 12149623 · 2006-03-23 07:09:20 · Bart Everson · CC BY 2.0
Iberian carpenter
Iberian carpenter Wikimedia Commons · 17111794 · 2011-10-02 · Dorieo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Carpenter of Nazareth by William Herman Rau
Carpenter of Nazareth by William Herman Rau Wikimedia Commons · 2214612 · 1904-02-10 · William H. Rau · Public domain
Seattle - Cherry Blossom Fest - carpenter 01
Seattle - Cherry Blossom Fest - carpenter 01 Photo by Joe Mabel · 3942192 · 2008-04-19 · Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0

Metalwork and welding

Dorfschmiede24x32,5
Dorfschmiede24x32,5 Self-scanned · 11628101 · circa 1890date QS:P,+1890-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 · Rudolf Epp · Public domain
Jeparit Museum Antwerp Smithy
Jeparit Museum Antwerp Smithy Wikimedia Commons · 12222274 · 2010-11-23 10:29:30 · Mattinbgn · CC BY-SA 3.0
ISH WC SuttersFort5
ISH WC SuttersFort5 Wikimedia Commons · 1729410 · 2002 · Ian Howard · CC BY 2.5
Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing Flickr · 774506 · 2005-05-01 14:15:42 · Scott Sandars from Melbourne, Australia · CC BY 2.0
Kovář při práci (Velikonoční trhy na Václavském náměstí) 055
Kovář při práci (Velikonoční trhy na Václavském náměstí) 055 This photograph was taken with a DSLR from WMCZ's Camera grant. · 9918598 · 2010-03-23 · Matěj Baťha · CC BY-SA 3.0

Automotive

US Navy 100209-N-6889J-020 Dexter Daughtry, a civilian mechanic assigned to the construction equipment division of Naval Facilities Expeditionary Logistics Center, in Gulfport, Miss., installs a new LED lighting system on an up
US Navy 100209-N-6889J-020 Dexter Daughtry, a civilian mechanic assigned to the construction equipment division of Naval Facilities Expeditionary Logistics Center, in Gulfport, Miss., installs a new LED lighting system on an up Wikimedia Commons · 10322970 · Taken on 9 February 2010 · U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gregory N. Juday · Public domain
SERVICE STATION MECHANIC ADJUSTS THE ENGINE FOR A YOUNG WOMAN WHOSE VEHICLE HAD FAILED THE EMISSIONS TEST AT AN AUTO... - NARA - 557925
SERVICE STATION MECHANIC ADJUSTS THE ENGINE FOR A YOUNG WOMAN WHOSE VEHICLE HAD FAILED THE EMISSIONS TEST AT AN AUTO... - NARA - 557925 U.S. National Archives and Records Administration · 17043623 · September 1975date QS:P571,+1975-09-00T00:00:00Z/10 · Lyntha Scott Eiler · Public domain
MECHANICS AT WORK AT "CALL CARL," COMPUTERIZED CENTER - NARA - 546632
MECHANICS AT WORK AT "CALL CARL," COMPUTERIZED CENTER - NARA - 546632 U.S. National Archives and Records Administration · 17090689 · March 1973date QS:P571,+1973-03-00T00:00:00Z/10 · Yoichi Okamoto · Public domain
A top-notch mechanic, Mary Josephine Farley expertly rebuilds airplane engines. Although she is only twenty years old... - NARA - 196353
A top-notch mechanic, Mary Josephine Farley expertly rebuilds airplane engines. Although she is only twenty years old... - NARA - 196353 U.S. National Archives and Records Administration · 17327267 · August 1942date QS:P571,+1942-08-00T00:00:00Z/10 · creator not recorded · Public domain
US Army 52574 Spc. Robert J. Algee, a mechanic from Senatobia, Miss., checks for leaks and other deficiencies during a quality assurance and quality check of an MRAP Sept. 30. Algee serves with B Company, 2nd Batt
US Army 52574 Spc. Robert J. Algee, a mechanic from Senatobia, Miss., checks for leaks and other deficiencies during a quality assurance and quality check of an MRAP Sept. 30. Algee serves with B Company, 2nd Batt United States Army · 8259837 · 29 September 2009, 07:17:11 (according to Exif data) · Capt. Murray Shugars, 2nd Battalion, 198th Combined Arms Regiment · Public domain

Traditional craft

2010-07-07 08-56-27 Cyprus Nicosia Nicosia
2010-07-07 08-56-27 Cyprus Nicosia Nicosia Wikimedia Commons · 10845500 · 2010-07-07 · Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0
Timothy the Cobbler
Timothy the Cobbler Own work UK freedom of panorama · 14910736 · 2011-03-22 · Photographer Jonathan Cardy monument made in 1900 by "JCB" · CC BY-SA 3.0
Safranbolu arasta
Safranbolu arasta Wikimedia Commons · 2386301 · 2007-06-27 · Makalp · CC BY-SA 3.0
Flechten eines Strohseiles aus trockenem Stroh
Flechten eines Strohseiles aus trockenem Stroh Wikimedia Commons · 2776178 · 2007-09-16 · Claus Ableiter · CC BY-SA 3.0
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship Wikimedia Commons · 9054644 · circa 1914date QS:P,+1914-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 · Repro. of painting by (Louis-?)Emile Adan (1839-1937), copyrighted by Braun & Co., N.Y. · Public domain

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Hedda Maartens
Hedda Maartens — MA in fashion design, then eleven years in the industry designing for people who had no say in what they wore. Now writes about prescribed dress: how a garment was made to work, and what it was made to make a person into.