Ned, Michael, and fellow HistArchers:
I agree that the decline of a tradition creates a void that can be
filled by writers and publishers. Blacksmithing manuals were penned
primarily during the first two decades of the 20th century, a time when
smiths became mechanics, concerned less with making parts and more with
replacing mechanical parts and making those parts work together. The
burst of trade journal publication in the late 1860s and 1870s probably
had more to do with decreasing publication costs, the appearence of
manufactured parts, and attempts at retailing and wholesaling horse
drawn vehicles on a national scale.
 
One of the neat things about trade journals, however, is that they often
contain reminiscences of older workers, and their assessments of how the
trade had changed and why. The trade manuals, by contrast, tend to be
explicitly modern and objective, and lack much of the atmosphere of
earlier periods.
 
I recommend the following references, drawn from my master's thesis
work. The trade journals are available at the Center for Research
Libraries, in Chicago, whence your local university library might borrow
them. One warning: these are large, heavy folio volumes that may cost a
great deal to ship and insure. In terms of research, like many serials,
they maintain standard formats for years, facilitating scanning for
relevant research material.
 
Berkebile, Donald H.
  1979  Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary. Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
The Blacksmith & Wheelwright
  1880-1932 The Blacksmith & Wheelwright: Devoted to the interests of
blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and wagon builders., v. 1-106 (3),
1880-September 1932. [Trade journal, Center for Research Libraries.]
Carriage builder's National Association of the U.S.A.
  1872-1922  Annual Reports, V. 1-50. The Hub Publishing Co., New York.
The Coach Painter
  1880  The Coach Painter, Volume 1 (1-6). Murphy and Company, Newark,
New Jersey. Reprinted in 1983 by the Museums at Stony Brook, Stony
Brook, New York.
Cook, G & D, and Company
  1860  Illustrated Catalogue of Carriages and Special Business
Advertiser. G & D Cook and Company, New Haven, Connecticut. Reprinted in
1970 by Dover Publications, New York.
Crandal, Stone & Company
  1910  Catalogue of "Pioneer" Brand Carriages and Automobile Hardware,
No. 21. Crandal, Stone & Company, Binghamton, New York.
  1905  Catalogue of "Pioneer" Brand Carriages and Automobile Hardware,
No. 18. Crandal, Stone & Company, Binghamton, New York.
  1924  History of the Studebaker Corporation. The Studebaker
Corporation, South Bend, Indiana.
Gibb, James G.
  1985  Centralization and Cultural Transformation Processes: The
Archaeology of Wagon Shops and Other Artisan Shops. Unpublished M.A.
thesis, Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton,
New York.
Hegel, Richard
  1974  Carriages from New Haven: New Haven's Nineteenth Century
Industry. Archon Books, Hamden, Connecticut.
Hounshell, David A.
  1984  From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The
Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States. Johns
Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.
The Hub
  1859-1919  The Hub, Volumes 1-61(5). New York. [Trade journal, Center
for Research Libraries, Chicago.]
McLane, Louis
  11969  Documents Relative to the Manufactures in the United States, 3
volumes. Burt Franklin Publishing, New York. Reprint of 1883 edition.
Porter, Glenn, and Harold C. Livesay
  1971  Merchants and Manufacturers: Changes in the Structure of
Nineteenth-Century Marketing. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore,
Maryland.
Rittenhouse, Jack DeVere
  1948  American Horse-Drawn Vehicles: Being a Collection of Two Hundred
and Eighteen Pictures. Bonanza Books, New York.
Rosenburg, Nathan
  1969  The American System of Manufactures: Special Reports of George
Wallis and Joseph Whitworth. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh (UK).
Smith, Peter Haddon
  1971  The Industrial Archaeology of the Wooden Wheel Industry in
America. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology,
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Spivey, Towana (editor)
  1979  A Historical Guide to Wagon Hardware: Reprint of the 1909
Catalogue of the George Worthington and Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
Contributions of the Museum of the Great Plains, No. 9. Lawton,
Oklahoma.
Sturt, George
  1976  The Wheelwright's Shop. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
[UK]. Reprint of 1923 edition.