The collection of business records from a blacksmith shop with which I have
been concerned here does not document purchases of scrap by the smiths but
on the other hand the letterhead lists "dealers in scrap" as one of their
endeavors along with plow work etc.
 
Charles Keller
Collections Manager
Early American Museum
early@cu-online
 
At 01:22 PM 4/28/97 PDT, you wrote:
>David Rotenstein wrote:
>
>Nancy,
>
>In two blacksmith shops I documented in Georgia (early 20th-mid
>20th
>century), the blacksmiths weren't buying "old iron" as far as I could
>tell, they were collecting it from wherever they could get it
>(roadsides, etc.).  Also, what kind of blacksmiths might you be
>talking about? Blacksmithing was/is not a monolithic craft.
>
>David Rotenstein
>______________________________________
>David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
>E-MAIL: [log in to unmask]
>WWW: http://www.city-net.com/~davidsr/
>
>Since I have not begun looking into who might have been buying
>old metal, I can't say whether or not blacksmiths were purchasers
>or not.  But someone was buying the metal because their names
>and the sale price show up in the sales bills.  As to the type of
>blacksmith, once again, I have to identify a pattern of buying
>behavior before I can answer your query.  It just seemed like an
>interesting thread to follow out; it may not pan out at all.
>
>Nancy O'Malley, University of Kentucky
>
>