Hi Robert,
You found me. Sorry my contact info hasn't been
updated more recently. There are several key sources
for dating nails that would be applicable for Eastern
Canada. The best general sources include:
Edwards, J., and T. Wells (1993)
Historic Louisiana Nails: Aids to the Dating of Old
Buildings The Fred B. Kniffen Cultural Resources
Laboratory monograph series, No. 2., Geoscience
Publications, Department of Geography & Anthropology,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
and
Nelson, Lee H.(1968)
Nail Chronology as an Aid to Dating Old Buildings.
Technical Leaflet 48. American Association for State
and Local History, Nashville.
Still a classic. There are some modifications to
Nelson's chronology during the 1780-1820 period that
were identified for New England by Maureen Philips:
Phillips, Maureen K. (1989)
A Revised Chronology of Cut Nails in New England
1790-1820: A Case Study from the Spencer-Pierce-Little
House Addition Unpublished Master's thesis, Boston
University.
(1994) Mechanic Geniuses and Duckies, A Revision of
New England's Cut-Nail Chronology. Association for the
Preservation of Technology Bulletin 25(3-4): 4-16.
(1996) Geniuses and Duckies Redux: Nail Makers and
Their Machines. Association for the Preservation of
Technology Bulletin 27(1-2): 47-56.
A good early Canadian source largely neglected by
American scholars is:
Gilmour, K. (1976)
On the Trail of the Nail. The Occasional, Vol. 3, No.
3, Nova Scotia Museums, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
You may also want to try to contact Peter Priess. He's
formerly of Parcs Canada and knows a lot of stuff
about nails, hardware, etc. Unfortunately, I don't
have a current contact for him, but some other folks
out there might know how to find him. His introduction
in:
Priess, Peter J., and P. Michael Shaughnessy (1972)
An Inventory of Canadian, British and American Nail
Patents to 1900 National Parks and Sites Branch
Manuscript Report Series 93. Parks Canada, Ottawa.
may also prove useful in identifying differences
between American and Canadian dates of introduction.
If you're really interested in dating old houses in
your area I'd recommend that you develop your own
regional nail chronology by looking at previous
established nail chronologies in other regions and
comparing the dates with those of nails taken from
houses where the date of construction is already
established. I know of no chronology specifically for
eastern Canada, but I suspect that there may be some
differences. The Canadian and American wood screw
industries have taken different paths, resulting in
distinctive screw types/assembledges. It may be
similar with nails.
Let me know if you have any trouble finding any of
these sources or if you have any other questions. I'd
love to hear more about your research.
Thanks,
David Moyer
Birchwood Archaeological Services
2948 County Highway 35
Sidney Center, NY 13839
607-265-3444
--- Robert Richard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Subscriber's,
>
> Yesterday, I discovered the web page title Nails for
> Historical
> Archaeologists at
> http://www.digitalpresence.com/histarch/nails.html
> and I
> was please to read a list of references. On the
> subject of nails, do any of
> this list subscriber's specialize in nails, or do
> you have any other web
> sites or forums/lists to suggest on the same topic?
>
> In Eastern Canada, there is very little interest on
> nails, but my friend
> researcher at the Acadian Museum
> http://www.umoncton.ca/maum and myself do
> have a great interest in getting more knowledge. For
> our purpose, it
> provides helpful information for dating old Acadian
> historical houses. Our
> interest is mainly in the Atlantic Provinces
> (Eastern Canada). Most of our
> research has been done in the Province of New
> Brunswick where we both
> reside.
>
> In addition, do any subscriber's have an up to date
> email address for David
> Moyer?
>
> Robert Richard
> Robertville, New Brunswick
> Canada.
>
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