In the illustration heading the chapter on tailoring in Edward Hazen s Panorama of Professions and Trades, first published in 1836, the master

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Doreen Price
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In the illustration heading the chapter on tailoring in Edward Hazen s Panorama of Professions and Trades, first published in 1836, the master measures the customer and calls off the measurements to

2 In the illustration heading the chapter on tailoring in Edward Hazen s Panorama of Professions and Trades, first published in 1836, the master measures the customer and calls off the measurements to an apprentice. The cutting shears that the master will use later lie on the counter between them. On another counter, sitting in the traditional cross-legged position of the tailor, are two journeymen or apprentices, one sewing, the other pressing. All face inward to the center of the room, while a half-opened door leads to an undefined space, possibly only to a staircase to living quarters. This was published in 1836, when tailoring and many other trades were rapidly changing away from this kind of setting. 2

The apron-clad shoemaker sits at the bench, next to a window (which suggests a pleasant scene). His work, tools, and the random clutter of the workshop are quite traditional.

3 The apron-clad shoemaker sits at the bench, next to a window (which suggests a pleasant scene). His work, tools, and the random clutter of the workshop are quite traditional. What is new is the retail shoe store just beyond the open doorway, an uncluttered space in which a fully suited man, obviously the master of the store and workshop, waits upon a well dressed female customer. The shoe dealer is not emphasized, but the shoemaker is clearly a journeyman, and the proprietor of this quaint little shop is a quite modern 19 th century retailer. 3

4 The foreground workshop is here clearly divided into two spaces, and the premises as a whole into three. On the left, facing left, is the skilled clutter, working in shirtsleeves but otherwise quite well dressed. Beyond the very lightly shaded doorway, this time in a a background retail store that occupies the center of the illustration, stands the master tailor (or clothier), who wears his jacket while he measures a customer. The master s back is turned to the cutter in the foreground shop. On the right side of the workshop, visually separated from the master, the customer, and the cutter by a large, prominent stove, stovepipe, and coal shuttle, crowd four less skilled workers, two male sewers who sit cross legged by the window, f female sewing machine operator, an a male presser. All appear to be younger than the cutter and the master, none is well dressed, and all ace the light of the window and hence away from their superiors. In at least 3 ways, dress, placement within the premises, and orientation the image established the hierarchy of relations within this less traditional tailor s shop. It is a hierarchy of skill, but it also sets the storekeeping businessman above his handworking, artisanal employees. This is a clue to the changing realities and perceptions of manual work in the years following the Civil War. 4

5 This is a carpet store designed by Nathan A Bradley and was not a larger store by this time. During this decade other retailers, particularly dry goods stores (they were not quite department stores yet) were building huge emporia, sometimes absorbing whole city blocks and providing rows of fashionable goods. LOOK AT NEXT PIC OF LORD AND TAYLOR 5

As retailers and other nonmanual (no longer worked with hands) embellished the exteriors of their buildings, they transformed the interiors as well and in the process created work environments of

6 As retailers and other nonmanual (no longer worked with hands) embellished the exteriors of their buildings, they transformed the interiors as well and in the process created work environments of unprecedented elegance and dignity for themselves and their clerks. These buildings, like the Lord and Taylor pic above, became a shopping and tourist destination for prosperous (i.e. wealthy and middle class) clients. Being a retail clerk was still up until the 1850s, a male job of respect. The expectation had been that the clerk was a sort of apprentice, and a store of his own was an eventuality. But, by the 1850/1860s, the job of clerk was quickly becoming, more or less, a female job of little pay and no advancement. 6

Whether the retail establishment was a jewelry store (above), a book store (next slide), a hat store (the slide after the book store) far greater care was taken to depict the

7 Whether the retail establishment was a jewelry store (above), a book store (next slide), a hat store (the slide after the book store) far greater care was taken to depict the richly ornamented interior of the store to show the variety of attractiveness of the goods being sold there. In other words, the shopping experience was being sold, not the items. 7

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10 This is an example of a store that catered to clients that were less prosperous. It was simply clean, orderly, and the workers wore suits. Still the die was cast the store that the customer saw was to show no physical labor it was intended to recreate the parlor found in the home. As a result, those who made the items were unseen, as were thoughts of their work conditions. The lives, work conditions, wealth, and social status of manual workers (mechanics, artisans) versus that of nonmanual (artisans who had become retailers) had diverged significantly. Remember, this is during the Jacksonian Era. The nonmanual worker was no longer a blue collar wage worker (middling folk of the 18 th century) he was a white collar middle class business man. 10

11 By 1850s, this was becoming a more common sight architect designed blocks of storefronts, with almost identical facades 11

12 Refer to The Table of the Lowell Mills, p

The illustrations of mechanized hat making that accompanied a Scientific American article in 1876, depict the somber surroundings in which the new machines were operated unfinished factory floors,

13 The illustrations of mechanized hat making that accompanied a Scientific American article in 1876, depict the somber surroundings in which the new machines were operated unfinished factory floors, dark brick and block walls, a grimy, utterly blank window through which three felt makers standing over their machine have neither reason nor time to look. There were the facts of industrial life by the 1860s (by the Civil War). 13

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1. Before the 1970s the IR was thought of as a cataclysm swift and quick transition to modern society, usually negative, overturned structures of

1 1. Before the 1970s the IR was thought of as a cataclysm swift and quick transition to modern society, usually negative, overturned structures of work, family and values a. in the long run - it did,