Mapping British & Irish Furniture Makers

With

Emma Baillie (PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh)
Maeve Diepenbrock (BA History of Art, B.A. University of Edinburgh)
Grace Ford-Dirks (Dietrich American Foundation Research Assistant, Philadelphia Museum of Art)
Bridget Griffin (Executive Assistant for the Attingham Trust and BIFMO Research Assistant)
Penelope Hines (Curator, Surrey Landscapers, National Trust)
Sofia Romashchenko (PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh)
Abby S. Whitlock (Independent Historian and Researcher)
Felix Zorzo (Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts, National Museums Scotland)

An important aspect of researching the furniture trade has been to map the locations of makers and suppliers over different periods. BIFMO and the FHS Grants Committee have sponsored interns to map furniture makers and their associated trades in London, Edinburgh and, most recently, immigrants from the UK and Ireland into the Eastern seaboard of the United States.  The workshop will invite the three groups to present their research and the methods they used to map the addresses of these makers, including learning how to use historic maps and the problems that ensued.  As the interns searched for addresses, they learned how to deal with old address systems, including names of streets and changes in street numbers.  They also learned about variations in how craftsmen were described and recorded.  Nonetheless, mapping the locations of tradespeople led to fascinating discoveries about the groupings of different trades in certain locations, the movements of makers following the growth of cities and what can be learned about the status of the tradesman from his geographical location.
 
During the discussion we hope to examine these questions more closely, discuss what can be learned from mapping locations, and explore why it has become such an important tool for social and economic historians. We will be joined by BIFMO IT consultant Marty Steer and the project leader of the Edinburgh Mapping Project, Aaron Allen.

The Zoom link will be sent to members in due course. 

Please contact grants@furniturehistorysociety.org with any questions.

Farrringdon Ward Within and Castle Barnard Ward and Castle Baynard Ward, Strype, Survey of London (1720), bk 3, ch 8, p.125; Motco Enterprises Limited