What we celebrate today as "crafts" were once the means of everyday manufacture. The craftsman's product was not quaint, archaic, or merely decorative--it was essential. The tools that created these necessities speak to the early American spirit of ingenuity. Simple but resourceful, each tool was a beautiful, clever marriage of form and function, endowed with a life of its own, uniquely forged and perfectly suited for its purpose. The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum, the leading public attraction devoted to Pennsylvania German ("Pennsylvania Dutch") culture, works to preserve and carry the art of handcrafts into the modern age by educating and delighting visitors with their vast collection and craftwork demonstrators often in authentic dress, using period tools. With this book, the museum celebrates the hand tool as a medium of expression and salutes those who wield it with skillful pride. Through hundreds of images of these elegantly purposeful hand tools, the history of American handcraft is traced--sure to delight the luddite at heart. AUTHOR: Michael Emery is a Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum Educator and Volunteer Coordinator.

An expert on the Pennsylvania Germans, he has an avid interest in books, paper, and photographic memorabilia. Irwin Richman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of The Pennsylvania State University, and a Research Associate with the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum. He is a widely known lecturer and the author of 21 books.