As a resident of Ashford, Connecticut, I am an avid user of early woodworking tools which I find to be very satisfying to use. Most of my historic woodworking tools came from two woodworkers, one who migrated from England in 1832; and the second set is from a Connecticut worker who was active from about 1804 to 1863. It is very humbling to know that I carry on the traditions that these two work workers set when they used these tools now nearly two centuries later. In 1985 a partner and l started a business making Windsor chairs, and tables with tops of wood stained from use and some case pieces. The business was active for 26 years. As President of the Early American Industries Association I want to expand the number of regional meetings that are held. Engaging our members to meet and greet while learning from a historic site or museum will help to further our educational mission and can only act to strengthen it. Please reach out to me if you have questions or suggestions for helping our organization remain vibrant and active.

Peter Hudson is a historian of early American trades and a journeyman joiner at Colonial Williamsburg. In 2021 he was a Summer Institute Fellow at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and was a Maker Fellow at the Winterthur Museum, Library, & Garden in Spring 2023. He is currently serving his first year as Second Vice President of the EAIA. He got involved with the organization during his apprenticeship and attended his first Annual Meeting at Old Sturbridge Village in 2017. Within the EAIA, Peter has found generous support for his apprenticeship and skills. Now that he is on the board, he wants to see the EAIA foster that same education in historic trades and skills for others. He would love to hear from other members interested in this mission. When not in the shop, Peter is an accomplished outdoorsman and can be found with his wife Dr. Alexandra Macdonald wandering the woods of his native Maine or sailing the Chesapeake.

A mechanical engineer and international project manager by profession “anchored” in Bolton, MA, I have always had a strong interest in historic hand crafts including joinery, wooden boats, tinsmithing, and blacksmithing regardless of the many places in the world I have been stationed. I joined EAIA in 1990 on the recommendation of an amateur blacksmith who was helping me learn the craft while I forged hardware to restore our 1793 home. My first EAIA Annual Meeting was in Albany in 2008 where I was particularly attracted by the emphasis on craft demonstrations. I’ve since focused my efforts on craft and restoration trades training including demonstrations under the EAIA banner at the Bolton Fair, teaching middle school kids in our regional school system and an annual EAIA regional meeting at our blacksmith Shop in Bolton, MA. EAIA introduced me to Historic Eastfield Village through the “EAIA Sampler” program after which I joined the Board in 2012 and went on to host the Annual Meeting with my wife, Alice, at Old Sturbridge Village in 2017 where I was a trustee. Although I have inevitably collected a substantial number of hand tools, the emphasis has always been on learning and teaching about how to use them as reflected in a posted EAIA broadside at Eastfield: “The difference between learning how things are done…..and how to do them”. Now, as president of the Historic Eastfield Foundation and an EAIA director, I hope to re-establish the EAIA Sampler program which introduced so many EAIA members to early American hand crafts.

Along with my husband Terry, I have been very helpful at meetings of the EAIA. We really enjoy visiting the great venues and interacting with our members. Terry is our 'whatsit' expert and I always support him in that effort. Another aspect of board service that I enjoy is assisting the staff when there are documents that have to be organized or spread sheets that need to be interpreted; here is where I can apply my strengths as I am not a tool collector or historian. The Chronicle and Shavings both serve the membership and I enjoy knowing that as a board member I can be supportive of our staff and editors in preserving these important educational resources. We have some great board members and I am proud to serve with them to ensure the future of EAIA.

I live in a cabin in the woods in Warren, in south central Massachusetts. I have worked at Old Sturbridge Village, an outdoor living history museum portraying everyday life in rural New England in the 1830s, for over 40 years. During that time, I have worked in all seven of our historic trade shops and four mills, as well as many “other duties as required.” My ostensible job is as staff historian, and as the curator of mechanical arts, I am responsible for the museum’s extensive collections of tools and machinery. I have been an avid reader of the Chronicle since the 1980s, and probably a member of the EAIA since the 1990s. As a student of historic trades and industry, and a regular user of traditional tools, it is an honor to serve the EAIA membership on the board.

I am a tailor by trade, an historian of early America by training, and the Senior Historian at the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, NJ by profession. I have also practiced the trade of 18th century tailoring since 2010, and in recent years I’ve branched into practicing elements of carpentry, joinery, turning, shoemaking, blacksmithing, and hatting, and I’m hoping to expand that list yet. I have a great love for 18th century things, and learning how they work, how they were used, and how they were made. To that end I’ve striven for accuracy in recreating construction methods, endeavoring as much as possible to use the original tools, materials, and techniques. Some projects of mine of the last few years include six suits of regimental clothing of the Royal Regiment as they may have appeared in 1760, a set of bench planes based on early originals I either own or have studied, and my shoemaking tools, including my bench. Much of my work can be seen on my Instagram page, @davidthemechanick, which I use as a kind of running log and portfolio of the things I make and study. I studied at Rutgers, University-Camden between 2008-2015, earning my BA in History and MA in American History. I have presented my work, both written and otherwise, at Historic Deerfield, for The Colonial Dames of America, the Museum of the American Revolution, and the Society of American Period Furniture Makers, among others.

Originally from West Virginia, I serve as the curator and site administrator of the Eric Sloane Museum & Kent Iron Furnace in Kent Connecticut. My experience includes working at public history sites like Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park, South Mountain State Battlefield, and Henricus Historical Park, managing the recreation of a 17th century Virginia tobacco farm. I also serves as a director for TradesUp a Connecticut based nonprofit devoted to promoting craft and trade opportunities for learners of all ages. I am a dedicated student and avid supporter of all historic trades and crafts, a Cordwainer by trade Imay even be found working aboard tall ships in my spare time. My wife Lara and I are thrilled to be living in New England in a small timber-framed farmhouse with our two pups and cat. I am honored to be contributing to the fantastic work done by EAIA to study and preserve the tools, trades, and crafts that built America while working together to create new opportunities for the organization in the future.

I am an archivist and historian for the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. I graduated from the University of Delaware with an MA in American History and certificate from the Museum Studies program in 1992. During graduate school, I worked at the Hagley Museum and Library. I then worked as a curator at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, and participated in the planning of the permanent exhibit at the Lewis Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. I have worked at the Library of Congress since 2002. Currently I am serving my second term on the Board of EAIA. I first learned about EAIA when I was helping my father sell his collection of antique tools and surveying instruments. My goal is to support efforts to share the EAIA’s strong tradition of scholarship more widely by building relationships with educational institutions and historical organizations. When I’m not at EAIA meetings, I love visiting historic sites and gardens.

I reside in Phoenix, NY about 20 minutes north of Syracuse. I have made my living as a millwright working throughout the northeast and for the last two years have moved into a project manager roll. My parents have been active members in Early American Industries Association for more than 15 years and their passion inspired me to begin exploring the doings of this wonderful organization. The focus on history and trades interested me from the beginning; however the people, the interactions, and learning experiences are what really captured my interest at my first annual meeting attendance at Bethlehem, PA. I have also taken up the interest of tool collecting which furthers my involvement and interactions within the E.A.I.A. I have become fond of collecting and researching tools that were made inside the Auburn prison during the 19th century. While not solely the pieces of my collection, a focus when available. The tool auctions have also been enjoyable within the tool community and E.A.I.A. involvement. As I retire from my profession as a millwright in the next few years, I hope to begin another apprenticeship of furniture building in historical fashion. I currently serve as the 1st vice president and look forward to working with the members of this great organization to further its mission and continue my lifelong journey of knowledge and understanding.

I am a purveyor of antique tools, a partner in a remodeling business, a fiber artist, and former executive director of a nonprofit school. I have been a member of EAIA for 16 years and have served as Secretary for the past four years. I joined the Board when I volunteered to be Regional Meetings coordinator and still organize special events for various organizations. Eighteen years ago we moved to southern NH from the Washington, DC, area and delight in the congenial rural life combined with a rich cultural landscape. I especially enjoy winter hiking, the musical events in beautiful antique churches and exploring the many historic sites of New England.

In 1999, EAIA past President David Parke invited me to apply for the position of editor of The Chronicle. About ten years earlier, I had begun a small editorial/design business. And at the time I was also editor of Wooden Canoe, the journal of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association. Between my undergraduate degree from Temple University in American History and my MA in American Folk Culture from the Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of NY, Oneonta, EAIA seemed a great fit and happily for me, I was hired and promptly joined EAIA. I served as editor of The Chronicle until 2018, and during that time I was also editor of Shavings, produced the EAIA Booklist and the annual Directory and Booklist, edited and designed two EAIA publications: “Writings on Tools & Toolmakers,” a collection of articles by Paul Kebabian, and Walter Jacob’s Stanley Woodworking Tools: the Finest Years. Along the way, I fell in love with the organization, its members, and its purpose. I was honored as a recipient of the J.D. Hatch Award, and in 2022 became a member of the board and currently serve as Chair of the Publications Committee. I have enjoyed working with the committee as we strive to maintain the quality of the publications and encourage more members to share their knowledge and research through articles for The Chronicle and to keep members informed and connected through Shavings and the Directory. I live in Cooperstown, N.Y. with my husband (and EAIA member) Bruce, who, like me, is a material culture/history nerd.

When I joined EAIA in 2003, I discovered that my interest in historic trades and tools as a user, collector and amateur historian meshed well with the organization’s mission. My appreciation for EAIA increased when I began to attend the annual meetings in 2010. I found that visiting historic sites with knowledgeable and interesting people and renewing friendships are great experiences. As a board member, I hope to make a positive contribution in helping EAIA fulfill its mission and provide meaningful experiences for our membership. I spent my professional career with the University of Georgia as a Research Statistician in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. After retiring, I moved to Lexington, KY and enjoy hiking, gardening, woodworking and volunteering at several local nature preserves doing habitat restoration activities.

I am from Mechanicville, NY which is located about 20 minutes south of the historic city of Saratoga Springs. Growing up in a family of do-it-yourselfers, my father, a carpenter by trade, was always fixing or repairing something. I spent many hours watching him tinker while holding the flashlight. My interest in antique tools started at a young age when my father gave me a Stanley No. 4 bench plane. That was the start to what has been an enjoyable time of collecting and researching early tools and the industries they were a part of. I have a degree in Technical Education, formerly known as Industrial Arts from the State University of New York at Oswego. I have been teaching now for the past 19 years covering topics from woodworking to robotics and tossing in a few historic industries from time to time. One of my interests is early trade education which was one of my research topics that was published in the December 2019 Chronicle.

I grew up surrounded by Early American tools and craft and the people that love them. I have a BA in History with a minor in textile conservation, and enjoyed working in Museum textile collections both large and small. I have been attending EAIA annual meetings since 2016, and though I look forward every year to seeing friends and interesting new places, I most enjoy experiencing it with my son Sam, and have been so moved by the way EAIA members have included him and nurtured his interest in history. I spent 15 years working in the non-profit sector and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Non-Profit Development Program (Morocco 2003 and Romania 2004-2006). Though my publishing background is in public health, I spent several years producing and reviewing scientific research and enjoy both academic scholarship and the peer-review process. I am very interested in the work EAIA does to support research and scholarship on the early American tools and trades. My personal tool fascination has grown as a “user” rather than a “collector”. My current trade is that of casket maker, specializing in handmade natural caskets for use in green burials. I am one of only a handful of willow casket weavers in North America, and practice using the same techniques and tools as has been used to weave willow baskets for centuries. I cultivate willow by hand on my 22-acre farm in North Carolina using traditional coppicing techniques. My business partner builds simple pine caskets, and we invite families to join us in the workshop, whether to participate hands-on, or just be present. The connection to the process of making something by hand is deeply present in many of us, and in times of transition and grief this tangible experience, holding the tools and forming the wood, can be transformative. I have been working with other casket weavers in forming a guild to promote our trade and develop programs for training and employing apprentices—the historic structures of artisan trades still have much to teach us, though we may also be writing our website content using AI technology!

A native of North Georgia, I grew up next door to my great, great uncle who had been the community blacksmith in the 20’s and 30’s. My first experience working with metal and wood was as a teenager in his small farm shop building cattle head gates of his own design. My interest in metalworking grew after taking machine shop and welding courses in college while studying mechanical engineering. In the mid-seventies, I built my first forge from scrap lumber and Georgia red clay, copying my uncle’s forge. I worked at learning blacksmithing on my own for about 4 years until I discovered the Tullie Smith House blacksmith guild at the Atlanta History Center. There I met a welcoming group that wanted to help a young blacksmith learn. It was through two of my older blacksmithing mentors that I was introduced to EAIA and MWTCA and I joined both in 1983. My wife Pam and I finally attended our first conference in 2006 in Williamsburg, VA and loved it. EAIA conferences have introduced me to many interesting places and museums that I didn’t know existed. I operated my forge as a part time business and at times my full time profession during my career as an engineer in heavy industrial design and construction. For 33 years I worked with an architectural business in Atlanta doing their custom work, making missing parts and restoring antiques including locks, keys and hardware. I do not consider myself a tool collector but a user of antique tools and enjoy tin smithing, hand tool woodworking, machining, as well as smithing. My current interests include restoring and using vintage machine tools of the smaller size and my long term project is building a one eight scale live steam Shay locomotive. We divide our time between our homes in western North Carolina and Williamsburg, VA where I volunteer in the Tin Shop and Pam volunteers in the Weave Shop at Colonial Williamsburg.

I’m a retired advertising photographer and lab owner with a BFA in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. I’ve been an avid woodworker for over 40 years, and by way of that interest and my dad’s overstocked inventory, a bit of a collector as well. Raised in central Connecticut, we relocated to south Florida for 14 years prior to moving to Cape Cod, Massachusetts with my wife Judi. Most of my time there is spent on woodworking and woodturning projects, Hobbies include photography, cooking,and travel.