leather and academia

[DG Leather]

Does anyone know of the names of historians, anthropologists or sociologists of any sort who have done specific studies, research, literature reviews or leather encounters of history of man kind?

and even further the beginnings of tooled and painted leather?

also the history of leather guilds? where was the first?

Anybody know of history of native americans utilizing leather post European colonialist contact? or prior?

[UKRay]

Your first port of call should probably be the leatherworker.net archives. You don't say what you want the information for or the level at which you intend to research - both would make suggestions easier.

Chuck Burrows is one of the most knowledgeable people here on the forum.

Ray

[DG Leather]

Your first port of call should probably be the leatherworker.net archives. You don't say what you want the information for or the level at which you intend to research - both would make suggestions easier.

Chuck Burrows is one of the most knowledgeable people here on the forum.

Ray

Ya it was a pretty generalized question indeed. To clarify....I am interested i reading about the orgins of leather tooling and the socail implications and status that may have gone along with it. I am also interested in following the legacy of leather tooling and such.

I am also curious as to the beginnings of utilization of leather (in general)...not hides but leather....was it strictly for battle? and armors?

when did it transform into decrotive?

artistic origins of leather tooling....that is my main inquiry

Thank you

[Luke Hatley]

Does anyone know of the names of historians, anthropologists or sociologists of any sort who have done specific studies, research, literature reviews or leather encounters of history of man kind?

and even further the beginnings of tooled and painted leather?

also the history of leather guilds? where was the first?

Anybody know of history of native americans utilizing leather post European colonialist contact? or prior?

THERE IS A LOT OF INFORMATION OUT IN CYBER SPACE FOR YOU.

1.CORDWAINERS 'Honorable Company Of'.a good start.

2.there is a lot of information on the Indian lifestyle of there use of Leather.

and before the meeting of the White Man all they used was Leather or reed.

[DG Leather]

Also i am even more curious about the last 100 years of leather tooling and the style variances and famous leather workers that may have utilized different styles.....for instance lots of western type saddles etc.....was there famous rebel type in the 50s? greasers etc etc.......the different artist icons in western and global leather communities and the different social imprints people have left behind in their own contributions to leather legacy

THERE IS A LOT OF INFORMATION OUT IN CYBER SPACE FOR YOU.

1.CORDWAINERS 'Honorable Company Of'.a good start.

2.there is a lot of information on the Indian lifestyle of there use of Leather.

and before the meeting of the White Man all they used was Leather or reed.

I dont mean hides....i am talkin leather....did they have this knowledge before?

is there any specific academics or papers or literature on these topics that you all could direct me to?

[Leerwerker]

You can also google "I Marc Carlson" from Tulsa Oklahoma - excellent historical resources....

[fishguy]

John Waterer, from Great Britan, has done a lot of scholarly type work on the history of leathercraft. His site is:

http://www.museumofleathercraft.org/

He has also written a number of classical books on the history of leathercraft.

I do not think anyone has written a survey of leather tooling styles in the U.S., here's your chance.

[ChuckBurrows]

1) As fishguy noted - the various books by John Waterer has some of the best info on the history of leather

2) Indians did not just use hides (exactly what is your perceived difference between hides and leather?) - they made leather using the so called brain tan method, but the actual tanning is done by smoking where in the hides are infused with tannins via the smoke rather than being dunked in a tannic acid bath. The Europeans had used the same method for centuries and also used oil tanning, alum tawing, as well as bark/vegetable tanning - these are all methods of tanning which is the generic term commonly for any method that turns a raw hide into finished leather although technically one can make the argument that only methods using tannins is properly tanning.

But Indians also used veg/bark tan leather - there are records of them stealing hide from the tanning vats near Boonesborough, KY and other frontier settlements. During the 19th Century, especially in the west, they scavanged and/ or traded for bark tan leather - harness, boots, belts, were all fodder for .making their own gear from.

www.bbhc.org

www.splendidheritage.com

both site have Indian made pieces from bark tan leather......Colin Taylor has written severl books on Indians and thear gear...

3) I'd suggest not leaving out rawhide either - it was the first commonly used material for many types of gear, including armour, shoes, saddles, and harness and has a rich background of being tooled - mostly incised carved, but modeling was also widely used, not only Indians, but by Europeans and those of the Middle East...........

What we here in the west consider tooled leather is mostly descended from the Spanish who were in turn heavily influenced by the Moors during their occupation of Spain. Other influences such as Oak and Maple leaf carving began in the early 20th century, and got intermixed with the Spanish style to produce the various schools we see today which is also being influenced today by leather carving and metal engraving appterns.

[jana]

As for the archaeological area to check out, try an author by the name of Olaf Goubitz from the Netherlands. He wrote an extremely in formative book on belt pouches from the medieval period to the 16th century. The book is called "Purses in Pieces". All of the examples come from actual digs and shows a lot of re-construction/re-creation of many of the pouches. A lot of the drawings of the actual finds show that the pieces were stamped with patterns and designs. This author also as a book on foot wear from the same time periods.

There are a series if archaeological books based on the finds in York, England and atleast one of them is on the leather finds of shoes, shealths, and cases. I hope this gets you in the right direction.

Jana