AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS 253 . 



weaving, embroidery and other not unfamiliar then in many households. The 

 development of the movement was spontaneous and real, although fitful and unor- 

 ganised; differing in this from that of England, where it was initiated by artists and 

 had a comparatively swift flowering. Societies in England were largely exhibition 

 societies of these artists and their followers; and the industries grew from classes among 

 workingmen, or by the deliberate gathering of peasant groups, appreciative of the 

 traditions of beauty and docile to leadership. Their results have done much to 

 encourage leaders in America. 



It is to the intelligent and energetic middle classes in America that the movement 

 owes its growth. The artists were, as a rule, the last to be interested in a view of art 

 in no wise exclusive; nor had American artists, as a class, such influence and position 

 as in England. Those who carried on the work, therefore, were for the most part 

 untrained. They at once began to group themselves into societies for mutual en- 

 couragement. The society of arts and crafts as here described is peculiar to America. 

 Its form is elastic and suited to varied conditions, from informal meetings of a village 

 group to complete city organisation with sales-rooms and committees. 



The first arts and crafts society in America was that of Hull House, Chicago; but 

 the Boston society was formed nearly at the same time, a few months later in the 

 same year, 1897. Societies multiplied rapidly and there is now scarcely a town or 

 village but has its local group. Each began individually and spontaneously, and there 

 was little or no relation, one with another. To bring these together and to record 

 general progress, the League was organised, and ten years after the founding of the 

 first society over twenty societies came together as charter members. 



The first effort of an arts and crafts society is usually to establish a sales and exhibi- 

 tion room, and then to have classes. In several instances these latter have developed 

 into a thriving school of craftsmanship. The management of a society is in all cases 

 cooperative, and the work exhibited is individually contributed by members or con- 

 signers outside, and sold on a commission. Besides the regular arts and crafts societies 

 there have grown up lately numberless little shops for the sale of handicraft. These, 

 known as gift-shops, are usually in partnership with tea-rooms. They are already 

 a familiar thing in cities, and the summer automobile travel is making them possible 

 upon every country highway. Excellent craftsmanship is constantly in demand on 

 all sides. A craftsman generally belongs to one or several regular societies, and con- 

 tributes to exhibitions and shops when producing enough to enable him to do so. There 

 is a natural tendency to form groups of workers, occupying adjoining studios; and this 

 is found to be beneficial in every way. Rural groups of this kind, already occurring 

 here and there, tend to multiply, affording a wider range of thought and inspiration. 



The industrial village, so characteristic of the English development, is .known in 

 America, but with a difference. Deerfield, Massachusetts, will occur to everyone 

 (see E. B. vii, 924). But although these have had, at starting, their patrons who 

 made the work possible, the individual worker has been generally independent, and 

 this has always been the aim. Industries more nearly after the English pattern have 

 been tried. The most nota.ble, probably, is that of the Abnake rug. This was a hooked- 

 rug made by the women native to the place, Pequaket, New Hampshire, superintended 

 by Mrs. Albee, who furnished the designs, the material, and marketed the rugs, paying 

 for the work by the square foot. The rug was excellent in kind and quality and sold 

 well, but the enterprise proved too burdensome and has been given up. A similar 

 industry was carried on in Cranberry Island, Maine, and an extensive undertaking is 

 that of Bourne, Mass. At the Sophie Newcomb College, New Orleans, an industry 

 was attempted with the graduate students in pottery and needlework, with excellent 

 results. The difficulties in these efforts, however, seem great, and the American 

 development would seem rather to lie in the line of individual development and asso- 

 ciation. This is in close harmony with the ideals of the movement and those of democ- 

 racy, and should result, eventually, in indigenous and vital forms of art-expression. 



Semi-commercial industries have also done much to further the art-impulse in 



