ARTS and CRAFTS Woodworking

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 15: ARTS AND CRAFTS
WOODWORKING
Boarding School Years
Homemakers’ Craft Club

Wood working on lathe. Grace Rood Album, 1940s. [rood_061.jpg]

TAGS: woodworking, industrial training, woodcraft, Boone Callahan, The Pine Cone, Laurel House II, Doctor’s House

ARTS and CRAFTS Woodworking

WOODWORKING DURING THE BOARDING SCHOOL YEARS

Woodworking during the Boarding School years was one of the favorite activities of many students. The following article was found in the February 1941 issue of the School’s newspaper, THE PINE CONE:

WOODWORK ATTRACTS MANY STUDENTS

The Woodwork Department is offering handicraft opportunities to 56 students this semester. All classes from A-1s to senior are represented in the number. The A-1s take woodwork as part of their survey course. Other courses such as printing, auto mechanics and home economics are open to them also. These survey courses are given for the purpose of getting the student acquainted with the different fields so he can choose the field of most interest to him. In woodworking, the younger students are first taught to use the more simple tools and to make small book racks, pencil holders, and bookends. The more advanced students make small tables, wooden plates and trays, and salad and nut bowls. This requires skill and the use of the electric lathe, planer, and circular saw. Some of the more advanced students also help with repairs on the campus. Two of these boys, Calvin Jones and Bill Turner, worked under the direction of Mr. Ed Leach on the new Laurel House and on the construction of the doctor’s house [Jubilee] last spring. Any students may go to the woodwork shop during the evening activity period to work on any project he cares to do. Mr. [Boone] Callahan, the supervisor of the shop, spends 27 hours a week in the shop with his students, and says he finds his work most interesting.

Source: The Pine Cone, Feb 1941

Those whose service and long commitment to the School have kept the arts and crafts associated with woodcraft alive through the years. Matt Boggs, one of the School’s longest serving staff, and his Homemakers Craft Club was one such enduring craft initiative. (See: MATTHEW BOGGS Homemakers Crafts 1985 Photos.)