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“Moon at Age of Seventeen Days. Copyright Yerkes Observatory”

Photograph of a waxing gibbous moon, 1892-1912. Title and “595 (16646)” on label.

Image from Keystone View Company Lantern Slides, 1892-1912, held by College of Charleston Libraries.

#lanternslides #moon #waxingmoon #gibbousmoon #historicalastronomy #yerkesobservatory #CofC #CofCLibraries

This is the Yerkes Observatory in America. It’s a wonderful example of craftsmanship. Some folks call it the Birthplace of Modern Astrophysics. Albert Einstein studied here. Built in 1897, it was designed in a timeless style that pays homage to the classical periods of Rome and Greece. There are thousands of man-hours just in the fine stone carvings that adorn the facade.

And now they’re talking about tearing it down to make room for condominiums.

It blows my mind to think anyone would tear down this historic complex so they could build undoubtedly ugly condos, but we see it happen every single day. And that attitude ripples out into the society.

Ever wonder why craftsmen have such a hard time finding customers? Most people think fine goods are the thing of museums and far off tourist traps that are fun to visit on a summer’s day. I firmly believe a major reason for that is because we constantly tear down anything “old” and replace it with cookie-cutter garbage. People don’t get to grow up surrounded by quality craftsmanship. Homes built in the 1950′s are very rare things, so you can imagine how hard it is to find something from the 1850′s!

Class, Style, Elegance, Pride.... these are things sorely missing from everyday homes, and I feel like it’s due in part to the lack of these things in our surroundings. How can we look for quality if we didn’t grow up with that kind of quality around us? Today, the average person will buy fine woodwork at an antique store, but never think to seek out a cabinetmaker to build something for them. Mention a blacksmith and the mind immediately goes to shoeing horses (a farrier’s job) rather than building a nice gate for the garden.

A solid day of sweating in front of the forge, swinging the hammer and thinking about this matter. I sent out two orders for wall hooks today. Now I wonder if the children of those customers will keep the hooks or throw them away as so much trash when mom and dad are gone. Will they see them as hand-forged wrought iron pieces to be appreciated, or will they think “Bah, I can buy a couple hooks at the big box store if I ever need some.”