19th-Century Silk Trade Banners

Early in our country’s history, skilled tradesmen—bakers, carpenters, shipbuilders, shoemakers—decided to form trade associations to share their knowledge, promote their skills and provide for their widows and families. The country’s first trade association—a sort of craftsmen’s guild—was the Charitable Mechanic Association founded in Massachusetts in 1791. By 1815 Maine had its own association. For its […]