Friday, January 28, 2011

Questions for Curatorial - Joiner

In the 1910 US Census for 97 Orchard Street, Ida Rogarshevsky’s occupation is listed as “joiner.” What was a joiner during this period?

While there does not appear to be a clear definition for the occupation of “joiner,” Museum researchers believe that a joiner performed work similar to a baster in the garment industry. Like a baster, a joiner probably prepared the garments for the sewing machine operator by joining or fitting the pieces together by loosely stitching them by hand.

1 comment:

  1. I know in shakesperian times, a joiner was actually a carpenter of types... the character Snug from Midsummer Night's Dream was a joiner.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joiner)
    It might be a stretch to think that a woman was doing carpentry work in 1910, but if she was making bookselves or tables, it might have been possible.

    (I work in textiles/costuming and have a background in history and costumer research, and have never heard joiner used to refer to a stitching job-that's almost universally a baster!)

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