 |
It's a gem located on the Stonehill campus in Easton, Massachusetts, not far from Oliver Ames's (1779-1863) famed Shovel Works, and tells the story of one of America's oldest enterprises--and the Industrial Revolution's great successes.
Were you to walk across America in first half of the 19th century, you would have found Ames shovels at work on every farm, foundation, country road, turnpike, canal and railroad in the early Republic. Fun to see this collection in person.
A few pictures below.
 |
| Silver-plated shovels highlight a variety of Ames products in a case used at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. (Really, how cool is that?) Attendees of this first, large American world's fair would have also been amazed by a typewriter, early electric light, and Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. By then, the Ames family had been making shovels for a century. |
 |
| To the right, the earliest shovel in the collection. Oliver's father, John, was forging shovels a few years before the American Revolution. Handles were usually made of ash. |
 |
The earlier, hand-carved "D" handle above, and the improved "Y" handle below. An important innovation. |
 |
| Note the "bend" in the shovels to the right--an innovation that we cannot definitely attribute to Oliver Ames or his sons, but we know came to be closely associated with their products. I dare you to shovel for a day with, and a day without, this "modest" improvement and then tell me if it isn't a miracle on par with, say, an iPhone. |
 |
| Nicole says this is a favorite: the potato shovel. |
 |
| A selection of shovels used by soldiers. Both Oliver Ames and Robert E. Lee were occasionally referred to as "the King of Spades." |
