How to use the resources at Layers of London

Abstract

• An important aspect of researching the furniture trade has been to map the locations of makers and suppliers over different periods. BIFMO and the FHS Grants Committee have sponsored interns to map furniture makers and their associated trades in London, Edinburgh and, most recently, immigrants from the UK and Ireland into the Eastern seaboard of the United States. The workshop will invite the three groups to present their research and the methods they used to map the addresses of these makers, including learning how to use historic maps and the problems that ensued. As the interns searched for addresses, they learned how to deal with old address systems, including names of streets and changes in street numbers. They also learned about variations in how craftsmen were described and recorded. Nonetheless, mapping the locations of tradespeople led to fascinating discoveries about the groupings of different trades in certain locations, the movements of makers following the growth of cities and what can be learned about the status of the tradesman from his geographical location.