I'm looking for a history of and/or information about apprentice
furniture-makers in the Jewish shtetls of Poland/Russia in the 18th
and 19th centuries, and early 20th. I'm told my grandpa, as an
apprentice, went into the forest
alone, told not to come out until he'd cut down a large tree and made
the entire thing into enough furniture for a house. I'm writing a
children's story about this, and I'd like enough research information
to back up the story. Even if it's NOT historically accurate, the
story has imaginative possibilities, but WERE there such practices in
Europe? It just occurred to me that by 1900, there were *factories*,
surely, that made furniture. Nevertheless, did this ancient practice
persist in villages? If not there, when and where WAS it practised,
and what books/articles can I read about it, online and/or in hard
copy? THanks.

Hi maxrief,

A part of me was horrified when I read the 'go to the forest and stay
there until' part of your question. I'd have been there the rest of my
life! As you say, though, this has the makings of a very enjoyable
children's' book.

I've searched 'til I'm Googley-eyed, and have to say that I've found
no reference anywhere about Jewish/non-Jewish, shtetl/non-shtetl,
Polish/non-Polish or Russian/non-Russian apprentices banished to a
forest until he brings home a houseful of furniture. Rather, it would
seem that the trial-by-fire to graduate from apprentice to journeyman
was to complete a piece of furniture in the shop of a master to whom
you are not apprenticed and to have it approved and passed by the
guild council.

As I pondered the question, it occurred to me that most likely the
story you heard passed down by your family is akin to such family lore
as 'when *I* was boy, I walked barefoot through two feet of snow to
get to my school which was four miles away." It probably began when
Grandpa was relating to his family how strenuous a task it was to
graduate from his apprenticeship status.

Here's an excellent article about European guilds in general. It's
taken from the Microsoft® Encarta® 99 Encyclopedia and I think it
might provide a good historical background for you. It covers the
formation of guilds in medieval times. According to the author,
specialization caused an increase in the numbers of guilds across the
continent.

He says, "... there were more than 100 guilds in some large towns in
northern Europe; for example, at the beginning of the period,
carpenters built houses and made furniture. In time, furniture making
became a new craft, that of joinery, and the joiners broke from the
carpenters to establish their own guilds. The wood-carvers and turners
(who specialized in furniture turned on a lathe) founded guilds also.
Painting and gilding of furniture and wood carvings were done by
members of the painters' guild."

He explains the pecking order within the guild membership.
"...organized in craft guilds as masters (of highest accomplishment
and status), journeymen (at a middle level), and apprentices
(beginners)."

You stated, "It just occurred to me that by 1900, there were
*factories*, surely, that made furniture." Well, also addressed here
is the 'putting-out system.' It deals with the cloth industry, but is
interesting nonetheless -- "...the merchant clothier who began putting
out cloth came to control the whole production process and represents
a step toward the industrial capitalist of the 19th century."

Craftsmen and Trade Development
http://www.page-net.com/swansea.localhistory/llansamlet/pages/craftsmen.htm

At the next site, I found out that guilds still play an important part
in many towns in Poland. This one deals with Radomsko and its
modern-day guilds. You might be able to get some historical
information by using the following contact information:

Town Hall in Radomsko
ul. Tysiaclecia 5, 97-500 Radomsko
Tel. (0-44) 683 48 50, fax: (0-44) 683 41 06
e-mail: um@radomsko.pl

Radomsko
http://www.panorama-miast.com.pl/38/html/radomsko.htm


More background information:

"A common provision of early town charters was the privilege of
possessing a "gild merchant" (or hanse house). It was an institution
which embodied the trading monopoly of a chartered city or borough.
Few ordinances of such gild's survive, although over 100 towns had
them. This document - from Southampton, dates from the 14th century,
although the rules are from different dates - the first 11 date to
period long before 1300."

It would appear that guilds were quite strict in what was proper and
what was not. The following website provides some very specific rules:

Southampton Guild Organization 14th Century
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/guild-sthhmptn.html


Oh, I really enjoyed this next website which gives a personal account
from a famous fellow whose Dad was a master joiner. "Labor organizer
and newspaper editor Oscar Ame the “Mark Twain of American Socialism,”
as he was often called, was born in Bavaria in 1870 to a cabinetmaker
father and a freethinking mother. In this excerpt from his
autobiography,If You Don’t Weaken, published in 1940, he discussed his
decision to emigrate to America in 1885 as a fifteen-year-old
“hellion.”  In it he explains the process by which a lowly apprentice
works his way up the ranks. I'm sorry that this takes place in
Germany, and not Russia or Poland, but from everything I'm reading,
guilds were a fairly organized, uniform institution -- no matter where
they were found.

A German Radical Emigrates to America in 1885
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/42/


Now, we come to anther page which addresses the progression of an
apprentice to master. Its information deals with France, and is pretty
much an echo of the German information supra. "Admission as a master
was the highest achievement that an artisan of the craft could ever
hope to reach. The artisan had to serve as an apprentice for six years
without pay. Only by submitting a piece of furniture of his own design
and construction, known as his masterwork or chef d'oeuver to a
committee of the guild could he be admitted as a maitre or master
craftsman, and then only if there was an opening in the guild's
tightly controlled ranks."

Information about French Eighteenth Century Craftsmen
http://highway-adventure.com/doc/craftmen.html


Murphy's Law seems to apply to researching, too. If you'd asked about
France, England, and Germany, I'd have found nothing but Poland and
Russia. I did find several links to those two countries, but the
thrust of each and every one was inevitably of the Jewish situation
and ultimately the Holocaust in Europe.

I sincerely hope you go ahead and write your story using your family
lore as its theme. The links I've provided should give you enough
factual information from which you can draw for historic detail. I
envision a glorious tale!

You have access to a Clarification of Answer button. Please use it if
you need further information.

I wish you well,
revbrenda1st


Search strategy:

furniture guilds Europe
://www.google.ca/search?q=furniture+guilds+Europe&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

furniture guilds Poland
://www.google.ca/search?q=furniture+guilds+Poland&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

apprentice furniture guild
://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=apprentice+furniture+guild&spell=1

I thought the answer was good, I mean revbreanda1st-ga worked $5 worth
and wrote the response well, as well as encouraging the project I was
requesting/doing the research for. I'd be still happier if we could
actually find a historical example of the practise I'm looking for.