Russel Sage Foundation

This 1937 report has to do with people in the Appalachian Mountain region whose chief concern with handicrafts was the income they would bring, as they offered the only means by which to earn money. One purpose was to show how indispensable handicrafts were in the economy of countless families throughout the region; a second was to show the other rewards handicrafts brought to these same people, what they added to the social and recreational life for the communities in which they carried on, their educational and cultural significance, the esthetic enjoyment they fostered, their help in the field of therapeutics, and the sense of emotional security they gave. Containing fifty-eight illustrations form photographs taken for the work by Doris Ulmann.

Allen H. Eaton was the author of Immigrant Gifts to American Life and part of the Department of Surveys of the Russell Sage Foundation.