HISTORIC ERAS AFFECTING CRAFT PRODUCTION (see also: Timeline)

• INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION — approximately 1760-1914
        In 1774, Harrod's Town became the first white permanent settlement in Kentucky.  That date roughly corresponds to the beginnings of the First Industrial Revolution in Europe and the nascent United States.  During this period, extending approximately from 1760 until 1830, pre-industrial methods of manufacture based on hand work gave way to new machine-based mechanical processes, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, an increasing use of steam power and water power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the mechanized factory system.  

A Second Industrial Revolution followed, from roughly 1870 until the advent of World War I in 1914; this period witnessed a continued development of manufacturing, particularly based on the production of factory-built interchangeable parts, the expansion of rail and telegraph, electrical, telephone and audio recording systems. Such developments stimulated historically-unprecedented movement of people and ideas. 

• PERSISTENCE OF PRE-INDUSTRIAL CRAFT SKILLS and METHODS
        Despite the sweeping changes resulting from the Industrial Revolution and continuous technological progress, in remote and rural parts of the USA, pre-industrial skills and techniques based on hand work continued; many pre-industrial skills central to agricultural practice and "home arts" continued, for example, the use of simple hand tools and basic machines in pottery, textile and fiber production -- spinning, weaving, and basket-making -- and well into the 20th century many rural people continued to use simple hand tools to create utilitarian objects such as furniture, boards, roofing shingles, and forged iron hardware.  

• ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT
        A social reaction to the perceived inferiority of mass-manufactured goods prompted the rise of the Arts & Crafts Movement in Europe and America, during the decades from about 1870 through the 1920s. The Arts and Crafts movement emerged from the attempt to reform design and decoration in mid-19th century Britain. It was a reaction against a perceived decline in standards that the reformers associated with machinery and factory production.  

For Specific Events in the history of crafts in Kentucky, see: TIMELINE