Two Carpenters by J. Ritchie Garrison

With all of the interest in early New England Architecture, it is with rare frequency that books are published that deal with the subject in a scholarly manner. There is a glut of coffee table books that have glossy photos with inept and usually incorrect factual material about period structures. So it is with great excitement when a book is published that has been well researched and sheds new light on our architectural heritage. Such a book is J. Ritchie Garrison's Two Carpenters, published by The University of Tennessee Press in 2006.
J. Ritchie Garrison is well qualified to interpret and present such pertinent information as is contained in Two Carpenters. He is Director of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture and is a professor of history at the University of Delaware. He decame aware of the subject matter contained in Two Carpenters while working as director of education at Historic Deerfield, a distinquished collection of historic houses and decorative arts in Deerfield, Massachusetts.
Two Carpenters is a very sholarly and accurate review and summary of the lives of master builders Calvin and Samuel Stearns and their five sons of Northfield Massachusetts. As a family of master builders, they left behind very extensive and thorough documentation of their lives. Their journals, account books and ledgers paint a very complete picture of the influences, techniques and results of a very prolific career that spanned from 1799-1859. Many examples of their craftsmanship remain intact by way of houses and structures in Northfield and beyond. Mr. Garrison skillfully combines all of this material into a very compelling book which is richly illustrated with photos and detailed drawings. We follow the Stearns from being journeymen working as far away as Boston and their subsequent design influences that met with great approval from the community of Northfield. The pragmatic domestic life is blended with the very latest in design and social culture, largely by the skill and interpretation of the Stearns.
Congratulations to Mr. Garrison on an excellent book that is a must have for all interested in New England architecture.