Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers: A Biographical Dictionary Based on the Notes of Francis Hill Bigelow and John Marshall Phillips

This massive biographical dictionary offers the most thorough study of a group of early American craftsmen published to date. It contains biographies of 296 silversmiths and jewelers who worked in Massachusetts prior to the American Revolution, records of more than 6000 examples of their work, and illustrations of 424 of their marks. It completes and amplifies research undertaken at Yale since the 1930s when John Marshall Phillips (1905 - 53), the leading scholar of American silver of his generation, acquired the research notes of Francis Hill Bigelow (1859 - 1933), a pioneer in the field.


There are brief biographical notes on 93 craftsmen in allied trades, including watchmakers, clockmakers, and engravers, and a section on individuals previously misidentified as Massachusetts silversmiths, as well as essays on silversmiths and their tools, Boston silversmithing and jewelrymaking trades, and other Massachusetts silversmiths. A glossary of terms relating to tools and craft techniques and 193 additional illustrations complete the book.