Prescott Library: Providence-Promises and Challenges, 1790-1830 Identity of Providence: Gorham Silver and the Growth of Industry in Providence

Gorham Silver and the growth of industry in Providence

Gorham Silver and the growth of industry in Providence

What does the popularity of Gorham Silver’s products tell us about the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
What is the step-by-step process of creating silver cutlery or hollowware?
How did the growth of Gorham Silver affect the growth of the city’s population, housing, and immigration?
Who were the people who worked (or didn't) at the manufacturer? How did the composition of workers at Gorham change over time?
Which companies competed with Gorham Silver and where were they located?

Silversmith techniques

Casting - creating an object or part by using a mold
Repousse - creating a decoration by hammering metal out from the back using chasing tools
Chasing - create decoration by hammering it with chasing tools
Spinning - mounting flat metal on a spinning lathe and using tools to press metal against a wooden form
Hammering and Raising - forming a vessel by hammering a flat sheet of metal over an anvil
Engraving - creating decoration by cutting into the surface using sharp tools
Stamping on a drop press - creating a pattern by placing metal in a two part steel die and using a drop press to force the metal into a shape
Stamping with roll dies - creating a pattern by rolling metal through a set of convex and concave dies

Gorham Silver
In 1831, Jabez Gorham partnered with Henry Webster to found the silver company that bears his name in his native Providence, Rhode Island. Originally a manufacturer of coin-silver flatware as well as small items like buttons, thimbles, and combs, the Gorham Manufacturing Company grew quickly after Jabez retired in 1847 and was succeeded by his son, John Gorham.
School Acquires Large Silver Collection
The Rhode Island School of Design, established in 1877, has long had a relationship with Gorham. "We have had a jewelry and light metals department for a century or more and have trained craftsmen and artists who have gone on to Gorham for decades and decades,"
GORHAM SILVER COMPANY: Designing Brilliance
It probably seemed foolhardy in 1806 New England. Fourteen years old and fatherless, Jabez Gorham apprenticed with Nehemiah H. Dodge, a leading Providence, Rhode Island silversmith. In early America, most people were farmers. Not many cared about sterling silver. Jabez could have followed his father's trade — harness-making.

Dodge was an excellent mentor, Jabez an apt student. Barely into his twenties, the young man opened a shop to sell such sundries as hair ornaments, thimbles, glove button closers, and garter pins. From this humble beginning, the business emerged that eclipsed English silver manufacturers as the largest purveyor of silver in the world.
The Rhode Island silver business dates back to the 169Os.
By 1831, when Jabez Gorham formed a partnership with Henry Webster to make coin-silver spoons, American silver was a well-established craft industry, with spoon makers in most leading cities and towns.
George Henry Corliss
James Watt
It is sometimes said that James Watt got the idea for a steam engine while still a boy, watching steam lift the lid of his mother’s teakettle. The truth is that Watt did not invent the steam engine; however, he made major improvements on the inefficient steam engine of his time.