Sawdust in Your Pockets by Eric Medlin

Sawdust in Your Pockets by Eric Medlin

During the twentieth century, three industries—tobacco, textiles, and furniture—dominated the economy of North Carolina. The first two are well known and documented, being the subject of numerous books, movies, and articles. In contrast, the furniture industry has been mostly ignored by historians, although, at its height, it was nearly as large and influential as these other two concerns. Furniture companies employed thousands of workers and shaped towns, culture, and local life from Hickory to Goldsboro. Sawdust in Your Pockets: A History of the North Carolina Furniture Industry is the first survey of the state’s furniture industry from its cabinetmaking beginnings to its digital present. Historian Eric Medlin shows how the industry transitioned from high-quality, individual pieces to the affordable, mass-produced furniture of High Point and Thomasville factories in the late nineteenth century. He then traces the rise of the industry to its midcentury peak, when North Carolina became the largest furniture-producing state in the country. Medlin discusses how competition, consolidation, and globalization challenged the furniture industry in the late twentieth century and how its businesses, workers, and professionals have adapted and evolved to this day.

Sawdust in Your Pockets is a well-researched overview of an important component of North Carolina’s economic history, and it is the first such comprehensive studyThis book fills an important gap in the historical literature, and I believe it will inspire future micro-studies of aspects of the state’s furniture industry.

* author of Southern Farmers and Their Stories *

I have been teaching North Carolina history for over twenty years, and it has always frustrated me that there is so little historical information on the state’s furniture industry out there. Furniture was one of the legs on North Carolina’s three-legged stool (along with tobacco and textiles) that made the state the most industrialized southern state and one of the most prosperous. There is both a need and a market for this book.

* author of Tar Heel Lightnin': How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World *

All in all, the book is a fascinating look at a significant industry in a significant region of North America.

* Woodworking Network *

ERIC MEDLIN is a history instructor at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Medlin has published on mid-twentieth-century historians, antebellum North Carolina history, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. He is the author of A History of Franklin County, North Carolina. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780820365503
ISBN 10	0820365505
Title	Sawdust in Your Pockets
Author	Eric Medlin
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University of Georgia Press
Year published	2023-10-15
Number of pages	184
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.