Clam shell drilled for button blanks

Object/Artifact

-

Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Name/Title

Clam shell drilled for button blanks

Entry/Object ID

2022.58.20

Description

Clam shell drilled for button blanks and example of pearl buttons sewn on a card for sale. Shell displayed in SDHC museum exhibit "Lost and Found: Ghost Towns of the Saugatuck Area" in 2000

Context

Clamming the Kalamazoo to supply the button-production industry. Sewing buttons on to cards was a form of piece work often done in the home to generate extra income. The Holland newspaper reported on July 7, 1910, "Quite an industry in gathering of clam shells up the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck is being established. The shells bring something like $16.00* per ton in the Detroit market, where they are manufactured into pearl buttons and other useful ornamental articles for the general market. A number of valuable pearls have also been obtained." *$16 was the equivalent of $522 in 2024 dollars

Collection

Industry and manufacturing

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2022.58

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Notes

Button card is an unconditional donation by Sally Winthers, August 2022

Lexicon

Search Terms

Mollusk

Dimensions

Height

3 in

Width

4 in

Location

* Untyped Location

Sec 3E Shelf S17

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Minier, Fred 1856-1915

Web Links and URLs

"Pig toes and pimplebacks: the story of Michigan's pearl button industry" by Wykes, Gerald P., Michigan History Magazine, Mar 1, 2015

General Notes

Note

Excerpt from “American Plan" by Celia Gamble House, 2022.16.25 "... the clam fishing was the essence of peace and quiet. The fresh water mussels, locally called "clams,"were thin shelled bi-valves, dark and rough outside and opalescent within. They were piled up in heaps in some secluded spot on the river bank to be sacked later and shipped to the button factory. The clammers rowed slowly along in flat-bottomed boats with their lines dragging hooks along the bottom. Even this job had its thrills, Mary discovered. Just shells for buttons were nothing to the clammers. They lived in hope of finding an occasional fresh water pearl."

Note

In 2022, the author Wade Rouse (using the pen name of Viola Shipman) referred to a fictional Dandy Button Factory in Douglas in his "The Edge of Summer" novel.

Create Date

August 11, 2022

Update Date

August 16, 2024