Toolbox

Object/Artifact

-

Vermont Historical Society

Name/Title

Toolbox

Entry/Object ID

1988.8.1

Description

Heavy wooden toolbox. The top and bottom of the box are made of three wooden slats held together by two chamfered wooden rectangles placed across the slats. The sides are also made of wooden board, held at the top and bottom. The corners are reinforced with metal bands. Chest contains granite facing tools: Bush hammers, winding blocks, pneumatic hand facers (also called "bumpers") with various facing bits, and striking hammers.

Context

Used by Alexander Johnson Thuren, a Swedish immigrant who worked at the Johnson Granite Company from about 1901 to 1928.

Acquisition

Accession

1988.8

Source or Donor

Thuren, Carl F.

Acquisition Method

Gift

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Toolbox

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Container, Tool

Nomenclature Class

Multiple Use T&E for Materials

Nomenclature Category

Category 04: Tools & Equipment for Materials

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Overall

Height

12-1/2 in

Depth

21-3/4 in

Length

28-1/2 in

Material

Wood, Metal

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Thuren, Alexander Johnson (1873-1932)

Person or Organization

Johnson Granite Company (1910-1936)

Interpretative Labels

Label

Toolbox with Granite Tools (c.1910) Used by Alexander J. Thuren (1873-1932) Montpelier, Vermont Wood, iron Gift of Carl Thuren, #1988.8.1 Alexander Thuren followed his older brother, P. Otto Johnson, from Karlskrona, Sweden, to the granite center of Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1898. Other family members joined them and they created an extended family of Swedish spouses and children. The family moved to Montpelier in 1901 to work in the city's finishing sheds. Alexander became a skilled "facer," using hand tools to smooth and level the surface of granite slabs. Otto bought out the F. J. Robar & Company in 1910 and renamed it the Johnson Granite Company. Alexander worked for his brother until retirement in 1928. These tools represent the labor of countless immigrant stoneworkers in the sheds of Vermont quarries. The tools include bushing hammers, winding blocks, pneumatic hand facers (called "bumpers"), various bits, and striking hammers.