Tinsmith Museum of America

Tinsmith Museum of America

Tinsmith Museum of America

Preserving the Past in the Present for the Future

  • Charles Messner

    Charles R. Messner died July 25, 2023. He had a shop, in Denver PA, selling lighting fixtures, toys, and cookie cutters among other things. From our collection this is marked #5 Dec 3 1979 and the stamped C R MESSNER DENVER PA.

  • Bill McMillen

    Bill passed away November 9, 2022. He will be missed. Here is an original photo we have on display. It was published in a newspaper article about Historic Richmond town in 1984. He looks very young. He worked there for many years and then began working with Don Carpentier at Eastfield Village in Upstate New…

  • What is a Tinsmith?

    Why is he called a Tinsmith? Other names include Tinker, Tinman, Tinplate Worker, Tinner, Tin Knocker, Tin Banger, Tin Bender. He is however not called a Whitesmith. The Oxford Dictionary lists accounts of the use of Whitesmith but there is nothing conclusive that they were a worker of tinplate. The dictionary describes a Whitesmith as…

  • Jiles Mabe

  • May & Co

    From the 1853 Massachusette Register One of our first acquisitions was this piece from Samuel May & Co. They were a company in Boston MA that sold A W Whitney Machines. The cast iron top is stamped A W Whitney and the MAY & CO BOSTON is on the handle near the journal or box.…

  • World Wide Pandemic

    Covid has hit us hard. We were in talks with a local sheet metal shop to rent out a small portion of their building. Max had made plans for the renovation but due to the shutdown we will postpone that brick and mortar opening.

  • Robin Hood tinware

    This pair of sconces were made by Robin Hood from Rockbridge, Ohio. Visit their store at http://www.robinhoodtinware.com/ordering-Information.html    

  • Ned James

    At Saratoga County Museum

  • Charles Hartwell

    Charles Hartwell died February 5, 2019. He was born April 18, 1934. He was the tinsmith and collector of curious objects at Pioneer Arizona. He was making reflector ovens in Arizona and shipping them to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. He was the author of “Simple Things” about Shaker tinware and was a tinsmith at…

  • The Postcard

    To be immortalized on a postcard was like going viral in the modern days. This is Bruce Panek from the Ohio Village Tinshop in 1982. This is a teapot he made that is stamped B PANEK COLUMBUS O.

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