Book excerpt: The Classic Period of American Toolmaking 1827-1930 considers the wide variety of toolmaking industries that arose after the colonial period and its robust tradition of edge toolmaking. It discusses the origins of the florescence of American toolmaking not only in English and continental traditions, but also in the poorly documented and often unacknowledged work of New England shipsmiths, blacksmiths, and toolmakers. This volume explicates the success of the innovative American factory system that was based on a rapidly expanding economy, the rich natural resources of North America, and continuous westward expansion until the late 19th century. It also includes a company by company synopsis of America's most important edge toolmakers working before 1900, an extensive bibliography of sources that deal with the Industrial Revolution in America, special topic bibliographies on a variety of trades, and a timeline of the most important developments in this toolmaking florescence.