Publication:

Windmill weights

    Full details

    Authors & editors

    Simpson, Milt [Author]

    Publisher Johnson & Simpson
    Year of publication 1985
    Languages

    English (main text)

    Medium Book
    Edition1
    ISBN0961501200
    Topics

    Wind & watermills > Rest of the World (not Europe) > USA
    Arts, culture and heritage

    Tags

    Scope & contentThis book is devoted exclusively to one of America's folk art traditions: windmill weights which were an essential part of American wind engines and windpumps.
    Used during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cast iron windmill weights were made in a variety of forms including animals, bird, horseshoes, hearts, spears and celestial bodies. This book graphically describes the function of windmill weights, used to counterbalance the weight of the wheel or govern uniform speed, and traces their role in the development of Midwest America.
    Windmill manufacturers created signature weights. Detailed descriptions of the weights illustrated with 50 colour and 27 black and white photographs.
    It is an identification guide for American folk art enthusiasts,collectors and dealers of Americana. A collector's section features portraits of collectors, methods of collecting, care and display are discussed.
    The book was published to coincide with a travelling exhibition sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art.

    Copies held

    Accession no. 229962

    • Shelf location: I180.8-SIM
    • Donor: Michael Dufau Collection