Abstract/Summary

This study traces the invention and development of stencil dies in the USA in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Such dies were sold to the general public as tools for cutting stencils; they were portable and thereby offered any enterprising individual a means of canvassing for work in a previously specialist trade. The study begins by looking back at selected European precursors before focusing on the die-making activities of M. J. Metcalf, A. J. Fullam and S. M. Spencer in the north-east states of the USA. Evidence is gathered through the close study of surviving stencil tool ‘outfits’, contemporary catalogues, circulars and newspaper advertisements, and a site visit to Monmouth, Maine, where Metcalf material is preserved.