From traditional cabinetmaking to entrepreneurial production: David Evans (1748-1819)
Date
2000
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
While the journals, correspondence and business papers of Philadelphia’s merchant elite have been carefully preserved, the writings and accounts o f the artisan class have rarely survived. As a result, scholarship on the eighteenth century, particularly business and economic history, has focused on merchants and their relationship with the turbulent economy. Scholars have given these merchants full credit for developing the American economy and pushing the nation into the Industrial Revolution. Artisans have received little attention; and when discussed, are most often described as powerless and without ambition. ☐ This study explores how one artisan survived and rose above the economic fluctuations o f the Revolutionary war and subsequent depression. The unique survival of the daybooks o f Philadelphia cabinetmaker David Evans (1748-1819) provides this opportunity. The three volumes record Evans’ daily transactions from 1774 through 1812. ☐ David Evans’ contentious relationship with a patron, Tench Coxe, introduces the problems faced by the cabinetmaker and provides a framework for the investigation, hi Chapter 1, the examination o f Evans’ family history and youth establishes David Evans’ character and his accustomed standard o f living. Evans’ apprenticeship to Henry Cliffton and James Gillingham reveals the level of his training, his connections in the community, and, possibly, how he started his own business at a young age. A review o f Evans’ cabinet shop in Chapter 2 is divided into four chronological periods: the early years (1774-1775), the war years (1776-1780), the post-war years (1781-1782) and the depression years (1785-1787). The study looks at Evans’ personal life, products, levels o f production, and patronage to analyze how the cabinetmaker adapted to the changing Philadelphia economy and marketplace. Chapter 3, “Entrepreneur” concentrates on David Evans’ decision to transform the production methods o f his shop and focus on two products, coffins and Venetian blinds. The chapter investigates the effects o f this transformation to mass production on Evans’ shop organization, patronage and finances through 1800. The final chapter attempts to explain what personal reasons encouraged Evans to take entrepreneurial risks. ☐ This study will prove that artisans, as exemplified by David Evans, adapted to the economy, sought to increase their wealth and to improve their status, and took financial risks, just like their merchant counterparts. Despite the claims of many scholars, some artisans did have the opportunity and desire to advance. By transforming their production methods and embracing mass production, these ambitious artisans played an important role in the advancement o f American manufacturing.