The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990 (review)

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Lanier, Jr.) on Norman's Divine Right's Trip demonstrate the Bachelardian approach convincingly. Essays on Miller's poetry ("The Mechanical Metaphor: Machine and Tool Images in The Mountains Have Come Closer" by Ricky Cox) and on Morgan's ("Inside-Outside in Robert Morgan's Poetry" by Mary C. Williams) seem to me very fine and quite useful readings in introducing these individual poets and in discussing the general state of Appalachian-oriented poetry. This collection has the virtues and drawbacks of selectivity, intense critical focus, and a self-limiting monotheory. It may irritate some readers with its narrowness, and it certainly is not comprehensive in dealing with important Appalachian writers and writings. It should be useful to students who encounter these writers and works and want to view them in a sociocultural context. —William J. Schäfer Garry Barker. The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991. 257 pages. Hardback. $28.95. Garry Barker has written a valuable documentary about a vigorous period of craft activity in Southern Appalachia, particularly Kentucky. Crafts are, and have always been, important in the mountain area. However much they have changed in the last sixty years in volume, character, and public appreciation, this is still true. The story of crafts is an integral part of the area's history. Without Barker's contribution, much of this chapter of the story might have been lost. This may not be a book for the general reader, as it details the work of a somewhat bewildering succession of craft organizations and promoters. It is, however, a pleasantly readable book, its style being clear and often humorous, with occasional delightful bits of irony and of philosophy. Barker's very personal story tells about how he saw crafts and craftspeople and dealt with them through a succession of positions as craft administrator. This began in 1965, when he graduated from Berea in complete ignorance of the craft world, and continued through 1990, when he knew it thoroughly. Early in his career, Barker read and was deeply impressed by Allen Eaton's Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, published in 1937. As his involvement in the craft world continued, he felt the need for a sequel, telling what happened in the following years. When none appeared he decided to write it. The first two chapters of this book are an adequate summary of the older book. The next three are a researched account of the following twenty-five years, when appreciation and sales of crafts were slowly growing. The rest of the book is personal experience, conclusions, and predictions. The difference in viewpoint between Eaton and Barker is interesting. Eaton wrote from a standpoint of appreciation of both craft and craftspersons and how 65 the work added to the worker's stature as a human being. Though Barker admires and appreciates Eaton, and has sincere feeling for crafts and craftspeople, he himself is an intensely practical man (even if he does write excellent fiction). His viewpoint is that of a merchandiser, since merchandising is a large part of the job of any craft administrator. Barker's first five years in the craft world were spent as an employee of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, which covers the mountain areas of nine states, with its office in Asheville, North Carolina. Director Robert Gray gave him a thorough grounding in the scope and intricacies of managing such an organization. At the end of that time, Barker returned to Berea to manage the college's retail craft shops, and after six months there he became executive director of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen. From then on he was involved with a staggering array of craft organizations, craftspeople, craft promoters and flinders, and government agencies. Since 1985 he has served as assistant director and marketing manager for the Student Crafts Program at Berea College. This was an era of great growth for crafts everywhere. Starting with President Johnson's Great Society, funding for the arts was extensive. In this era, craft organizations were not started as was the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild in 1930. The guild was started by a group of women with a dream...