| The Curran Homestead Collection includes many examples of tools and machinery originated from eastern Maine farmsteads including the Curran farm itself. What our collection particularly focuses on are those aids to the farm, orchard, and woods that were hand made. The creation of the hand-made tool or the individual renovation, adaptation, or creation of machinery and hardware was often motivated by the economic realities of the small Maine farm that in many cases was remotely located and scarce on disposable income for things that might better be made in one's shop. The creation of these objects were often the product of national economic downturns, but once habits were formed whereby one made what one needed they also came during times of prosperity as well. In many cases these often small scale innovations took the form of adaptations to commercially manufactured tools and equipment, and on the rare occasion the farmer simply made tools and adaptations to his equipment to accomplish a particularly unique task to him. All of these circumstances have realized examples of Yankee ingenuity. It is our mission to collect and document these instances of creation, which are part of Maine rural heritage. This theme is highlighted by our recent acquisition of largew objects like jitterbugs and tractor conversions, but small objects like a barn door evener or a gear puller embody this phenomenon on a similar scale when fully assessed. |
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