Fort Vancouver Historic Structures Report

Furnishings

Available inventories provide a reasonably good account of the tools that were in the Cooper's Shop, but as usual certain items that could be expected do not seem to be listed. For instance, no workbenches are included, and neither--unless "Cooper's stools " is another name for them--are the characteristic cooper's benches, with their many-sized wooden partitions.

Fortunately, curators who may be assigned the task of refurnishing the Cooper's Shop will find excellent guidance available. A recent book by Kenneth Kilby, The Cooper_and his Trade (London: John Baker Ltd., 1971), is a very detailed and lavishly illustrated history and description of the cooper's art. It contains numerous photographs and drawings of the tools and equipment employed in the craft at different periods. [17]

The Fort Vancouver Depot inventory of "articles in use" made during the spring of 1844 contains the following list of interest at this point:

The Cooper's Shop inventory taken in the spring of 1845 is shorter, but it contains a few variations worth noting:

The inventory of 1848 does not contribute much to knowledge of the Cooper's Shop furnishings, but it is reproduced below because it appears to reflect the trend of activity at the depot by that date:

Among the unbound papers in the Fort Nisqually Collection in the Huntington Library is a requisition for "Coopers Tools &c required for Nisqually Out: 1843." It is reproduced below because it appears to throw additional light upon the equipment of a cooper's shop of the period: