Hello, I'm a little behind in reading, and just caught up with the early July discussion on apprenticeships. It is possible to find guild records, but they aren't common. My GGGGG grandfather, Liborius Blendermann, was a button maker (Knopfmacher) in Magdeburg. Amazingly, I found a microfilm of the button makers' guild book amongst the Mormon church collections. I found three entries that describe the training of three apprentices, giving their names and terms of service (5-6 years). I also found the record of his son Conrad Christoph being apprenticed to another button maker (probably indicating that Liborius had died by that time). You can see these pages posted at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~blenderman/ Blenderman/fg01/fg01_035.html and http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~blenderman/ Blenderman/fg01/fg01_031.html Click on the little camera icon next to the names to see the guild documents. Walter ************************************************************************ ***** They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benj. Franklin, 1759 Walter G. Blenderman, N. Plainfield, NJ, USA **mailto:netchemist@earthlink.net***************************http:// www.blenderman.net**