Hello listmates: I have just joined this list. My grandfather was a blacksmith. Can anyone recommend books about smithing, especially in the early 20th century? My grandfather, Wilhelm Altenkamp, practiced his tradein Germany and later in Chicago. He was apprenticed as a boy in the Essen area around 1910. In WWI, he was a machine gunner in the Germany army, but I have a picture of him in his army hat at the anvil, so he must have also done some smithing. In the early 1920's, he worked for Krupps in Essen. He emmigrated to Chicago IL in 1925 and set up his own shop a few years later. My mother recalls stopping by the shop on her way home from school to watch him work. In the later years, he did mostly household repairs, since horse-drawn vehicles had disappeared. Sometime in the late 30's or early 40's, he closed his shop and became an industrial welder at Continental Can Company in Chicago. He retired in 1961. Would appreciate recommended reading, and would like to hear about other blacksmith ancestors. Does the list have an archive? Regards, Linda in Boston