07/02/2026
As we are going through some of our historical back stock, we stumbled upon this trove of items we saved from a previous historical remodel!
A Chesterman of Sheffield tape measure from England. These were used in the early 20th century by surveyors, builders, and engineers before steel and digital laser measures took over. On the handle you can see “75 ft” engraved.
These are vintage sets of “French Curves”, a multi piece drafting set. Before software like Adobe and AutoCAD, architects, engineers, fashion designers and artist used these templates to draw smooth mathematically precise curves.
These orange vintage trade instructor booklets from the International Correspondence Schools (ICS), are based out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The ICS, founded in 1888 initially to help coal miners pass safety exams, turned into a massive pioneer of distance learning for engineering, drafting, architecture, and carpentry.
The logo is a representation of “Science instructing Industry” their motto, & the building on the front of the booklet is the ICS Administration building still standing today in Scranton.
The blue booklets were their branching out into different areas of construction, including heavy construction, steelwork, and masonry. These went into detail regarding core structural building principles such as plan reading, brickwork, & concrete foundations.
The building on the blue booklets is the ICS Instruction Building, built down the road from the original ICS building on the orange booklets.
We love sharing these bits of history with you!
Thank you to our girl Karleigh for taking & scanning these pictures!
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