Today has been pretty good so far.
Yesterday, as part of my purge of the workroom I sold my Singer 31-15 Industrial sewing machine.
It made me sad, but it went to a good purpose:
Matt and his boyfriend James picking the machine up from the workroom. They were super excited about it. Mat had been texting and emailing all morning so that he could be the one to get it for James. We spent some time talking about what they do and the machine. In all, I think that the history of the piece will carry on. It will certainly get more use than it was getting up at the workroom. You can read more about what James does here:
That is James on the left and Matt on the right.
The history of that machine, just in case it gets sold and someone looks up the serial number:
I bought the machine from a guy named Petar on the near West side of Chicago. Here is the text of the history he knew of it:
We acquired the machine when my mom bought a cleaners located at 3521 W. Fullerton Ave. We moved to the space in 1966. Before that someone else owned the cleaners throughout the 50s and early 60s. Around 1970 we were forced to move because we lost our lease and the building was sold, so we moved next door to 3523 W. Fullerton Ave. where the machine stayed until 1979 when we sold the business. Fortunately, my mom took the machine with her to our home in Park Ridge, Illinois and had an alteration business going in the neighborhood – we lived at 1029 S. Prospect – we had a completely finished garage – it was a story and a half and the first floor was carpeted – the previous owners had 8 kids so they had made the garage into a family room. So the machine was there until 1992. After my moms death in 1988 and my father moving to Italy and getting remarried, we sold the house and I took the machine to my apartment at 8654 West Summerdale Ave Apt3s. It was there until 2000, when I bought a town home in Round lake Illinois and moved it along with the rest of my things there. I was there until the fall of 2003, I sold my town home and moved back to the city, however I was renting a room from a women and didn’t have room for most of my stuff, so I put it into storage with Midway Moving and Storage – they have a warehouse around Pulaski and Lake Streets. It was there until November 2006 when I purchased my current place and put it into the storage room. The machine has essentially been unused since 1988 when my mom passed away, however I really tried to take care of it. That is about all the history i know. it has been moved around a bit – would be interesting to find out what it was doing pre-1950s; I guess that will remain a mystery.
The serial number is: G521375
It is a Singer 31-15
I am especially happy that yet another creative gay guy owns it. Keep it in the family, so to speak.
And that is it. The things we surround ourselves with have these rich histories. Sometimes they are mundane and work-a-day like this and sometimes they are more exciting. The point is that we are connected to each other by more than just our humanity. We are connected through our tools and artifacts. They are tangible things that tie us together as human beings.