A letter from spoon-collector par excellence, Norman Stevens:
July 12, 2018
To My Spoon Carving Friends
When I purchased my first hand carved wooden spoon from Dan Dustin at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s annual fair in the early 1970s, I had no idea that I was embarking on a long-term adventure. Over time I acquired work by other spoon carvers including, in particular, Norm Sartorius and Barry Gordon. That, in turn led to my long-term project to acquire 9” teaspoons from as many carvers as possible, that has allowed me to build a collection that now numbers just under 400 spoons from throughout the world. I now have an excellent representative collection of the state of spoon carving throughout much of the world. I hope that the Chinese edition of my A Gathering of Spoons (2012) that is about to be published may generate some new spoons from another large part of the world. I have established a memorandum of understanding with the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts which will ensure that the 9” spoon collection, related correspondence, and a large book collection will end up there.
I trust that you are as pleased as I am that Jögge Sundqvist and Peter Lamb have established the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowships to recognize green woodworkers and other craftspeople throughout the world. Since 2015, Fellowships have been awarded to Beth Moen, JoJo Wood, Peter Follansbee, Jarrod Stone Dahl, Jane Mickelborough, Dave Fisher and Robin Wood. My collection contains spoons created by most of them as well as ones by Jögge, Wille, and Bill.
To date the funds for the awards of $2,500 have been raised on a year-by-year basis. The North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota is now responsible for the oversight of this important program under the direction of Greg Wright. I am sending you this message as part of a campaign to establish an endowed fund of $50,000/$75,000 that would generate enough income to provide one award on an annual basis.
I hope you will join me in making a contribution. Payment may be made by a check to the Slöjd Fellowship Fund sent to the North House Folk School, P.O. Box 759, 500 W. Highway 61, Grand Marias, MN 55604, USA, or via paypal.me/Slojdfellowship. In either case please indicate that your contribution is for the endowed fund.
My emphasis is on encouraging direct financial contributions to support an endowment, I would call your attention to the fact that Tom Morse of the North House Folk School, is also seeking the contribution of hand carved spoons for an auction to be held this September, the proceeds of which will be added to the Fellowship fund. Please feel free to contact Tom (tmorse@northhouse.org) if you have any questions. I will be contributing a signed copy of A Gathering of Spoons, which is now out-of-print, as well as a number of signed copies of my book An Appreciation of Spoons and Dan Dustin’s Spoon Tales. I will also donate one of Dan’s spoons as well as several spoons from other contemporary spoon carvers.
Norman D. Stevens
143 Hanks Hill Road
Storrs, CT 06268
860-429-7051