Coppersmith

A coppersmith, also known as a redsmith, was a person who made artifacts from copper. The term redsmith comes from the colour of copper. Some items might include jewelry, plates and hardware, fenders, decorative panels and so on. Throughout history, copper has headed the list of minerals that have enhanced the life of humans and it has…

Train Caboose Man

Have you ever heard the expression, “move your caboose?” I always knew caboose signified a person’s backside, but I never took the time to think where the word came from. A caboose is actually a manned railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter at the end of the train…

Paper Boy

My uncle Tom was 14 years old when he got his first job as a newspaper boy. His friend Andre was already a paper boy for the local newspaper in Queens, so my uncle decided he would give it a shot. He got paid $30 per week to deliver approximately 150 afternoon newspapers to his neighborhood. I’ve…

Food Taster

A food taster was someone, usually a woman, who was hired by the royal families of Europe to test their food before they ate it. They usually did this to check and make sure what they consumed wasn’t altered or poisoned in any way. In addition, they wanted to make sure if the food was…

Toll Booth Collector

Who remembers waiting in their parent’s car for at least an hour and a half trying to cross the George Washington Bridge? I certainly do. This was in the era before the implementation of the E-ZPass. (Think 1992-2000). Much of my moms family lives in New York, spread throughout New York City, Whitestone, Queens and…

Tea Lady

A tea lady is a woman who works in an office or a working environment, her sole job is to serve beverages and snacks during the tea break. Tea ladies were British custom that became mainstream during the Second World War. Tea ladies helped boost efficiency in workplace,  people have a period of time when…

Rickshaw Puller

Things people take granted for now might be extremely luxuries in the past. From the past to now, human changed technology, technology changed human, time changed everything. Can you imagine a transportation tool like Uber could only be used by rich and important people one hundred years ago? Can you imagine that you sit in…

Popcorn Man

  In late 80s and 90s of China, popcorn was not a kind of snack that everyone could get easily. Back then, you needed special cookware to make popcorn, and it was not easily manipulated or stored in household.   But, you still could get that at a popcorn station on the street. At station,…

Cigarette Girl

Cigarette girl is the person who sold cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. The job started in roaring twenties (1920s) usually in restaurants, clubs. The job disappeared as vending machines and other street vendors emerged.   The 1920s era was the age of “wonderful nonsense” of United States. It was the beginning…

Computer

Computer used to be a job title refers to people who worked on computing and calculating math back in early 17th century. There was a quite funny gender inequality in this job. For some men, being a computer was a temporary position until they moved on to greater advancements. For women the occupation was generally…

TV Repairman

Since the dawn of new technology like laptop, cell phone, Netflix and other emerging media, TV has been in its dawn for a while. Going back to your house and turning on TV is no longer a family daily routine. TV Repairmen is no longer that helpful to people’s life neither. New York City, where…

Fuller

A fuller, a worker who cleanses wool through the process of fulling. Fulling, also known as tucking or walking (spelt waulking in Scotland), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is…