A History of Oyster Tongs Hardcover – February 23, 2023

Through this collage, the story of a mundane tool was brought together through a variety of sources to produce a linear, technical, and oral history of oyster tongs. The earliest witnesses of tonging were consolidated. The derivation of oyster tongs was given consideration. Patented oyster tong designs were cataloged for interpretation. Devices for use in tonging oysters have been correctly separated. The Eastern Shore history of the commercial art of tong making is written. Lastly, four interviews capture the interconnection between watermen and Chesapeake Bay resource. Tines of insight into the culture surrounding oyster tongs were culled dating back to the European colonization of North America. This manuscript illuminates oyster tong sightings by consolidating the earliest travel accounts to the New World. Examination also includes the Colonial derivation of oyster tongs via archaeology. This work appraises the significance of the patent literature granted by the United States Constitution. A technical inventory of all oyster tong patents is provided. This offers a mechanical look at the changes and advancements of methods and materials. The historic path a related tool followed was challenged. A fresh study of secondary sources through the lens of primary sources gives credence to the uniqueness of oyster tongs. The correct technical line of the drop tong was winnowed out from oyster tongs revealing parallel but different origins. The cottage art of tong making was recorded. In doing so, a fragment of the oral history of oyster tong makers is preserved. Tong makers were sought out and recorded because as the Eastern Seaboard, Gulf Coast, and Pacific Northwest exhaust once-abundant stocks of oysters, watermen and their folklore evanesce. Read more