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Established in 1947, Lapidary Journal has been the authority on what's current in the gem and jewelry world for over half a century. The vast library of issues that have been created over the years is like a diary -- a record to what was going on in the industry at any given moment. Just as it's fun to read old entries in your personal journal, we at Lapidary Journal thought it would be a good time to begin reminiscing on topics past, to see what has changed over time and what has remained the same. Starting with the June 1954 issue, each month we will take a look back to an issue 50 years old. If readers are interested in receiving photocopies of these or any past articles, please send us an e-mail with the subject line of "reprints." The January/February 1955 issue was 6-1/2" x 9-3/4", unlike today's dimensions of 8-1/4" x 10-3/4". It was not until 1960 that the size changed for the first time. It was a bi-monthly magazine and the newsstand price was $0.50 per copy. Gem
Cutting and Jewelcraft Hobbies in Our Armed Services In the '50s, Lapidary Journal would receive occasional reports of the gemcutting and jewelcraft program of the armed services and was asked for advice about installations of lapidary shops in the camps. (LJ conservatively estimated that at least 300 government craft shops received the Journal.) To coordinate some of this information for the benefit of the readers, LJ communicated with Washington authorities who supplied information and photographs of the lapidary activities of our armed services.
The Adjutant General's Arts and Crafts Program of the U.S. Army in Alaska was the main focus of the article, where gem cutting had established itself as a worthwhile activity. "It is true that it has not so widespread appeal as some of the more quickly-learned crafts, but it does have an advantage over them in that the soldier who cuts one gem usually continues with many others. He is lured on by the great variety of stones he can work with and the different shapes they can be cut into." The initial interest in gem cutting would often blossom into interest in related activities like field trips, rock collecting, and metal work. Alaska's climate (including below zero temperatures and ice fogs) and the location of Army posts in isolated places required that the Army provide suitable recreation for leisure time. Among the many activities offered by Special Services was the crafts program - a limited section, but rapidly growing as increasing numbers of the men discovered the fascination of creating beautiful objects with their hands. Walrus-tusk, fossilized mastodon ivory, and rock-hunting field trips were a regular part of the summer program of some of the shops because it was the Army's policy to encourage the use of native material in the craft shops. For this particular unit's location in Alaska, jade was found in an area roughly ten miles wide by forty miles long, about 12 miles north of and parallel to the Kobuk River. The jade was tucked away securely by means of a range of hills, the river, and a wide belt of tundra and marsh. And even once the jade was found, the men would then be challenged with the task of bringing the cumbersome rough back. Such a trip required a small expedition to go into the jade country and retrieve information on the travel conditions and a sample of the jade. LJ was given an account of one such trip: "Accordingly, Marshall Gravatt, Director of Arts and Crafts for Army Special Services, and SFC Henry L. Beaulieu, together with their equipment, hitch-hiked a flight to Nome on a space-available basis with the Air Force. Here they were picked up by an Alaskan National Guard instruction-training plane and taken first to Kotzebue and on the following day flown up the Kobuk River to the village of Kobus, an air line distance of 155 miles."
From Kobuk they traveled overland to the headquarters of Dahl Creek, then began their river trip. They towed their equipment along with them by means of an inflatable raft which they dragged alongside the river. Eventually, they claimed a base camp where they were going to collect jade from the stream bed shortly below where the river cutting across the mineralized formation had dispersed it as eroded nuggets. The men searched the river bed and gravel bars for the next few days, finding chunks of jade, including one 95-pound morsel located three miles from the base camp. "Too heavy to pack with the rough, and slippery river bottom as footing, it was floated down on an inner tube which had been brought along to meet such a condition. Altogether, over 200 pounds were collected at the raft and eventually brought home." According to the article, the lapidary interests were not something new to the armed services in the 1950s, but they were "one of the fastest growing and most favored activities with our service men." In an even older issue of LJ, June/July of 1947, William T. Baxter authored an article called "The Lapidary & Jewelry Program of the United States Navy," in which he revealed that practically every battleship in 1947 carried a full lapidary shop. More highlights from our archives coming next month from the March/April 1955 Lapidary Journal. |
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