The Early Days
The Sandwich Home Industries (SHI) has been supporting artisans and providing crafts education in beautiful Center Sandwich, NH for a Century. In the late 1920’s, an early advocate of the Handicraft Movement and wanting to do something to support a local economy experiencing the first ripples of the Great Depression, Sandwich resident Mrs. J. Randolph Coolidge organized an exhibition of locally made rugs, bringing an expert from Boston to give a talk on the practical aspects of making and marketing home-made merchandise.

 

The Home Industries quickly grew from putting on exhibitions to a cooperative sales venture, and a shop was opened in the summer of 1926 for the purpose of selling locally made handicrafts. 

Two years later, in 1928, Mrs. Coolidge combined forces with A. Cooper Ballantine, who represented a group in Wolfeboro offering craft classes, to promote the handicraft movement State-wide. In 1931, NH Governor John Winant supported their idea, and in 1932 the League of NH Craftsmen was formed with Mary Coolidge as its first President.

 

Sandwich Home Industries (SHI) Today
A non-profit 501c-3 that has grown and expanded over the years, the Home Industries’ League of NH Craftsmen Gallery is open seasonally from mid-May to mid-October, continuing its tradition of supporting craftsmen across NH through its relationship with the League of NH Craftsmen. The store also supports local artists through maintenance of a Community Gallery space.  

From June through September the SHI Education Program offers a wide variety of classes, craft workshops, and demonstrations by local artists for families, children, and adults alike. In 2020 SHI re-committed itself to its founding goal of supporting local artists and the local economy. The latter we do through connections with the Sandwich Business Group and collaborations with other area businesses and non-profits, through our education programs, and by participating in annual community events such as Artisans on the Green during Old Home Week in August and Christmas in the Village in December.

 

The Next Century

As we enter our Centennial year, the Board of Directors of the Sandwich Home Industries recognizes that changes in the definition of craft, shifts in the population and economy of the Lakes Region, and the rapidly changing ways our artists are creating, marketing, and selling their work will impact us in significant ways in the years ahead. Adapting to these changes so that SHI will continue to thrive into its second Century is the challenging but exciting work ahead of us.