Melissa Wood

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The League of NH Craftsmen will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a series of activities throughout the year.

The League was formed in 1932 to help struggling craftspeople make ends meet during the Great Depression. Its roots began with the opening of the Sandwich Home Industries shop in Sandwich in 1926. The shop was inspired by arts advocate Mary Coolidge, who wanted to help rural New Hampshire craftspeople sell their works. Soon after, Mrs. Coolidge joined forces with metalworker A. Cooper Ballentine and members of the Wolfeboro Rotary Club to establish a statewide craft training program. In 1931, New Hampshire funded the New Hampshire Commission of Arts and Crafts who then founded the League of New Hampshire Arts and Crafts in 1932. The League later changed its name to the League of NH Craftsmen in 1968.

The League quickly grew. By the mid-1930s, forty-seven local craft groups and twenty-three small craft shops were operating throughout New Hampshire, including ones in Concord, Conway, Meredith, and Wolfeboro. In 1933, the League held its first fair at the Crawford House featuring demonstrations of pottery, weaving, vegetable dyeing, basketmaking, woodcarving, and ironworking. For entertainment there was chorus singing of old songs and country dancing. After the fair’s success exceeded expectations, it became an annual event, moving around to various locations until 1964 when it was held at Mount Sunapee State Park (now Mount Sunapee Resort) in Newbury where it has remained ever since.