John Gardner’s Followers (1)

John Gardner

Born

January 01, 1905

Died

January 01, 1995

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Born in Maine, John Gardner graduated from a Maine normal school before earning his master's degree at Columbia University in 1932. After working as a teacher and labor organizer, he hired on as a boatbuilder in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1940, and in 1951 he began writing for the Maine Coast Fisherman--now National Fisherman--and still continued as its technical editor until his death in 1995. A historian of boat design and technology, he was also a progressive designer and builder who did not hesitate to recommend modern materials, such as plywood and epoxy, when they can be used to advantage.

His contributions t Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Born in Maine, John Gardner graduated from a Maine normal school before earning his master's degree at Columbia University in 1932. After working as a teacher and labor organizer, he hired on as a boatbuilder in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1940, and in 1951 he began writing for the Maine Coast Fisherman--now National Fisherman--and still continued as its technical editor until his death in 1995. A historian of boat design and technology, he was also a progressive designer and builder who did not hesitate to recommend modern materials, such as plywood and epoxy, when they can be used to advantage.

His contributions to numerous publications dealt with heritage hand tools, boats, maritime history, and the environment. He was the first to call attention to the chemical hazards in the boatyard.

John Gardner lived a full life. Fresh from the street corners of the labor movement and excluded from the teaching career he anticipated on graduating from Columbia University in 1932, he fell back on his roots. He was firmly grounded in the rural values of his Maine upbringing, and these gave him lifelong gifts of fierce independence and Yankee resourcefulness.

With a family to support he passed himself off as a boat builder, relying on the skills he learned as a young boy working alongside his father, uncle and grandfather on the banks of the St. Croix River, and went on to spend thirty years in five major yacht yards in Massachusetts. At the age of sixty-four he "retired" to pursue his dreams of academia and began the last phase of his life, spending twenty-six years building up the small boat program at Mystic Seaport.

He was not to become a college professor or a high-paid bureaucrat in some urban education department, as he had sometimes envisioned, but he was a teacher his whole life.

He was a unique man. He had an insatiable curiosity about life and was well-read in a number of different fields.

In addition to more than 800 articles which he published, John Gardner also wrote: Building classic Small Craft, The Dory Book, More Building classic Small Craft, and classic Small Craft You Can Build, and he contributed significantly to The Adirondack Guide Boat written by Kenneth and Helen Durant.
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Average rating: 4.17 · 70 ratings · 4 reviews · 7 distinct works

	Building Classic Small Craft: Complete Plans & Instructions for 47 Boats 4.09 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1977 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dory Book 4.25 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1978 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wooden Boats to Build & Use 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1970 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Classic Small Craft You Can Build 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1993	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	More Building Classic Small Craft: How to Build 23 Traditional Boats really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1990	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Building Classic Small Craft Volume 2 it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1984	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Barns, Beams & Boats: The Restoration Shop, Maine Maritime Museum by J. Tevere MacFadyen, John Gardner (Introduction) it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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John Gardner’s Followers (1)

John Gardner

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John Gardner’s books