An open letter to blacksmiths and ironwork enthusiasts

in the United States and around the world:

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The Historic Blacksmith Conservancy urgently requests your support to help safeguard the legacy of American Decorative Ironwork. In 1993, the Philadelphia blacksmith shop of Samuel Yellin closed its doors—fifty three years after the master craftsman’s death. The shop had been stewarded by two generations of his descendants. In his lifetime, Samuel Yellin, the most important blacksmith of the 20th century, sought to create a museum and school where younger members of the profession could be instructed in metalwork design and traditional architectural metalwork techniques aided by his collection of artifacts, drawings, and photographs. This dream was never realized. Upon his death the incredible amount of material he accumulated in his lifetime was dispersed. His collection of European Ironwork ended up largely at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2005, a majority of the Yellin firm’s records, along with some drawings and photographs were donated to the University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives. In 2021, the Yellin family added an additional 12,000 drawings to their bequest, along with the bulk of their archival photographs. The finished work, sketches in iron, and samples remained with the family.

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At the shop’s closing in 1993 George Dixon was the head blacksmith. Dixon, an accomplished smith and historian by training, was deeply invested in the significance of the shop and its output. Beyond those items listed above, the volume of documents, drawings, pictures, tools, and samples was overwhelming. Dixon arranged with the Yellin family to become a custodian of large portions of the shop’s important decorative tooling, photographs, and drawings. A further provision required Dixon to keep the materials together and to find a repository of this portion of the collection in his lifetime. In 2023, the Historic Blacksmith Conservancy negotiated an agreement for the purchase of the Yellin Tool Collection in order to eventually establish a learning center with the collection at its heart—a goal shared by Samuel Yellin.

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George Dixon kept his home and shop in Swannanoa, North Carolina. On September 27th, 2024, George Dixon tragically perished in flooding related to Hurricane Helene that ravaged the region. His home was catastrophically destroyed, and his shop was severely damaged. Acutely impacted by the disaster, his family sprang into action and salvaged nearly all of the important tools, drawings, and documents in George’s possession at the time of his death.

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The Historic Blacksmith Conservancy has renewed the purchase agreement with the Dixon family. We are confident in our ability to secure the collection for the posterity of our profession and our ability to eventually put it to use in the education of American Blacksmiths. We need your help. The cost of purchasing, transporting, and storing the collection is $250,000. The Dixon family is reeling from the loss of George, and in desperate need of funds to rebuild their lives. We can provide relief through the purchase of the Yellin Tool Collection. We have a limited time window to make the purchase before the family might consider other means of monetizing the collection. Only as a community can we secure the Yellin Tool Collection. We invite you to contribute to this important and meaningful effort.

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Enclosed, please find a detailed summary of the project, and information on how to donate to the effort. The Historic Blacksmith Conservancy is a recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and donations are fully tax deductible. We welcome donations in any amount as we work urgently towards our fundraising goal. We believe donations in the $500-$1,000 range will allow us to reach our goal within the limited period we have to acquire the collection. Please reach out if appropriate. We eagerly look forward to providing programming—around this collection particularly—in the near future.