Built by Hand: Skilled Artisans in the Traditional Trades Is Now Live

The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has launched Built by Hand, a new digital exhibition that features the inspiring stories of a wide range of craftspeople in the building arts, highlighting their pathways to craftsmanship, their traditional knowledge and skills, and their dedication to passing on their craft traditions to the next generation.

Skilled craftspeople in the traditional trades play a vital role in preserving America’s cultural heritage and built environment. Through their artistry and skill, their creativity and care, they help communities preserve historic places that hold memories, meaning, history, and identity. They create new architectural works of beauty and excellence that enrich us all. This crucial body of centuries-old traditional knowledge needs to be preserved and passed on to future generations.

The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage invites you to meet extraordinary artisans—stone carvers, decorative painters, preservation carpenters, blacksmiths, ornamental plasterers, stained-glass artisans, and many others—and discover the skills and values that shape and give meaning to their work.