Still life with carved bookends and iron candlestick

This photograph, taken by John Jacob Niles in the 1930s, features an arrangement of hand carved bookends and a hand forged iron candlestick. These items are typical of those produced at the John C. Campbell Folk School during the 1930s. The bookends were most likely produced and sold through the school's woodcarving cooperative that later became known as the Brasstown Carvers. Niles (1892-1980) was a folksinger, instrument maker, and ballad collector who accompanied and assisted Doris Ulmann on her photography trips through Appalachia. Niles and Ulmann came to the Brasstown, N.C. area in 1933 and 1934. Niles also served as Music Director at the Folk School in 1935