Dates

• Existence: 1895 - 1938

Historical Note

A reformist community of craft workers and artists in East Aurora, New York, Roycroft Shop formed as part of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States. Founded by Elbert Hubbard in 1895, the community and their work have also been known as Roycroft, the Roycrofters, Roycroft Press, Roycroft Community, and Roycroft Printing Shop.

Hubbard drew inspiration from the nineteenth-century English painter, furniture designer, poet, and socialist writer William Morris. Participants in the movement that followed Hubbard were known as Roycrofters. The work and philosophy of the group had a strong influence on the development of American architecture and design in the early twentieth-century. Roycrofters initially created The Blacksmith Shop, followed by shops specializing in copper, leather, ceramics, and wooden furniture. Hubbard sold Roycroft products through catalogs sent to subscribers of his publications. Roycroft artisans continued making books, furniture, copper, and leather goods until challenges following the Great Depression forced them to close in 1938.

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