Austin publishes book on transforming craft

Bruce A. Austin, professor in the School of Communication, authored Tourists and Trade: Roadside Craftsmen and the Highway Transforming Craft, published by SUNY Press. The book examines two small Western New York craft shops located on Routes 5 and 20, initiated at the height of the Depression, and their role elevating handcrafts from pantry shelves to museum vitrines and craftworkers from hobbyists to artist-professionals by innovating a business model adopted 70 years later on a very different “super highway” — the Internet.