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New Netherland, New York Genealogy
Obsolete Occupations of the Netherlands
© Cor Snabel
The fan was originally invented to keep away the flies or
just to fan one self. Soon it became a valuable and useful
object for the ladies.
Fan maker (waaiermaker)
Originally fans were manufactured mainly in France and only
after the retract of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 the French
fan makers spread out over Northern Europe. Most of them
went to England and only a few settled in Holland. Fan
making has never become a flourishing trade in Holland,
everyone was allowed to manufacture and sell them. In
England a fan maker’s guild was founded in 1709 and it had a
few hundred members. But the guild members could not stop
the import of the far more elegant French fans, which were
painted much finer. They started to copy the Chinese fans
and these imitations became such a success, that even France
started importing them.
The first folding fan was introduced in Europe in the 16th
century and became very popular. The ladies had fans for
every special occasion: mourning fans were sold in large
amounts, for the interim phase there was the “light”
mourning fan and they had for instance the wedding fan and
the church fan. The wedding fan was richly painted with the
suitable allegorical scenes and decorated with gold and
silver, the fan sticks made of ivory. The church fans
however were sober; don’t forget in the Reformed Church
every finery was prohibited. The ladies used the fan for
several purposes; to hide their bad breath or brown teeth,
but also for communication (read flirtation). Almost every
movement with the fan had a special meaning, from “I love
you” to “I love someone else” and from “kiss me” to “that is
the limit”.
The fan making could be divided in several trades; the ivory
worker who made the fan sticks, the miniature painter, the
actual fan maker (mostly women), who folded and assembled
the fan and occasionally the gold- and silversmith. The fans
were sold by the ivory workers, along with luxury utensils,
like ivory buttons, silk gloves and turtle or ivory inlayed
snuffboxes.
>Choose from the following ancient occupations
Baker |
Beachcomber |
Beguine |
Candlemaker |
Dumpman |
Executioner |
Fanmaker |
Fireman |
Gravedigger |
Innkeeper |
Laundrywoman |
Nightwatch |
Peddlar |
Porter |
Seat Caretaker |
Ship Shanghai |
Soapmaker |
Streetpaver |
Tolltaker |
Pharmacist
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