Limestone Lives: Voices from the Indiana Stone Belt - Hardcover

Ferrucci, Katherine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 025334512X ISBN 13: 9780253345127

Publisher: Quarry Books, 2004

Synopsis

Look up at the Empire State Building in New York City and you will see an almost endless ribbon of soaring stone—Indiana limestone, to be precise. The Empire State Building, Pentagon, Chicago Tribune Building, and many university structures, state capitols, post offices, and churches in every state (and buildings in other countries) are constructed of this exceptional material, renowned for its durability, consistency, and capacity to accept and retain fine detail. When part of the Pentagon was destroyed after 9/11, an Indiana quarry went to work, mining 46 truckloads of limestone to be sent to the Washington site and enabling reconstruction to be completed ahead of schedule.

Limestone Lives pays tribute to the skill and dedication of the men and women who work with stone. It combines 79 striking fine art photographic images with engaging oral histories, representing a range of voices of the workers themselves. We hear from sculptors, drill runners, stone polishers, planermen, forklift operators, a union leader, and the president of a stone company. The book also features brief descriptions of the region’s stone companies, a map locating Indiana quarries and stone mills, and a look at how the industry has changed over the years.

Limestone Lives is a testament to men and women who take enormous pride in the quality of their work, as well as to the role this unique industry plays in creating buildings that last.

About this title

About the Author

Katherine Ferrucci is a freelance graphic designer, writer, photographer, and bookbinder. She is the founder of the People to People Press, a publisher of limited-edition books that document and preserve collections of oral history stories. A version of this book printed on a letterpress and bound by hand in an edition of 50 copies was selected as one of the "Fifty Books of the Year" by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Ferrucci lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Review

"In Limestone Lives Katherine Ferrucci documents the men and women who carved that stone from the ground. Filled with personal accounts and historic photographs, the book proves that there is as much beauty in the chiseled face of a stonecutter as there is in any towering architectural achievement." —Indiana Alumni Magazine

(Indiana Alumni Magazine)

"Striking photographic images are interwoven with a series of oral histories in a tribute to the dedication and skill of Indiana's men and women who work with stone, including sculptors, stone polishers, planermen, forklift operators, drill runners, union leaders, and the president of a stone company, accompanied by profiles of the region's stone companies, a detailed map of Indiana quarries and stone mills, and historical overview of the stone industry." —Forecast

(Forecast)

Edition details

• Publisher: Quarry Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 025334512X
• ISBN 13: 9780253345127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 108