Suppliers, advertisers and sustaining members
← The Society · from the newsletter's own advertisements and articles and the Society's own lists and reports, 1951–2017
This page holds two accounts of the same trade. The first is the firms themselves — who they were, what they sold the Society’s members, and what became of them — drawn from the newsletter’s own advertisements and articles. The second is the Society’s own roll of Sustaining Members, the firms that paid a business subscription, year by year in each year’s own spelling.
- 25 firms held a Sustaining Membership, September 1951 to autumn 2017
- 12 years of the newsletter print a Sustaining Members list, naming firms 47 times
- Moore-Pearsall and Tandy appear in more of those years than any other firm — seven each
- 9 firms followed through the newsletter’s advertisements and articles, 1951–1996
- 11 firms in the first list, September 1951; 2 in the last, autumn 2017
On this page: The final count, 1951–2017 · The suppliers and advertisers, 1951–1996 · The Sustaining Members, 1951–2017
The final count, 1951–2017
Each section below keeps the numbers its own pages printed, as of their date. These are the totals for the whole run, counted from the roll of Sustaining Members on this page and from the firms the first section follows.
- Firms: 25. Twenty-five firms in all held a Sustaining Membership between September 1951 and the autumn of 2017, counted from the roll below. Eleven of them were in the first list of September 1951, and two in the last of autumn 2017.
- Years with a list: 12. Twelve years of the newsletter print a list of Sustaining Members — 1951, 1952, 1978, 1983, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2017 — and those lists name firms forty-seven times between them.
- The longest-standing: Moore-Pearsall and Tandy, seven years each. More years than any other firm on the roll.
- Named in both of the first two years: four. Bedford Fine Leathers, Ottawa Valley Leathercraft Studios, The Birt Saddlery Company and Wickett & Craig.
- Firms traced as advertisers: nine. The first section follows nine firms through the newsletter’s own advertisements and articles, 1951–1996. One of the nine, Mumart, was the registered trade name of the Society’s own Treasurer rather than an outside supplier.
The suppliers and advertisers, 1951–1996
The Society's first newsletter thanked eleven firms by name as its founding Sustaining Members (September 1951, page 11) — that list is told in How the Society started. What follows traces seven firms named there or in the 1951 advertisements, plus Tandy and Capital Findings, forward through the decades the newsletter kept writing about them. Every claim names the issue and page it comes from; where the paper is a picture rather than running text, that is said too.
Clarke and Clarke Leathers, Barrie — bought out by Tandy
Clarke and Clarke Leathers of Barrie was one of the Society's eleven founding Sustaining Members in 1951, and stayed in its pages for over a decade: donating prize credit notes to the Canadian National Exhibition leathercraft competitions through the mid-1950s (Spring 1956, page 5), and employing Sherle Bottrill, who joined the firm in 1952 and later became C.S.C.L.'s Corresponding Secretary and Barrie Branch President — “Tandy Corporation later bought the retail division of Clarke and Clarke,” her 1993 In Memoriam notice says (Fall 1993, page 5). A 1964 Annual Meeting report gives the buyout a face: guest speaker Garn Pratt, “known to most members through association with Clarke and Clarke Leathers,” opened his own Barrie hobby store, Garnet's Hobbies, once “Tandy Leather Company bought out Clarke & Clarke's” (Spring 1964, page 1).
Tandy Leather
Tandy's own name appears in the newsletter mostly after it had absorbed Clarke and Clarke's retail trade, and mostly as a source of patterns and technique sheets reprinted for members rather than as an advertiser in its own right — a 1974 Tandy “Ideas For Leather Projects” pattern reprinted decades later (Fall 2020, page 8.), a 1970 Tandy Apache boot pattern likewise (Summer 2019, page 3.), and, in 2017, Tandy Leather’s Bradley Trauzzi donating a Euro Veg Hide as a prize from a Mississauga address (Spring 2017, page 12.).
Lewiscraft, Toronto — Lewis Craft Supplies Ltd.
Lewiscraft traded through the 1950s as Lewis Craft Supplies Ltd., a founding Sustaining Member (September 1951, page 11) with stores in Toronto and Winnipeg: “Quality Leather Supplies and Personalized Service” ran the standing advertisement, offering to “Air Mail… pamphlets showing the wide variety of leathers and tooling supplies” (December 1951, page 11; repeated March 1952, page 10). The firm also donated C.N.E. competition prize credit notes for years running (Spring 1956, page 5), including the 1954 prize Margaret Lancaster won for “work neither tooled nor carved” (Fall 1954, page 6). A 1995 member profile traces the name's origin: Ed R. Lewis's son Fred “started a leathercraft section for the company which later became Lewiscraft” (Summer 1995, page 4).
Garnett Dyes and Finishes
Garnett Company of Toronto donated coloring-technique prizes to the Canadian Handicrafts Guild competition as early as 1956 (Fall 1956, page 8) and was still being written up by name decades on: a 1991 members' article, “Difficulty in Dyeing Your Hand Made Leather Articles,” recommends Garnett Dyes to teachers, experienced crafters, occupational therapists and beginners alike, with two Toronto Branch members' phone numbers given for information (Winter 1991, page 2). Newsletters as late as 2005–2014 recall Garnett Dyes as a name “known only to the older set of CSCL leather crafters” by then (Winter 2013, page 2.).
Birt Saddlery, Winnipeg
The Birt Saddlery Co. Ltd. of Winnipeg, another founding Sustaining Member (September 1951, page 11), ran a standing advertisement for its “Finest assortment of Beautiful Leathers, plus all leather craft tools, accessories and ‘Books of Instruction’” (September 1951, page 9; repeated December 1951 page 10 and March 1952 page 9) —.
Mumart — the Society's own Treasurer's trade name
Mumart was not an outside supplier but the registered trade name of Robert (Bob) Muma, a Charter Member and the Society's Treasurer “since its formation nearly three years ago” — by 1952 he had spent six years in business under the Mumart name, “offering custom bookbinding and general leathercraft products” and publishing the Mumart Leathercraft Designs (Fall 1952, page 12). Members were still being trained “under Robert Muma” and awarded Mumart Studios certificates of merit as late as the mid-1950s, per a member's own recollection printed in the Society's 2022 newsletter, page 4, and his son Walter maintained a Mumart website into the 2000s (Fall 2008, pages 2-3.).
Ottawa Valley Leathercraft Studios, Ottawa
Ottawa Valley Leathercraft Studios was run by the Society's own first President, Deane H. Russell, who “resigned from the Dominion Civil Service after 12 years to undertake full-time management” of the Studios in 1948, two years before founding the Society (December 1951, page 9; Winter 1992, page 4). Its 1951 advertisement offers to supply “fine craft leathers, selected leatherworking tools and accessories,” instruction “for beginners, advanced students and teachers,” and custom design of “original, fine handcrafted leathergoods” from 116 O'Connor Street (September 1951, page 10) — the same address the first newsletter itself was edited from. The Studios also donated C.N.E. prize credit notes for original design (Fall 1954, page 6; Spring 1956, page 5).
The Studio of Leather Carving — D.W. MacKinnon
The Studio of Leather Carving, another one-man Toronto business, offered “Individual instruction in elementary and advanced leather carving” and “custom designing & patterns — limited enrolment” under D.W. MacKinnon, 6 Irwin Street (September 1951, page 9; repeated December 1951 page 12, March 1952 page 9, and Summer 1952 page 10). MacKinnon wrote at least one instructional article for the newsletter himself, “Leather Plaque Carving” (June 1952 issue), later reprinted in full when “Fred Brown asked the editors to reprint this article when there wasn't any articles available to complete an issue” (Winter 1994, page 4), and is remembered in a 1996 member tribute among the “early CSCL workers” a founding member “knew and admired” (Spring 1996, page 5).
Capital Findings & Leather, Toronto
Capital Findings, an advertiser since 1954, donated a hand-stitching gift certificate and grab bag at the 1996 Annual Meeting, thanked by name to “Kel Rekuta of Capital Findings of Toronto” (Summer 1996, page 2), and gave its own name to a standing prize, the Capital Findings Award for Hand-Stitched Leather, first recorded that same year going to David Windeyer for a bottle (Summer 1996, pages 3 and 6). A 2006 member's recollection places the firm decades earlier still, selling chrome-tanned leather to a curriculum-development teacher in the late 1970s (Spring 2006, page 9).
Not every advertiser is here. These nine — with Tandy, which enters the story by buying one of them — are the firms that recur: named more than once, across more than one year, in the newsletter's own advertisements, prize donations or member recollections.
The Sustaining Members, 1951–2017
A Sustaining Member was a firm rather than a person: a supplier, tanner or dealer that paid the Society's business subscription and was thanked by name in the newsletter. The Society never kept a running roll of them, so what follows is not one list but every list found in the newsletters, year by year, from the first newsletter of September 1951 to the autumn of 2017. Each firm is given in the spelling of the page it is taken from, which is not always the same twice: Wickett & Craig Co Ltd in 1951 is Wickett and Craig Ltd in 1952, and Capitol Findings in 1978 and 1983 is Capital Findings by 1997. Where a page prints a town, it is given; where it prints none, the column is left empty rather than filled in from another year.
| Year | The firm, in that year's own spelling | Place, as printed | Named in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Bedford Fine Leathers Ltd | Vancouver | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | The Birt Saddlery Co Ltd | Winnipeg | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Walter E Charron & Son | Montreal | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Clarke & Clarke Leathers | Barrie | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Craftlace Limited | Montreal | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | A Davis & Son Limited | Kingston | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | King Brothers Leather Company Limited | Whitby | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Lewis Craft Supplies Ltd | Toronto | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Ottawa Valley Leathercraft Studios | Ottawa | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Riley's Hobby Service | Hamilton | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1951 | Wickett & Craig Co Ltd | Toronto | September 1951, page 11 |
| 1952 | Bedford Fine Leathers Limited | Vancouver | Fall 1952, page 5 |
| 1952 | The Birt Saddlery Company Ltd | Winnipeg | Fall 1952, page 5 |
| 1952 | The Lang Tanning Company Ltd | Kitchener | Fall 1952, page 5 |
| 1952 | Ottawa Valley Leathercraft Studios | Ottawa | Fall 1952, page 5 |
| 1952 | Wickett and Craig Ltd | Toronto | Fall 1952, page 5 |
| 1978 | Capitol Findings and Leather Ltd | Toronto | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | Craft Training School | St John's, Nfld | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | Earthly Goods Reg'd | Pointe Claire | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | The Leather Warehouse Ltd | Toronto | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | Lewiscraft (Div. of Gerry Lewis Ltd) | Agincourt | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | Liberated Leatherworks | Seaforth | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | Moore-Pearsall Leathers Ltd | Toronto | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1978 | Tandy Leather Co. of Canada Ltd | Barrie | Summer 1978, page 8 |
| 1983 | Capitol Findings and Leathers Ltd | Toronto | Fall 1983, page 12 |
| 1983 | Moore Pearsall Leathers Ltd | Toronto | Fall 1983, page 12 |
| 1983 | The Leather Warehouse | Toronto | Fall 1983, page 12 |
| 1992 | Garnett Dyes Co. | — | Summer 1992, page 7 |
| 1992 | Tandy Leather Co. | — | Summer 1992, page 7 |
| 1992 | Moore-Pearsall Co. | — | Summer 1992, page 7 |
| 1997 | Tandy Leather | — | Summer 1997, page 6 |
| 1997 | Capital Findings | — | Summer 1997, page 6 |
| 1997 | Moore-Pearsall Leathers | — | Summer 1997, page 6 |
| 1997 | Tundra Leather | — | Summer 1997, page 6 |
| 1998 | Tandycrafts | Barrie | Fall 1998, page 4 |
| 2000 | Tandy Leather of Canada | — | Spring–Summer 2000, page 6 |
| 2000 | Moore-Pearsall Leather Company | — | Spring–Summer 2000, page 6 |
| 2000 | Tundra Leather | — | Spring–Summer 2000, page 6 |
| 2005 | Tandy Leather Factory | Ontario and Manitoba | Summer 2005, page 9 |
| 2005 | Moore-Pearsall Leathers Limited | Toronto | Summer 2005, page 9 |
| 2006 | Capricorn Leather | Caledon | Spring 2006, page 4 |
| 2006 | Zelikovitz Leathers & Shoe Findings | Ottawa | Spring 2006, page 4 |
| 2010 | Tundra Leather | — | Fall 2010, page 11 |
| 2010 | Moore-Pearsall Leather Company | — | Fall 2010, page 11 |
| 2010 | Tandy Leather Factory | — | Fall 2010, page 11 |
| 2017 | Exotic Leather Products Inc., named with Barry Archer | Mississauga | Fall 2017, page 3 |
| 2017 | Sergey Neskromnyi | — | Fall 2017, page 3 |
What the pages say, where the wording matters
1951. The eleven firms are set one to a line in a stepped cascade under a calligraphic heading on the last page of the Society's first newsletter. They are the founding Sustaining Members, and four of the eleven are described from the trade’s side in The suppliers and advertisers.
1952. The Executive thanks “the following new Sustaining Members for the coming active season”, but four of the five had already been named in 1951 — Bedford, Birt, Ottawa Valley and Wickett and Craig — so “new” there reads as for the new season rather than newly joined. Only The Lang Tanning Company Ltd of Kitchener is new to the list. The year is recorded and the paper's own word left as it stands.
1983. This is the one year where no page calls the firms Sustaining Members in a list of its own. Three are given under the heading “LEATHER SOURCES”, and the notice then says: “These three companys have served most of the C.S.C.L. members over the past years with care and courtesy, and are sustaining members of the C.S.C.L.” The sentence is the authority for the year, and it is quoted here rather than turned into a membership list.
1992. The three are counted in the membership report — “Sustaining Members: 3 Members” — rather than thanked, which is why the year can be given exactly.
1997. The four are named through the people who gave: Doug Black and Kevin Lougheed of Tandy Leather, Kel Rekuta of Capital Findings, Richard Pearsall of Moore-Pearsall Leathers, and Peter Grove of Tundra Leather. “Our Sustaining members are the life blood of our craft,” the report adds.
1998. Tandycrafts of Barrie is named in an aside about the members' quilt — “another, Tandycrafts, Barrie, should be there too” — and is counted here on the strength of the word “sustaining members” in the same sentence.
2005 and 2010. The firms appear as a “Sustaining Members” sidebar of business-card advertisements beside the members' notices, with their own published trade addresses, which stand as printed.
2017. Two are welcomed as new Sustaining members in the autumn issue (Fall 2017, page 3). Their telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and postal code are withheld, as they are on every paper of 2011 or later; the firm's own name and town are its published trade details and stand.
One list that looks as though it belongs here does not. Spring 2017 prints “Sustaining Members Donations”, naming firms and members who gave prizes at that year's convention. Giving a prize is not the same claim as holding the membership that year, so those names are not listed above.
Written from the newsletter's own advertisement pages and the articles that mention these firms, 1951–1996 — not from a single document. Every claim below names the issue and page it comes from. The Society's first Sustaining Members, thanked by name in the very first newsletter, are listed in How the Society started; this account follows nine of those firms, and two later ones, forward through the decades the newsletter kept advertising and writing about them. Compiled from the Society's own newsletters. Every year above is taken from the page named beside it and read there; no firm is carried forward from one year to the next. The trade as the newsletter advertised it — who the firms were, and what became of them — is told in The suppliers and advertisers, above.
