This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Nineteen. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is to come.
The subscription window that includes Issue Nineteen is open now.
To get Issue Nineteen when it ships in early September, you can sign up for a subscription here. If you aren’t sure about your subscription status, you can reach out to Grace at info@mortiseandtenonmag.com. Keep in mind though, if you are set to auto-renew, you never have to worry about getting the next issue of Mortise & Tenon. Issue Eighteen is coming your way soon!
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Chris Havey – “Cheating Entropy”
If you do historic preservation or architectural restoration in northern New England, chances are you’ve become familiar with the name Chris Havey. Although he doesn’t have a storefront or website, he is the premier architectural salvage expert in the region, and has provided resources, expertise, and materials for scores of projects and building renewals. Having worked on countless structures, Havey knows his stuff like no one else. And his stored collection of doors, windows, hardware, and architectural elements is singularly impressive.
In Issue Nineteen, M&T editors Joshua Klein and Michael Updegraff caught up with Havey as he worked on dismantling the timber frame of a general store in central Maine. Through the story of that place and the collection of antiques that it contained, the three had a fascinating conversation covering a whole host of topics, ranging from the dwindling antiques market to spectacular barn finds to the highs and lows of rescuing historic structures or watching them demolished.
“There’s this force in the universe – entropy – that is so much more powerful than man,” Havey says. “And it wants everything to go back to dirt. Sometimes, miraculously, in spite of all odds, that doesn’t happen and things are preserved for a while.” He sees his life’s work as a pushing against that force of decay, of holding onto something valuable that can be passed on to the next generation instead of being lost to the dumpster of time.
Subscribe now to reserve your copy of Issue Nineteen.