About the Film
Harvey Ward, age 87, carves beautiful grained shovels with a double edged axe.
Jack: “After directing “With These Hands: The Rebirth of the American Craftsman” for ABC and Johnson Wax, it won a blue ribbon blue ribbon at the American Film Festival. The New York State Council on the Arts saw that and asked if I’d do a picture about New York State craftsmen. I was writing “Portraits of Our Vanishing Inheritance” after seeing a handmade wooden shovel in an small upstate museum. That’s when I connected with Harvey Ward. I drove out to Sidney, NY and saw old, bent, tough Harvey standing on a pile of wood chips, holding a huge axe. I knew I had the picture at that moment. The NEH, the NY Council and some others came on board and “Inheritance” resulted.”
