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In this recording Carroll Shirley interviews her mother, Nellie Collins Smith, and her uncle, James Chafin about constructing and using homemade brooms and mops. Chafin discusses making brooms out of sage brush or cane brush including cutting the brush, removing pollen, binding it, and trimming it to create a broom used for sweeping. Chafin learned the craft from observing older generations and makes these brooms as a hobby for friends, neighbors, and relatives because they are now primarily used for decoration or as antiques. Nellie Smith learned how to make mops out of old clothes from her mother. The mops were made by wrapping old clothes around a tree limb to create a mop head. She notes that her mother would reuse buttons from old clothes for other purposes, and that the mops would usually last for a few cleanings because the floors were rough. *For a more complete description, please request the full transcript.
James Melton Chafin (1918-1997) was born in Smyrna, Georgia. He married Ivy Mae Collins (1921-2007) in 1939; they lived in Fulton County and had a son and a daughter. He worked as a mechanical researcher at Auto Solar Company and registered for the United States Armed forces draft in 1941. Nellie Collins Smith (1917-1999) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and had eight siblings. Her family moved outside of Atlanta to Bolton Rd., where she worked in a mill. She married Emmett Smith (1918-1990) in approximately 1939; they had one son and one daughter, Carroll Smith Shirley, and later moved to Cobb County.
CARROLL: Alright -- Will you tell me your name, please`? CHAFIN : James -- James Chafin. CARROLL: And -- what is your age? CHAFIN: Fifty-one. CARROLL: Now, where were you born, Uncle J. M.? CHAFIN: Fulton County -- Georgia. CARROLL: And, I guess you grew up there too--didn't you? CHAFIN: Uh-uh. CARROLL: Will you tell me your way of life 'when you were growing up? CHAFIN: Well, -- little rugged. Not too much money to spend. Uh...nickel's worth of candy was a big deal in those days. CARROLL: And, -- uh -- could. you tell me your, uh, occupation now? CHAFIN: Mechanical research engineer (for Auto Soler. CARROLL: Alright, Uncle J. N., what is this that you call this broom? -- what's its name? CHAFIN: Well, I call it a broom, sage broom -- a house or a yard broom. Some some, -- some people make them out of straw, some, -- some make them out of, uh, cane brush, small cane brush. Mostly they use those in the yard though. But this one was made, we use it in the yard of in the house. CARROLL: Will you go through step by step how you made it, please, and give all the little details? CHAFIN : Well -- of course in the fall when they are full grown, you cut it and cut it off close to the ground, and then shake all the pollen off, an... uh...then, uh...bind it up with a good strong cord, and then...then trim it up, and there's your broom. CARROLL: Uh...what's the purpose of this, just to...just to sweep? CHAFIN: Well, you see you can, you can use it for swepin', course these days it's used mostly for decoration -- antique. CARROLL: What's the history of this as you know? Did--you learn it from someone? CHAFIN: Well, jus' watchin' the old folks when I was a boy...just watchin' them make 'em. I've seen several made, and I just made a few around, jus' for people to look at. CARROLL: Do you know anybody else who makes them besides yourself? CHAFIN: N...not that I know .of. CAROLL: Do you do this full-time as a full-time craftsman or do you do it just for yourself? CHAFIN: Well, jus' as a hobby. Just for the friends, neighbors, relatives. CARROLL: OK, thank you. [00:03:00] CARROLL: Alright, what is your name please? SMITH: My name is Nellie Smith. CARROLL: And how old are you? SMITH: I'm fifty--three years old. CARROLL: Now what is this you're making? SMITH: I'm' a makin' a mop, like my mother use to make, when I uh was a young girl, and the -- when she would scrub, she would take this and wipe up the water that was left on the floor. So that's why, uh...the way that she made 'em to do that with. CARROLL: What are you makin' it out of? SMITH: I'm makin' it out of old clothes...and we always take the buttons off of the clothes to where you can use them for other thangs. In makin' a dress, and uh and she never wasted a button or anythang that could be used over. CARROLL: What is the handle? SMITH: It is a stick outa' -- off of a tree, it's a tree limb. CARROLL: Is this the only purpose you know for this? SMITH: Well, that's the only purpose that I know of for myself, just seem' her do it when I wuz a child. CARROLL: Do you know any other names for it besides just a mop? SMITH: No I don't. I uh -- that's all that I can remember of her, uh...doing with it wuz jus' to wipe up after she, uh, scrubbed the floor. CARROLL: In other words, you just wipe up the water with it, and you wouldn't scrub with it-- you'd use a scrub brush? Smith: Oh, you could, uh, use it to get up spills an' things, a mess that was on the floor. You could put it in soapy water and wipe it up just like you'd do an everyday ,mop now. CARROLL: How many, uh, layers would you put around it?
A full transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access.
Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.
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