The cuffs were designed to be worn by butchers from wrist to below the elbow to prevent slicing their arms while cutting meat.
Pictured is a woven rattan cuff worn by “J.V.” Kieslich, who started Kieslich’s Market in 1911 on Ward Street, Burlington, and moved to its long-time home at 203 North Avenue in 1915. The market was an integral part of what was then a heavily German neighborhood and was known for its meat –– especially family-made sausages, as well as the family’s sauerkraut. Son Albert took over when his father died, and he wore leather butcher cuffs too. Later Albert’s son Dick ran the market until it was sold in 1983. The store closed permanently in 1987.
Following Dick’s death in 2016, his sister, Sister Jacqueline Marie Kieslich (Sr. Marie), RSM (now deceased) donated a collection of the store’s sales flyers and ads plus other family history materials to UVM’s Silver Special Collections. The Richard L. Kieslich Collection has not yet been processed, but there is a good preliminary list of contents, according to the UVM Special Collections Librarian, Prudence Doherty.
