artisan

I did some poking around online and found the Southern Folklife Collection out of UNC: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Southern_Highland_Handicraft_Guild.html
(if you scroll down and click on a subject heading you will be brought to a list of books on the subject which you could then look for in your local library)--this might be able to get you started looking for a particular craft that was phased out by the way of industrialization.

You might also want to search your local catalog for the subjects that are listed on the link above, or for:
handicraft--united states
decorative arts--united states
folk art--united states

It also looks like there are more resources that may be of help on the Southern Highland Craft Guild website: http://www.southernhighlandguild.org/event.php?event_all=1&event_type_ID=7

Hope that this is helpful!