Decorative arts make more sense in their historical and social settings than they do in the splendid isolation of museum displays. Tom Googerty's peculiar workplace helped shape his art because it largely insulated him from market forces and critics' jibes. His forge shop was not part of the malingering ISR contract labor system, so none of its products were for sale. Since there was no commerce in ISR ironwork it had no ascertainable cash value. Both literally and figuratively priceless, the products of Googerty's shop were peculiarly pure art, valuable only for the intangible pleasures they gave to those who made and later enjoyed them.

If material conditions affected Googerty's creative output, artistic fashion helped shape his style. His time, place, and taste all put him squarely within the genre called Arts and Crafts. English in origin, Arts and Crafts was less a coherent movement than a set of widely shared attitudes toward art and life. It gained momentum in the late 1880s and quickly spread to the United States.

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