William H. (William Harrison) Varnum

William H. Varnum, fully listed in library records as William H. (William Harrison) Varnum (1878–1946), was an American writer and educator associated with industrial arts and design instruction. He is best known for Industrial Arts Design (1916), a textbook aimed at students, teachers, and craftspeople.

The book was written as a practical guide rather than a purely theoretical one. In its own prefatory material and catalog descriptions, it is presented as a handbook for use in high schools, normal schools, colleges, and workshops, with lessons tied to materials such as wood, clay, and metals. Other works linked to him in library catalogs include Creative Design in Furniture: Wood, Metal, Glass, and Plastics and Standards in Manual Arts, Drawing and Design; he was also credited as editor of Plastics, Problems and Processes.

While detailed biographical information about his personal life is not easy to confirm from the sources found here, his published work shows a clear interest in joining design, craft, and teaching practice. His reputation today rests mainly on those instructional books, which remain preserved in major digital libraries and public-domain collections.