tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87207687833355582632024-03-14T04:09:31.866-04:00Alice NewsTales from the collection at The Alice T. Miner MuseumEllen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-29320446435228367802021-08-26T11:49:00.000-04:002021-08-26T11:49:03.340-04:00Conserving the Collection: Ceramic Repair Techniques <p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>This summer we have been joined at the Alice by Adelaide Steinfeld, the first recipient of the Burke Scholarship established in honor of long-time museum board members Joseph and Joan Burke. Adie has been dividing her time between the Alice and Miner Institute, working on a variety of archival and collections-related projects. During a day spent cleaning part of the ceramics collections, she became interested in the history of ceramic repair techniques. This blog post is the result of her research!</i></span></span></p><p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJtO460tIRfoSs1NoRApVl0zxTznW6haFn_0iURzshYyh5n6gEzqqDpBdyYUjviDzaXIpSH78YMNaicGesyyB0guHN8fzZdqkbk7ELx94zMgOxWskMNJO1g9xcwCfSXGsHGtXLDgNGEg/s2048/E9AE0D2B-60D5-4AF3-A1B9-1C906FDCB02F_1_201_a.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQJtO460tIRfoSs1NoRApVl0zxTznW6haFn_0iURzshYyh5n6gEzqqDpBdyYUjviDzaXIpSH78YMNaicGesyyB0guHN8fzZdqkbk7ELx94zMgOxWskMNJO1g9xcwCfSXGsHGtXLDgNGEg/s320/E9AE0D2B-60D5-4AF3-A1B9-1C906FDCB02F_1_201_a.heic" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Adie cleaning a very dusty tureen lid</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Alice’s Ceramics Collection</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alice T. Miner’s antique collection began with ceramics. During her time collecting in the early 20th century Alice was able to acquire a large and varied collection of mostly English and French pottery dating from the late 18th to mid 20th centuries. Throughout her collection we can see evidence of the lives these pieces led. Several have cracks and chips, in some cases even whole pieces have broken off. There is also evidence of past conservation treatments to repair this wear and tear. We can see this in fragments that have been glued together, sections of loss that have been replaced, and what appear to be staples joining broken pieces together. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5d815f5f-7fff-08df-b1ed-bbdc3791ebc9"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Repairing Ceramics</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As ceramics are often utilitarian objects, it is almost inevitable that throughout their lifetime they will incur damages from consistent use. Ceramics are a brittle media that is mainly susceptible to temperature changes and breaking from being dropped or mishandled. Likely for as long as people have been using ceramics, they have been repairing them. The methods that evolved for doing so were carried out both by specialized repairers, known as China-menders, as well as at the home by servants or housemaids. Repair techniques would vary depending upon the function and aesthetic value of the object. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGphamuPeO0PEFDPBEpz_z_baTI09IJQqQx18MObZrn5kAtpF11iWtEOpu4w0O15DKp5PqSHpwEr6w4Zr4UIx4Idp6XjmkhcOB7g-3vXoAew59H46RJiqVvF0VxsIb4xVQzwKKLg0auag/s960/8.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGphamuPeO0PEFDPBEpz_z_baTI09IJQqQx18MObZrn5kAtpF11iWtEOpu4w0O15DKp5PqSHpwEr6w4Zr4UIx4Idp6XjmkhcOB7g-3vXoAew59H46RJiqVvF0VxsIb4xVQzwKKLg0auag/w240-h320/8.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Mug. Tan slipware with brown spots, ca. 1810.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51jDg1QGJAZx89SlMOsnyruYPKzpgLt8usDQ3eALYsZfCdtaQsfV5R2L1iJs4bLvrdIZXEEIR8NCOrL7iKjZ3QG2lnlkFTch7pwByRLQgvn9d5JhAXa05TJKWMUEp40pD9LultxPpaUE/s960/9.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51jDg1QGJAZx89SlMOsnyruYPKzpgLt8usDQ3eALYsZfCdtaQsfV5R2L1iJs4bLvrdIZXEEIR8NCOrL7iKjZ3QG2lnlkFTch7pwByRLQgvn9d5JhAXa05TJKWMUEp40pD9LultxPpaUE/w240-h320/9.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Detail of chip in mug, was likely never repaired as <br />the object would have still been fully functional. <br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0dAeDtSzjiaDoqq2Gep3gOBSGQb8B9puezIG3g1nhCWJ9ewZYX2bcxbwI34elkMplzFHFzzT9opahzKw4JfohezaBY7FQ24LR-PbrSV14_qEzyonSxo6DGY_b-t8UMfwid0yuay4G0M/s960/15.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0dAeDtSzjiaDoqq2Gep3gOBSGQb8B9puezIG3g1nhCWJ9ewZYX2bcxbwI34elkMplzFHFzzT9opahzKw4JfohezaBY7FQ24LR-PbrSV14_qEzyonSxo6DGY_b-t8UMfwid0yuay4G0M/w240-h320/15.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Pair of Vases. White with painted floral reserves, foliate <br />and floral motifs in relief and decorated in <br />blue, green, and gilt, ca. 1850.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtRIj0tOqQY7UDqFM_F6hlLgSMk3W9XbW8ZpxpNAEVbSWlnZCRQfQ9FNzmiDyggFyNqyRwwVcHGJ9g0NwsUBVbWsIrQYqmrLMHVF93tmiKWRDnORrkEQWj3IXL0EfnNQ0xpf8rA6okvo/s960/13.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtRIj0tOqQY7UDqFM_F6hlLgSMk3W9XbW8ZpxpNAEVbSWlnZCRQfQ9FNzmiDyggFyNqyRwwVcHGJ9g0NwsUBVbWsIrQYqmrLMHVF93tmiKWRDnORrkEQWj3IXL0EfnNQ0xpf8rA6okvo/w240-h320/13.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Detail of vase. This was primarily a decorative object that has been repaired with an unknown fill. The fill appears to be dark grey and there is a large piece missing at the corner. <br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Joining Broken Pieces</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most common type of repair needed for ceramics is the joining of broken pieces after a break has occurred. Methods for joining pieces of pottery have been around since we started making pottery and involve the use of either an adhesive or mechanical technique.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prior to the early 20th century synthetic adhesives were not stable or widely accessible. As a result people mainly relied on natural adhesives such as starch pastes, natural gums, resins, protein binders, beeswax, and fats (animal glue). Because these materials would often be combined together and due to their poor aging, it is difficult to analyze the organic materials that have been used in past treatments. A few inorganic materials may have been used as adhesives as well, including Portland cement, waterglass, and sulfur. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Due to the instability of these adhesives, mechanical methods to repair ceramics have been in use since antiquity. There are three main techniques used: tying, lacing, and riveting. Tying, much like the name implies, uses a binding (metal, reed, or twine) to tie around the two broken pieces and secure them. Lacing and riveting are very similar techniques. For lacing holes would be drilled through the ceramic and then a wire would be threaded through, joining the two pieces. Riveting, likewise drills holes into the ceramic, though not all the way through. A piece of metal would then be used to join the two halves together--giving the appearance of staples. Riveting was common in China by the 17th century and had spread to Europe by the 19th century.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBINiUTLXe_mLHjV85wXAynC0UReIy7ACEWGwuraFFxjf7xFNLmICSqk9fwLyemq2PTNZal12OK5RAUIAfHXrGqc19V4son8_h0oR_sEePWgEfqAMXuwMPyCqEdC8azc_J8kFPzI1Av64/s960/6.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBINiUTLXe_mLHjV85wXAynC0UReIy7ACEWGwuraFFxjf7xFNLmICSqk9fwLyemq2PTNZal12OK5RAUIAfHXrGqc19V4son8_h0oR_sEePWgEfqAMXuwMPyCqEdC8azc_J8kFPzI1Av64/w240-h320/6.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Tureen. Chinese export porcelain, white orange peel <br />glaze with blue and gilt borders and scenic reserves <br />in sepia, early 19th century.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqG2Av_gp2tW5WaUIVMpj_oORxgWlOFkUiLW7QK6lBxGAUmfhWHLUG-dRv0qgERf-72G5UWWjZY8KZwj0j84OSbrah9PNvFyQ21iu8kScyXt-ICQLc60BjkZZzmCyQFIIvf3qYeyOCFxE/s960/7.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqG2Av_gp2tW5WaUIVMpj_oORxgWlOFkUiLW7QK6lBxGAUmfhWHLUG-dRv0qgERf-72G5UWWjZY8KZwj0j84OSbrah9PNvFyQ21iu8kScyXt-ICQLc60BjkZZzmCyQFIIvf3qYeyOCFxE/w240-h320/7.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Detail of tureen showing rivets and metals <br />visible on the exterior.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fills</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Often when a ceramic breaks it will have some loss, either in the form of chips or a larger missing piece, that require the addition of a fill material in order to be fully repaired. If these losses were large enough they would often be filled with other ceramic fragments. Other times we see that a whole part has been replaced with a newly fired and glazed addition. In both of these cases we need an additional material to adhere either the new pottery fragment or the replacement to the original vessel. Often this comes in the form of one of the adhesives mentioned above. For example animal glue would have been used in excess along with a pigment to produce a fill that was quite strong. Wax that was pigmented and mixed with resin forms a durable fill, but ages very poorly. Clay could be used as a fill, with either shellac or animal glue acting as an additive. A low firing glaze could also serve this purpose, though this has to be done very carefully in order to avoid damaging the original ceramic. Cement can also be seen but it causes the migration of salts to the ceramic, therefore degrading the original object. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWsTdvo8lKDJmtZVc3jCEucQeygXVsOZcf401ZBYRnIotBjQiKxIHLbvWD-DfuMJ3sGPAJ9fbIhAcvRVVHgAHfFyl-mjU_vzvebT956dcmz8DgFqa9N7iujAqxP-TrQaI98s2uVJ8AHMU/s960/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWsTdvo8lKDJmtZVc3jCEucQeygXVsOZcf401ZBYRnIotBjQiKxIHLbvWD-DfuMJ3sGPAJ9fbIhAcvRVVHgAHfFyl-mjU_vzvebT956dcmz8DgFqa9N7iujAqxP-TrQaI98s2uVJ8AHMU/w240-h320/1.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Tureen. Blue transfer print, Beauties of America: <br />Boston Alms house (body)and Cambridge College (lid). <br />John Ridgway, English, ca. 1825.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7-dsu4qMztfpes4Ec6rYqzRCE8zA8xkgT-JWJdSNaFexFV-uaOrEEasP7oZohXRDdVHIQCDRiYV-WbmEmi-eVR-ovPthnar_EwwHb7kmCSoy6uIW2LqJW0HMxgbFrPJ3EF6AH_W5JQY/s960/2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7-dsu4qMztfpes4Ec6rYqzRCE8zA8xkgT-JWJdSNaFexFV-uaOrEEasP7oZohXRDdVHIQCDRiYV-WbmEmi-eVR-ovPthnar_EwwHb7kmCSoy6uIW2LqJW0HMxgbFrPJ3EF6AH_W5JQY/w240-h320/2.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Detail of tureen lid showing rivets and metal bars <br />joining the broken pieces</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYr3oeIvwOA4TJdJvNm_AQPW4piacxTHuKc6WJevebG-6cXWNB7Vu8QpqJunl-bKSxxSlercEeiq7cUqKzB3Rw_91k9OcLkVd18xJJTDTwPaHJL-yeWnnB2y8-eX33hC7ECet-C13fvgA/s960/14.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYr3oeIvwOA4TJdJvNm_AQPW4piacxTHuKc6WJevebG-6cXWNB7Vu8QpqJunl-bKSxxSlercEeiq7cUqKzB3Rw_91k9OcLkVd18xJJTDTwPaHJL-yeWnnB2y8-eX33hC7ECet-C13fvgA/w240-h320/14.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Detail of tureen handle that appears to be a <br />replacement, with a matte finish and metal pegs <br />that have been used to attach it.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMPfEJwx6E-jRUYfyO9HGmMNl54hygEqtgia5gf7jet0GgAstrcPC5UJCgOwn4aKI_GCh4oWMZCI3jHlVMtXi1VmCw9-8Kw_Ah9MLLMcXGwoMEnPyZmm7f0Btv6NT9x35936bM3M-J-w/s960/4.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMPfEJwx6E-jRUYfyO9HGmMNl54hygEqtgia5gf7jet0GgAstrcPC5UJCgOwn4aKI_GCh4oWMZCI3jHlVMtXi1VmCw9-8Kw_Ah9MLLMcXGwoMEnPyZmm7f0Btv6NT9x35936bM3M-J-w/w240-h320/4.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Teapot. Blue transfer print, floral pattern, ca. 1825.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0Z1lP6CN1VtsHU3aoX-qFRM71IBhCecHg_rb0UKZmfCvCeNjc72EfJo5D_hQ5oROHrDIHkzTlfnDoeSDXx5jE7e4Dpp93Nz_0s23o4WFeetyjX_FQpnVqsNfxrlkUnocDJYVEoxc0tQ/s960/5.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0Z1lP6CN1VtsHU3aoX-qFRM71IBhCecHg_rb0UKZmfCvCeNjc72EfJo5D_hQ5oROHrDIHkzTlfnDoeSDXx5jE7e4Dpp93Nz_0s23o4WFeetyjX_FQpnVqsNfxrlkUnocDJYVEoxc0tQ/w240-h320/5.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Teapot lid showing dark blue green fill material <br />used to repair a loss.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finishes</span><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Depending on the ultimate purpose of the repair</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">aesthetic or functional</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the ceramic repair might be left unfinished or painted over to match the original finish. Most common paints and coatings were shellac with pigment as they would harden and produce a glaze-like finish. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contemporary Repairs</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the 1930s there was somewhat of a revolution in the types of adhesives available as the development of modern chemistry allowed for the discovery of plastic, synthetic resin, and rubber glues. Common glues in ceramics conservation include acrylic copolymers, though in some cases epoxies are more suited to the repairs. These glues are more stable and longer lasting, and as a result ceramic repairs were able to become a lot more seamless in their appearance, often being hardly detectable. There are numerous objects throughout the collection that appear to have been repaired in this manner. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJqVXk3Dfk0o7bOkSd2vHN48K5PZeRe5zqCV8oeS_63NHab58_v87jDnedSV7nhAxbNwHBure4E0RMqKAh73lhHYKsoAyeuSSJqFnqAhDjXvqT3nCkWUmIPZxY4HrKRQW2H5RLJ5U0h70/s960/10.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJqVXk3Dfk0o7bOkSd2vHN48K5PZeRe5zqCV8oeS_63NHab58_v87jDnedSV7nhAxbNwHBure4E0RMqKAh73lhHYKsoAyeuSSJqFnqAhDjXvqT3nCkWUmIPZxY4HrKRQW2H5RLJ5U0h70/w240-h320/10.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Bowl. Mocha ware, brown stripes enclosing caterpillar<br />band in mottled blue and brown, early 19th c.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk71wDxWpPYyP43NrNLWzOwvKy7rIxdJ4UizX_jlR0-BcjY5brZpGhp-yFK7O_PXHo6WrtSzTo2TamgX0tdK_hh7KOtGgnffnFmhbrLFT1uGqvkPkgTfNv0BOAJs57SkuMnfkGeuYVgTY/s960/11.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk71wDxWpPYyP43NrNLWzOwvKy7rIxdJ4UizX_jlR0-BcjY5brZpGhp-yFK7O_PXHo6WrtSzTo2TamgX0tdK_hh7KOtGgnffnFmhbrLFT1uGqvkPkgTfNv0BOAJs57SkuMnfkGeuYVgTY/w240-h320/11.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Detail of repair on bowl. Discoloration along<br />the seam, with some staining on the surface of the ceramic. Adhesive is unknown.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Addressing Old Repairs</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The modern conservator is usually looking to make a repair that is minimally invasive, reversible, stable, and doesn’t impact the overall appearance of the object. This is often at odds with these older repair techniques which didn’t have the same aesthetic and long term goals in mind. In many cases, especially with the use of organic adhesives, they aged very poorly causing discoloration on the original object. Other fills may have caused salts to deposit on the surface of the ceramic, which can lead to fracturing and cracking down the line. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Generally, when it is possible to safely and effectively undo one of these older techniques, conservators will do so to avoid having the object degrade further. There is some debate about undoing riveting and other mechanical techniques, as they are viewed as somewhat of an art and point to the objects’ history.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-43838918424661869932019-09-17T14:24:00.000-04:002019-09-17T14:24:45.449-04:00Hollywood Comes to Plattsburgh: The Filming of Janice Meredith<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IzY3uX9chVLwWbhPXkiWIc5gfY1ihiD8HOYXDxGYSCDZ2hyWSUBJMUHt1NvjVM_HPpbASSnBYjXMSVtkU2spZemy6lOuY_llPjmvgsyyMAnQxgGUxGxELRV5h83U6UElmahSKoymXbY/s1600/Janice+Meredith+book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cover of the "Marion Davies Edition" of Janice Meredith" border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="545" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4IzY3uX9chVLwWbhPXkiWIc5gfY1ihiD8HOYXDxGYSCDZ2hyWSUBJMUHt1NvjVM_HPpbASSnBYjXMSVtkU2spZemy6lOuY_llPjmvgsyyMAnQxgGUxGxELRV5h83U6UElmahSKoymXbY/s320/Janice+Meredith+book+cover.jpg" title="" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Marion Davies Edition” of <i>Janice Meredith</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On February 26, 1924, readers of the <i>Plattsburgh Sentinel</i> opened their morning papers to find some exciting news: the movies were coming to town! Cosmopolitan Pictures, William Randolph Hearst’s film production company, had chosen Plattsburgh as the location for the filming of <i>Janice Meredith,</i> with Marion Davies in the title role. Two years earlier, Davies had appeared to great acclaim in <i>When Knighthood Was in Flower,</i> a romantic drama set in Tudor England and based on a bestselling book by Charles Major. <i>Janice Meredith,</i> a romantic drama set during the Revolutionary War and based on the 1899 bestseller by Paul Leicester Ford, seemed guaranteed to enjoy box-office success and to cement Davies’s reputation as the top female film star of the day. The setting would capitalize on a growing interest in American history as the sesquicentennial approached, and would allow the filmmakers to claim that the movie had educational as well as entertainment value.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRJd-7l6RUiYpEFefkT9EmnrMZpbEvF4o_XoMqlbtZjuzWD9jLi1-pxuYHIAinfv6_uk2jL5Ioh8Bcey-T7GqPcPeluD23e_SAssa-WrgZPtPBhWTceIbq4jPq493-C0QN9ly7I5bE7I/s1600/williamdesmondtaylornewspaper-1171x1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1171" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRJd-7l6RUiYpEFefkT9EmnrMZpbEvF4o_XoMqlbtZjuzWD9jLi1-pxuYHIAinfv6_uk2jL5Ioh8Bcey-T7GqPcPeluD23e_SAssa-WrgZPtPBhWTceIbq4jPq493-C0QN9ly7I5bE7I/s400/williamdesmondtaylornewspaper-1171x1200.jpg" width="390" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Front page of the <i>San Francisco Examiner,</i> February 3, 1922,<br />reporting on the trial of Roscoe Arbuckle and the murder of<br />William Desmond Taylor</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was important, because in 1924, the American movie industry was struggling to recover its reputation after a series of recent scandals. These included the mysterious death of director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Desmond_Taylor">William Desmond Taylor</a>, the trials of actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Arbuckle">Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle</a> for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe, and the drug-related death of leading man <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Reid">Wallace Reid</a>. Nationwide, there were calls for a boycott of Hollywood films, and there must have been many people in Plattsburgh who questioned the wisdom of inviting “motion picture people” of doubtful morals to their city. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The </span><i style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sentinel</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> hoped to reassure concerned readers that Cosmopolitan Pictures was not like other film companies. It had, the paper reported on February 29, an “editorial policy of choosing historical plays to the exclusion of sex or questionable subjects....Their pictures are always received with enthusiasm by the most discriminating audiences.” The company also “maintain[s] an efficient research department whose duty it is to carefully plan and check every scene in order to picture it historically correct.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Less than two weeks later, carpenters were already putting the finishing touches on their version of the city of Trenton, which had been constructed near the rifle range at the Plattsburgh Barracks. A writer for the <i>Daily Republican</i> marveled at the realism of the set: “From a distance it is very hard for an onlooker to distinguish whether of not it is a reality.” In fact, what appeared to be buildings of brick and stone were “nothing more than heavy cardboard, molded and painted and nailed to the framework in such a way that the onlookers are led to believe that it is a reality.” Crews were also hard at work </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">opening up the Saranac River so that it could play the role of the Delaware in a pivotal scene.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The enlisted men of the 26th Infantry, stationed at the Plattsburgh Barracks, had been recruited to fill the roles of Continental, British, and Hessian soldiers, and would be joined by an additional 400 men from Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMKtsfGhkd0bfT3iZkZvRGMc1ep_p28L7Bo1F81IHGH3D4zbaJOl2QWxowvTUtUcO3Dumr-3lN1ly2V7qkeHN9J1DMTNHpFEbE62MTwEmUMMytEO0iHmISGIMs3wNeMtqdGoRV0OPYwQE/s1600/Battle+of+Trenton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1600" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMKtsfGhkd0bfT3iZkZvRGMc1ep_p28L7Bo1F81IHGH3D4zbaJOl2QWxowvTUtUcO3Dumr-3lN1ly2V7qkeHN9J1DMTNHpFEbE62MTwEmUMMytEO0iHmISGIMs3wNeMtqdGoRV0OPYwQE/s400/Battle+of+Trenton.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Filming the Battle of Trenton at the Plattsburgh Barracks</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By that time, many of the professional actors had arrived in Plattsburgh to begin filming some of the incidental scenes. Marion Davies herself arrived on March 10, along with her “secretaries, scenario editors and other staff men,” and took up residence at the Witherill Hotel. On the afternoon of March 13, Davies visited the barracks and was made Honorary Colonel of the regiment and reviewed a parade led by the regimental band. Meanwhile, cameramen were shooting scenes at the Booth estate on the Lake Shore Road. All of this activity was leading up to the day when the Battle of Trenton would be filmed, which happened on March 15. Marion Davies did not appear, but Joseph Kilgour—playing George Washington for the fourth time in his career—“took a prominent part in the battle scene and was mounted on a white charger.” Along with the soldiers, several wives of officers at the barracks took part in this scene.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By March 26, production had largely wrapped up and the <i>Daily Press</i> took this time to reflect upon the experience. If Cosmopolitan Pictures had hoped to change the attitudes of ordinary Americans toward the film industry, it certainly seemed to have succeeded in this case. “It is a matter of regret to everyone in Plattsburgh that the stay of these motion picture people has not been longer. It has been long enough, however, to give the residents of this city an insight to the type of men and women engaged in the industry and it may be said at once that this insight has revealed nothing that was not favorable to the artists and artisans connected with this great motion picture enterprise.” The writer of the editorial observed that people tended to think that they knew movie stars, because they read and heard so much about them, but now the people of Plattsburgh would be able to base their opinions on what they actually knew. They had seen that the cast and crew “conducted themselves as ladies and gentlemen at all times,” from the leading actors and actresses “down to the humblest workman.” They had attended “strictly to their own affairs” and done their jobs with “concentrated energy, enthusiasm and singleness of purpose.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pk2FJ4Kb8bXdibqI-asguD7i2k7IqJf9bYAe-dtlwyodRplFJn-AWF_E2fdJjtBHATT5ilpYEBNWgIL8ZvsZgc2HsFKz9qcEpxnS79nBjb9ifFTV7w6NIeYbZt62Cq88PHv9Vos5jAI/s1600/Janice+Meredith+lobby+card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="750" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pk2FJ4Kb8bXdibqI-asguD7i2k7IqJf9bYAe-dtlwyodRplFJn-AWF_E2fdJjtBHATT5ilpYEBNWgIL8ZvsZgc2HsFKz9qcEpxnS79nBjb9ifFTV7w6NIeYbZt62Cq88PHv9Vos5jAI/s400/Janice+Meredith+lobby+card.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lobby Card for <i>Janice Meredith</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Normally, movies were not shown outside major cities until several months after their release. But since Plattsburgh had played such an important part in <i>Janice Meredith</i>, it was given the privilege of being the first place to show the film, less than two weeks after its premiere at the Cosmopolitan Theatre in New York. R.J. Henry, manager of the Clinton Theater, cancelled all other bookings for four days and put his orchestra to work rehearsing the musical score. To drum up additional interest in the film, “Mr. Henry is placing on display in his lobby and in several stores throughout the city photographic representations of many of the scenes in the picture, where they will be on view for the next week.” (He also had to quell rumors that moviegoers would be charged “New York prices” for the film, instead of the usual fifty cents.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYe_Elkt8pR7vUHsOXniB7lbOPlUVjUHO6ELgIMyjDxa2jO3Z3j7I3U2zcCBxbDrP-6SAvnu5FiNzRHCm7_25h2mGbusttxin7RSwSwSWuNTqvf0QWHNRhQSnQ1plMtqtrS3U-OJ1DOs/s1600/Screenshot+2019-09-17+14.14.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="760" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYe_Elkt8pR7vUHsOXniB7lbOPlUVjUHO6ELgIMyjDxa2jO3Z3j7I3U2zcCBxbDrP-6SAvnu5FiNzRHCm7_25h2mGbusttxin7RSwSwSWuNTqvf0QWHNRhQSnQ1plMtqtrS3U-OJ1DOs/s320/Screenshot+2019-09-17+14.14.14.png" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ad for <i>Janice Meredith</i> from the Plattsburgh<br /><i>Daily Republican</i>, August 29, 1924</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Janice Meredith</i> received a rave review from the <i>Daily Republican</i>. Not only was it a marvelous piece of entertainment, anchored by a brilliant performance by Marion Davies, but it was filled with “the spirit of unmistakable and sincere Americanism” that produced “a frenzy of patriotism that was positively thrilling. Cheer after cheer followed each valorous deed of the Minute Men and each bold movement for freedom. One feels after seeing Janice Meredith one has seen the most enlightening picture of American history yet produced.” With responses like this, the motion picture industry must have felt it was on the right track toward repairing its reputation. Despite the acclaim her performance received, however, Marion Davies never quite reached the level of stardom she hoped for. If she’s remembered at all today, it’s probably as the aggressively untalented opera singer loosely based on her in <i>Citizen Kane</i>. You’ll have the opportunity to see Davies on screen and judge for yourself at our free showing of <i>Janice Meredith</i> this Thursday, September 19, starting at 7:00 p.m. The movie is approximately 2 and a half hours long; there will be an intermission and ample snacks will be provided!</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-16406490047957631262018-08-31T10:00:00.000-04:002018-08-31T11:28:33.778-04:00Food Will Win the War: Recruiting an Army of Food Savers<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The state and federal agencies formed to tackle the food problem during World War I approached the issue from the perspectives of both the producer and the consumer. As we saw in our last post, the New York State Food Commission developed a variety of resources to assist farmers in increasing their crop and livestock yields, including supplying improved seed, providing assistance in pest and disease management, and helping to address the farm labor shortage. These programs were largely successful, but they were only part of the solution. Americans would also have to fundamentally change the way they cooked and ate their daily meals.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">U.S. Food Administration poster <br />urging Americans to save wheat for soldiers</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since women were responsible for purchasing and preparing almost all food consumed in the home, all food conservation programs targeted housewives. The U.S. Food Administration and the state food commissions aimed to persuade women that it was their patriotic duty to adopt wartime food-saving measures, such as wheatless and porkless days. As authorities continually emphasized, there was no <i>shortage</i> of food in the United States; it was a matter of substituting those foods that were not needed or suitable to send overseas with those that were. But Americans were accustomed to a diet that relied heavily upon meat and bread. Meat was easy to cook and it almost always tasted good; bread was cheap and accessible. Could people be persuaded that fish, eggs, and cheese were acceptable substitutes for pork and beef, and that bread made with corn, rye, oats, and barley just as good as that made from wheat?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A small army of women stepped forward to help the government with this difficult task. Since the late 19th century, (white, middle-class) women had been working to establish domestic science as a profession; they had been successful in starting domestic science and home economics departments at colleges and universities (including the New York State College of Agriculture in Ithaca) and sending their graduates forth into the world to work in high schools, settlement houses, and extension services. For many of them, World War I must have seemed like a godsend: finally they would have the opportunity to demonstrate to the wider world just how important their discipline was. The work that women did in the home affected their families, communities, and indeed, the nation—and it was essential that they do it right.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cornell Home Economics Faculty, 1914. <br />Bertha Titsworth is standing at far right.</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Home economists and experts in “scientific cookery” went to work preparing menus and recipes for wartime foods. Experimental kitchens were set up across the country to test bread recipes, hoping to find the perfect formula that would use less wheat but still be palatable and easy for the home baker to make. They figured out how to make desserts without sugar, introduced housewives to unfamiliar new ingredients like soybeans, and came up with creative ways to use leftovers. They also introduced Americans to the science of nutrition, explaining what kind of foods were necessary to good health and why. They provided assurance that the changes in diet encouraged by the Food Administration would do no harm, and in fact, eating more vegetables and less sugar would probably do everyone a lot of good. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All of this information was distributed in cookbooks, pamphlets, magazines, and newspapers, and at schools, women’s clubs, and county fairs. The Plattsburgh newspapers regularly published lists of new material on food conservation received by local public libraries, and ran columns of “Victory Menus.” Women in Clinton County also had many opportunities to learn directly from food experts. In July 1917, the <i>Plattsburgh Sentinel</i> reported that “women representing different sections of the county as well as the Grange and various women’s clubs” met at the Farm Bureau office in Plattsburgh “for the purpose of organizing a woman’s branch in farm bureau work as the result of the national campaign for thrift and economy.” Bertha E. Titsworth, extension specialist and faculty member from the department of home economics at Cornell, helped the women to develop the plan. Clinton County would be divided into 15 communities, with four demonstrations held each week. Meetings would be held in “Grange halls, churches or other public buildings,” and the demonstrations of cooking and preserving were to be done by a “trained lady specialist” provided by the state.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Advertisement from the Plattsburgh<br />Daily Republican for a bread mixer and<br />food grinder</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later that summer, the <i>Plattsburgh Daily Republican</i> printed an article (almost certainly based closely on a press release provided by the New York State Food Commission), reporting on the success of the “campaign for the enlistment of women in food conservation.” Thirty food conservation experts had been assigned to various parts of the state, “and they are not only advising housewives, but they are demonstrating conservation methods and enrolling women in the movement, with the result that a chain has been established in which the housewife in the remotest corner of the state is as active as those in the larger centers.” The offices of the home economics experts “have become bureaus of information for all questions pertaining to food and food conservation.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not surprisingly, during the summer of 1917, most of the work being done related to methods of preserving fruits and vegetables for the winter. In our next post, we’ll look more at the canning craze of 1917-18 and the related war garden movement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Food Conservation: Circular Letter Issued by the Conservation Department of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs,” <i>Plattsburgh Sentinel,</i> May 19, 1917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Food Saving in N.Y. State,”<i> Plattsburgh Daily Republican,</i> June 22, 1917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Women in Farm Bureau Work: County Organization Perfected at Meeting in This City,” <i>Plattsburgh Sentinel,</i> July 3, 1917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Women’s Aid in Food Campaign Now Being Sought in Every County of the State of New York,” <i>Plattsburgh Daily Republican,</i> August 14, 1917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Class in Cookery at Young Women’s League,” <i>Plattsburgh Sentinel,</i> October 9, 1917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Public Library Notes: New Books on Household Organization and Food Conservation,” <i>Plattsburgh Sentinel,</i> February 12, 1918.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-4564466148741489842018-08-17T10:13:00.002-04:002018-08-17T10:13:50.252-04:00Food Will Win the War: Women, Boys, and Tractors Wanted!<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On April 14, 1917, New York State Governor Charles Whitman issued a proclamation stating that the following Tuesday, April 21, would be Agricultural Mobilization Day. Whitman called upon the state’s farmers to “assemble in their respective communities, through their organizations, to hear reports on the present situation and to make definite plans for meeting, locally, the greatest food production problems that they have ever been called upon to solve.” While all New Yorkers would play a role in the production and conservation of food, it all began with farmers. As Whitman said, “The man who tills the soil and produces the food for the soldier in the field and his family at home is rendering a patriotic service, as truly as is the man who bears the brunt of battle.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Men, boys, and women were all called upon<br />to do their patriotic duty </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the first problems that the Production Bureau of the Food Commission aimed to assist the farmer with was the shortage of agricultural labor. The young men who were enlisting or being drafted into the armed forces were, in many cases, the same men who ordinarily would have been working on the farms of New York. Other men had left the country in favor of higher-paying jobs in war-related industries. The commission set up a central employment bureau to connect farmers seeking help with experienced farmhands looking for work, but it was also evident that new groups of workers would need to be recruited.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Teenage boys were the obvious first target. The Department of Education approved the release of boys age 14 and up from school attendance if they were performing farm labor (girls were also eligible, though it appears that many fewer of them took advantage of the program), and they were encouraged to register as members of the Boys’ Working Reserve (also known as the Farm Cadet Program). The State Bureau of Employment coordinated the placement of boys on farms, working with farm bureau agents and local school districts. The state agricultural schools provided basic training to the boys before they were sent out to work. The boys were supervised by school authorities, who also inspected the job sites and ensured that the workers had suitable living quarters. By September 1918, over 12,000 boys had been placed on farms throughout the state.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New York State also took the rather bold step of creating a program to enlist women farm workers. The Food Commission hired eight women farm labor specialists, whose job was not only to recruit women workers, but to convince farmers that they should hire women. Many farmers were skeptical about women’s abilities to handle agricultural labor, but the fact that they could pay them less than men undoubtedly won some of them over. Women workers had to be at least 18 years old and pass a physical examination, and they were not permitted to work more than 54 hours per week. Like the boys of the Working Reserve, they were carefully supervised, and </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">their workplaces and living quarters were inspected.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>“Girls of Cornell Farm Unit Women’s Working Reserve<br />at Work in Hay Field”</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Food Commission’s aim was to find students and women with seasonal employment who were available during the summer, and indeed, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“a large proportion of the women registered were college girls, teachers, stenographers, clerical workers, saleswomen, and a few industrial workers.”</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Women sent out to work sites in groups, and they lived together in communal housing and pooled </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">their resources to hire a cook and a supervisor. Official reports and media stories about “farmerettes” made clear that the women worked hard but also produced the impression that the experience was something like attending a particularly vigorous summer camp, with plenty of exercise, fresh air, and wholesome food. As for employers, according to the commission, even those who were skeptical at first “have become warm advocates...and have found what a woman may lack in strength is often made up in her interest and intelligence.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A Tractor School at the New York State College of Agriculture</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If human workers could not be found, farmers might turn to technological solutions to the labor problem. In 1917, most farmers in New York State still depended upon man- and horsepower, but it was becoming evident that tractors had the potential to revolutionize agriculture. One tractor could do the work of three men, each with a team of horses. The Food Commission acquired a fleet of 70 tractors, which it then rented out at reasonable rates to farmers who could not afford to purchase their own. The commission also ran tractor schools throughout the state to educate potential owners or renters on their use and maintenance. A tractor school for Clinton, St. Lawrence, and Franklin counties was held in Malone in March 1918, and there was sufficient interest in Clinton County for another one in Plattsburgh in December. By then the war was over, but it was clear that tractors were a permanent part of the agricultural landscape. The announcement for the tractor school also noted that it was open to both men and women, as “women have proven in so many ways that they can handle highly technical work.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition to addressing farm labor shortages, the Bureau of Production also provided resources for battling pests and crop diseases, supplied seeds and inspected seed corn and potatoes, and started programs to increase the production of essential commodities, particularly wheat and pork. While most of their work was directed at those who farmed for a living, they also encouraged anyone who could possibly do so to start their own gardens. Since much of this wartime garden activity overlapped with the work of the Bureau of Conservation, we’ll discuss it in more detail in our next post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“School Cadets Harvesting: State Defense Council Takes Steps to Provide Farmers with Help,” <i>Plattsburgh Daily Republican,</i> September 6, 1917.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Tractor Use Instruction: School to Be Held in This City December 16-20,” <i>Plattsburgh Daily Press,</i> November 21, 1918</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100565906"><i>Report of the New York State Food Commission for Period October 18, 1917, to July 1, 1918</i></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pam Brown, “Farming for the War,” <i>New York Archives</i> v. 11, no. 1 (Summer 2011)</span><br />
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<br />Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-37088618789074290122018-08-08T10:00:00.000-04:002018-08-29T14:30:43.468-04:00Food Will Win the War: The New York State Food Commission<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last month’s Centennial Summer Fair at Miner Institute gave us the opportunity to learn more about the history of food and farming during World War I. From large enterprises like Heart’s Delight Farm to vacant-lot city gardeners, all Americans were urged to do their patriotic duty by producing and conserving food to the best of their ability. Not only were they responsible for feeding themselves, they also had to provide for the United States army overseas and assist with food relief efforts in Europe. The United States had abundant agricultural resources, but organization was required to use them effectively. This will be the first of three blog posts exploring this topic in more depth. Here we’ll present a broad overview of the federal and state agencies created to “win the war in the kitchen.”</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A simple and direct message from the<br />U.S. Food Administration</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soon after the US declared war on Germany in April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson established the United States Food Administration and appointed Herbert Hoover as its head. Since 1914, Hoover had been directing food relief efforts in occupied Belgium and France, so he was well aware of the importance of food to national security. He also believed that it was possible to tackle the food problem through voluntary effort. Rather than imposing rationing or other government strictures, Americans could be persuaded that it was their patriotic duty to comply with the new food regulations. The Food Administration would provide resources and guidance, but it should work through existing organizations rather than create new bureaucratic structures.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In practice, the Food Administration came to rely heavily upon the states to carry its message to individuals at the local level. In New York, Governor Charles Whitman called for the creation of a Food Supply Commission for Patriotic Service in April 1917, which would immediately address some of the most pressing issues, particularly farmers’ concerns about a shortage of labor and consumers’ worries about rising food costs. Later that summer, legislation was introduced which created a new Food Commission under the direction of a three-man board. William Miner was one of the names put forward as a possible commissioner, though it’s unlikely he would have accepted, given his vehement opposition to all forms of government regulation.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Material produced by the state echoed the <br />messages sent out at the national level</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The newly-constituted New York State Food Commission began its work in October 1917, under the direction of John Mitchell, the former president of the United Mine Workers of America. Within the commission there were three main bureaus: production, transportation and distribution, and conservation, each with its own deputy director. Each division then worked with organizations at the county level to disseminate information and resources. In most places, the county farm bureaus (themselves partnerships between the state agricultural colleges and local farmers) became the vehicle for the food commission’s work. In New York City and a few other large urban centers, other organizations were found that could serve this role.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New York State presented some unique challenges when it came to setting and enacting food policies. It was primarily a rural state, with about half the population engaged in agriculture, but it was also home to the nation’s largest city, with an economically and ethnically diverse population. Policies that were good for food producers weren’t necessarily good for those who were primarily food consumers, and vice versa. There were also the needs of a vast array of other food related industries to account for—processors, shippers, wholesalers, retailers. It’s no wonder, then, that the passage of the state food control bill was a contentious process that took months to hammer out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Workers in the federal and state food bureaus recognized that food was not merely fuel. It was deeply personal and tied up with ideas about home, family, gender, and nationality. Getting people to change the way they ate—to accept “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays”—and the way they thought about food, was no easy task. In our next posts, we’ll look at the ways Hoover and his colleagues approached the food problem from two perspectives: that of the farmer and of the housewife. If food was to win the war, both parties had embrace the cause.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=yKpCAAAAIAAJ&dq=New+York+state+food+supply+commission&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Report of the New York State Food Supply Commission</a></i></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100565906">Report of the New York State Food Commission for period October 18, 1917, to July 1, 1918</a></i></span></h2>
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<i style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=X54SAAAAYAAJ&dq=editions:smMVUHxNjX0C&source=gbs_navlinks_s"><span style="font-size: small;">Annual Report of the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, 1918</span></a></i></h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-46765836917177950882018-07-28T11:33:00.000-04:002018-07-28T11:33:33.170-04:00“Seeing Is Not Enough”: World War I Battlefield Tourism<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXT7DwpiWPUcFYX_sJNXnZjKIqXu19O1HjEMzrnNPGTb1bwSm50BFo_Onb_1InDT0QTtugi-ZBXFoa8kWRrjF1THo-yokZDJNyIGUKfjXo6fyA6K_A3iai6P5gnc74i9abFN1B-4IROCU/s1600/German+Helmet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1093" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXT7DwpiWPUcFYX_sJNXnZjKIqXu19O1HjEMzrnNPGTb1bwSm50BFo_Onb_1InDT0QTtugi-ZBXFoa8kWRrjF1THo-yokZDJNyIGUKfjXo6fyA6K_A3iai6P5gnc74i9abFN1B-4IROCU/s400/German+Helmet.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">German <i>Stahlhelm</i> and postcard sent to <br />Louise and Bertha Trainer, 1921</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After an unintentionally long hiatus, the Alice News blog is back with a story inspired by our recent exhibit of World War I artifacts at the Centennial Summer Fair. Most of the war relics in the Alice’s collection were obtained by servicemen who acquired them during their time overseas. However, one battered and rusty German helmet was given to Louise and Bertha Trainer by a friend of theirs who visited the battlefields of Belgium in 1921. Emma Kindl was one of thousands of tourists who made pilgrimages to sites in France and Belgium in the years after the Great War.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While we are accustomed to the idea of battlefield tourism today, we probably tend to associate it with the visiting of sites like Civil War battlefields—places where time has removed the most obvious evidence of their violent past. It may seem strange that people were interested in visiting trenches and ruined villages in the immediate aftermath of the war. But even before the armistice, commentators were predicting that there would be a boom in battlefield tourism. The war had been such a profound and life-altering event for so many people that it seemed inevitable that they would want to witness for themselves the places whose names had become part of their vocabulary: Ypres, Vimy, Passchendaele, Verdun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another factor encouraging travel was the decision not to return the bodies of the fallen to their home countries but to bury them on or near the battlefields. Bereaved family members had to travel in order to visit the graves of their loved ones. World War I also produced an extraordinarily large number of bodies that were never identified or otherwise remained unaccounted for. For the families of these missing men, a trip to a battlefield or war memorial was the closest they would come to visiting their final resting place. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the Michelin Guide <br /><i>Ypres and the Battle of Ypres</i> (1919)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Widows, parents, and children did not think of themselves as battlefield tourists but as pilgrims, visiting hallowed ground. Nevertheless, they frequently required guidance to locate the sites they wanted to visit, and a variety of charitable organizations were established in the post-war years to assist families and ex-servicemen. Travel agencies like Thomas Cook offered organized tours of sites associated with the war in France, Belgium, Italy, and the Middle East, and Michelin issued its first battlefield guidebooks in 1919. Volume I of this series, <i>The First Battle of the Marne,</i> stated quite explicitly, “The contemplated visit should be a pilgrimage; not merely a journey across the ravished land. Seeing is not enough, the visitor must understand; ruins are more impressive when coupled with a knowledge of their origin and destruction.”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iLaNkdedu-qGbBkgeCpOyKlTklZmY6hkeA1cPHBwVoCUz2beAOWIZM5JMWLCVgk041ZVtinmHVEKF_fO_6Zy2VvjpuipqhuIcB3ThBtg9lxzkWmwKgR-9e9xcyFuVki3iIqlo7lGc1U/s1600/Lille%252C+First+Itinerary.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="1044" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iLaNkdedu-qGbBkgeCpOyKlTklZmY6hkeA1cPHBwVoCUz2beAOWIZM5JMWLCVgk041ZVtinmHVEKF_fO_6Zy2VvjpuipqhuIcB3ThBtg9lxzkWmwKgR-9e9xcyFuVki3iIqlo7lGc1U/s400/Lille%252C+First+Itinerary.png" width="357" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the Michelin Guide <br /><i>Lille Before and During the War</i> (1919)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Michelin guides (31 titles in French and 15 in English) all followed a similar pattern. They began with an overview of the battles covered in the guide (“a clear comprehension of the action as a whole is absolutely necessary to a full understanding of the separate engagements”), after which itineraries were laid out. These itineraries were, in some ways, not all that different than those in ordinary guidebooks, including driving directions, histories of towns and villages, and information about churches and other landmarks. But they were also detailed accounts of battles, bombings, and wartime deprivation, often including first-hand accounts from those who had experienced them. The books were lavishly illustrated with photographs, many of them before-and-after views which highlighted the destruction wrought upon the landscape. Using the Michelin guides, the visitor could retrace the daily—almost hourly—progression of the war.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The idea that one could recreate the experiences of the past through visiting the battlefields seems to have been an important one both for families and for ex-servicemen. For the bereaved, retracing the steps of their loved ones helped them feel closer to those they had lost. The journey to the grave or battlefield was an essential part of the grieving process for many people, allowing them a venue to confront their emotions and emerge afterwards in a more hopeful and accepting frame of mind. Some ex-servicemen found revisiting battlefields therapeutic as well. By reliving their pasts and facing their memories, they could come to terms with the effects of the war.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmUv3cl67YwWAWXeP5jQplBN_mFSoNWyKCNrsLn513LAHdQf4XJDkVo3hDWM-DSYeqlzXe7GWnhOb8hNZZj93WvxuzEBSYZnLYng0XuA643YyN3rOFfu4oU22WarlQv9LgbiQnWGPxpgc/s1600/fullsizeoutput_bd0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="1600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmUv3cl67YwWAWXeP5jQplBN_mFSoNWyKCNrsLn513LAHdQf4XJDkVo3hDWM-DSYeqlzXe7GWnhOb8hNZZj93WvxuzEBSYZnLYng0XuA643YyN3rOFfu4oU22WarlQv9LgbiQnWGPxpgc/s400/fullsizeoutput_bd0.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Postcard of the battlefield at Kemmel. A note on the back states that <br />this field is where Mlle. Kindl picked up the helmet.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, over time, the landscape of the battlefields changed, and it became harder to relive the past. In the early 1920s, the destruction of the war was still very clear. As one guidebook put it, “The ruined villages are as the shells and bombs left them. Everywhere are branchless trees and stumps, shell craters roughly filled in, trenches, barbed wire entanglements, and shelters for men and ammunition. Thousands of shells, shell casings, rifles, gun-limbers, and machine-guns lie scattered about.” Some battlefields and trenches were preserved in their wartime state, either by commercial operators or by Dominion governments (for example, the Canadian government was instrumental in preserving portions of Vimy Ridge), but for the most part, nature and agriculture reclaimed the fields. In this context, souvenirs took on great significance. Locating and bringing home a tangible reminder of the battlefield became even more important as time passed and the material effects of the war were less obvious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post is primarily drawn from the David W. Lloyd, <i>Battlefield Tourism: Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia, and Canada, 1919-1939</i> (Berg, 1998). Other sources on battlefield tourism include Brian Murphy, “Dark Tourism and the Michelin World War I Battlefield Guides,” <i>Journal of Franco-Irish Studies</i> v. 4 (2015) and Caroline Winter, “Tourism, Social Memory, and the Great War,” <i>Annals of Tourism Research</i> v. 36 no. 4 (October 2009). An excellent source on monuments and the memory of World War I more broadly is Jay Winter, <i>Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History</i> (Cambridge University Press, 1995).</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-71317488521645181172018-01-25T10:10:00.000-05:002018-01-25T10:10:21.598-05:00The Spanish Colonial in San Diego—and Chazy<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7_KeaH6QQu3FOCRa-ImCoaTAGEshzsMxp7Qnyw9iyXR_O2cqlYZqH8JrbP0UbzM1-gNwBZlJt5J6Mlj8Z3ZVcmjujUmzU4wR4Z3fQVro8EBmw5uWFM63zobYIfR-hDZW1FUnUXbECy8E/s1600/CCRS+lantern+slide+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1503" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7_KeaH6QQu3FOCRa-ImCoaTAGEshzsMxp7Qnyw9iyXR_O2cqlYZqH8JrbP0UbzM1-gNwBZlJt5J6Mlj8Z3ZVcmjujUmzU4wR4Z3fQVro8EBmw5uWFM63zobYIfR-hDZW1FUnUXbECy8E/s320/CCRS+lantern+slide+1919.tiff" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chazy Central Rural School, 1919</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Chazy Central Rural School building which stood from 1916 until 1969 was unusual in many ways. Most rural schools (or urban schools, for that matter) did not have swimming pools, film projectors, or marble-topped cafeteria tables. Also unusual was the choice of architectural style: a blending of Mission and Spanish Colonial elements. Why did William H. Miner and his architect, Frederick Townsend, choose this style—associated with the American Southwest and Mexico—for a school building in the far north of New York State?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Neither Townsend nor Miner seem to have left any definitive statement on the matter, so we’ll probably never know for sure, but one influence may have been the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Panama-California Exposition was one of two world’s fairs held that year to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. The other, in San Francisco, was much larger, but San Diego found ways to differentiate its exposition from its northern neighbor.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZnT2cSH-c5iLhrcr-SB5cfAcPYk8wWWKJZE2nbnPC-1jTHBEPAA59Ibo3-eofzNZP5uiyvjlPjbZCkkp2xA38Zq0FA-HedFnXpeylmKZz8u36Ssq-NgVkQ4E3CArqjS7OfYshWHgmqcQ/s1600/Screenshot+2018-01-24+10.03.12.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="1138" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZnT2cSH-c5iLhrcr-SB5cfAcPYk8wWWKJZE2nbnPC-1jTHBEPAA59Ibo3-eofzNZP5uiyvjlPjbZCkkp2xA38Zq0FA-HedFnXpeylmKZz8u36Ssq-NgVkQ4E3CArqjS7OfYshWHgmqcQ/s320/Screenshot+2018-01-24+10.03.12.png" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Promotional pamphlet made by the <br />San Diego Board of Supervisors</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the time of the fair, San Diego had a population of about 40,000, making it the smallest city ever to host a world’s fair. But city boosters saw this as an opportunity to shape San Diego’s public image and attract future residents, investors, and tourists. The exposition’s architecture and landscape design would demonstrate that the city and region had a rich history, while the exhibits would show that it was forward-thinking in technology, industry, and agriculture. Perhaps the city’s biggest selling point was its climate: this would, it was proudly announced, be the first “All-the-year-round” exposition. As one promotional pamphlet exclaimed, “Nowhere else but in this land of favored climatic conditions could such a fair be possible. Here is perpetual Springtime. Here is a climate that couldn’t be more delightful if it were made to order.” By opening the fair on January 1, organizers made the most of the contrast between winters in Southern California and other parts of the country.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGcinxLEL8LpdhZzi9JotWO4R3eSXE8mJGfsZ5wvpBR5MqPxhdHK3bfX-JT8mmP4zyvtlpK7VEEPcsWi9xUyjfv0KhkJmJAZ755q-vmj5urLZ-56j_cKukXkGO6Ho93ltqB0mqoyTrShI/s1600/640px-Official_Views_San_Diego_Panama-California_Exposition_San_Diego_All_the_Year_1915_%25281915%2529_%252814595520307%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="640" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGcinxLEL8LpdhZzi9JotWO4R3eSXE8mJGfsZ5wvpBR5MqPxhdHK3bfX-JT8mmP4zyvtlpK7VEEPcsWi9xUyjfv0KhkJmJAZ755q-vmj5urLZ-56j_cKukXkGO6Ho93ltqB0mqoyTrShI/s320/640px-Official_Views_San_Diego_Panama-California_Exposition_San_Diego_All_the_Year_1915_%25281915%2529_%252814595520307%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Varied Industries building and gardens</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Floods of promotional material about the San Diego fair began to appear several years before it opened, as organizers, the city’s chamber of commerce, and railroads began to drum up interest. Naturally, much of their focus was on the new buildings being constructed in Balboa Park beginning in the summer of 1912. Unlike most world’s fair structures, a number of these were always intended to be permanent additions to the site—and indeed the whole complex proved to be so beloved by the local community that others were also kept and re-used for other purposes, including another fair in 1936. I</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nstead of the classically-inspired architecture that had become the standard at previous fairs, organizers chose the Spanish Colonial as a distinctive and versatile style. The unified design scheme, along with the strong historical and regional associations of the style, would help San Diego’s fair distinguish itself from San Francisco. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For many Americans living in the northeast and midwest, this was probably their first real exposure to Spanish Colonial and Mission architecture, and the San Diego fair led to a surge in its popularity. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLB_uY0RUFT0accIp-ADcMtUmAT0W7BDnFunomhmEdv0ZqVbCMANZfzHH4Z1Mp8VZvPtMjkdppMdmbffIORhE00K4qykObG6z50yKBxH27ng2flRPoevTQ0l36eFoWEkEc_ZKVoRh9x4k/s1600/Indian+Arts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLB_uY0RUFT0accIp-ADcMtUmAT0W7BDnFunomhmEdv0ZqVbCMANZfzHH4Z1Mp8VZvPtMjkdppMdmbffIORhE00K4qykObG6z50yKBxH27ng2flRPoevTQ0l36eFoWEkEc_ZKVoRh9x4k/s320/Indian+Arts.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Originally the Indian Arts Building,<br />rebuilt in 1996 and now home to the<br />San Diego Art Institute</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fair’s Director of Works, Frank P. Allen, Jr., wrote that the Spanish Colonial was an ideal choice for exposition architecture not just because it was regionally appropriate but because it encompassed a wide range of styles, from “the ornate and whimsical extravagance of of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churrigueresque">Churriguersque</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plateresque">Plateresque</a>, down to the simple lines and plain surfaces of the California mission buildings.” While being unified in material and inspiration, the buildings would also show an interesting variety. Art critic and curator Christian Brinton, writing in <i>The International Studio,</i> praised the fair’s buildings as “a distinct step forward in American architecture. Architects who have visited the grounds are enthusiastic over the genuine renaissance of the glories of Spanish art and architecture which they feel will follow the San Diego Exposition.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Visitors and critics alike agreed that the Exposition’s vision of “Old Spain” in California was a success. However, it also raised some questions about the uneasy place that the Spanish and Native Americans occupied in Anglo Americans’ conception of national history. It was generally acknowledged that the unique qualities of Spanish Colonial architecture came from the combination of Spanish design with Native American materials and labor. This was something to be proud of, something that set the buildings of the Americas apart from their European counterparts. At the same time, most writing about the fair also produced the clear impression that Spanish and native contributions were part of the past. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Exhibit material stated in no uncertain terms that </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">while there once had been great indigenous civilizations in Mesoamerica,</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the great days of the Maya were long past by the time the Spanish arrived. Present-day Indians were described as “living just as they have lived and their ancestors have lived for centuries.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWB23w-cqG7EPXoA7KC4Owxz1tQ3I_o61R2TYcYUcuqNr77dQscD9DQ-K8QfmF4g67PuTn5-pKl3mZNuZZfOVaCpZIrwPG4Zt-nrroS7Db7aXr8EH7UGGClFY6UgNo8GY8tsaJ37j3Q10/s1600/622px-Zuni_exhibit_1915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="622" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWB23w-cqG7EPXoA7KC4Owxz1tQ3I_o61R2TYcYUcuqNr77dQscD9DQ-K8QfmF4g67PuTn5-pKl3mZNuZZfOVaCpZIrwPG4Zt-nrroS7Db7aXr8EH7UGGClFY6UgNo8GY8tsaJ37j3Q10/s320/622px-Zuni_exhibit_1915.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Zuni women making pottery as part of the<br />“Painted Desert” exhibit</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Similarly, while the Spanish were given credit for starting the process of Christianizing and “civilizing” the southwest, it was also made clear that Anglo-Americans were now taking on that mantle—bear in mind that since 1898, the United States had also acquired many of Spain’s former colonies. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Early 20th-century racial and evolutionary theories presented this sequence of events as inevitable: just as Native Americans had been conquered by the superior Spanish, so too were the Spanish ultimately supplanted by the superior Anglo-Americans. Adopting the Spanish Colonial style (and, it was strongly implied, improving it) was a way to symbolize this transition.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">CCRS under construction, 1916</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For William Miner and Frederick Townsend, the Spanish Colonial may have seemed like a good choice for Chazy Central Rural School because it was both traditional and up-to-date. It would certainly have stood out as something unique among the other buildings in the village, making clear that this school was different from the old rural school in every possible way. It also could be constructed with modern building materials, such as hollow brick and cement. Although the original school building did not stand for as long as Miner probably anticipated it would, it seems safe to say that it made an impression on everyone who saw it, and it is still fondly remembered today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can still visit many of the Panama-California Exposition’s original buildings in Balboa Park, as well as others that were rebuilt in the 1990s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://pancalarchive.org/">Panama-California Exposition Digital Archive</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Frank P. Allen, Jr., “San Diego Exposition: Development of Spanish Colonial Architecture,” <i>Fine Arts Journal</i> 32, no. 3 (March 1915), 116-126.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christine Edstrom O’Hara, “The Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, 1915: The Olmstead Brothers’ Ecological Park Typology,” <i>Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians</i> 70, no. 1 (March 2011), 64-81.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hal K. Rothman, “Selling the Meaning of Place: Entrepreneurship, Tourism, and Community Transformation in the Twentieth-Century American West,” <i>Pacific Historical Review</i> 65, no. 4 (November 1996), 525-557.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christopher Schmidt-Nowara, “Spanish Origins of American Empire: Hispanism, History, and Commemoration, 1898-1915,” <i>The International History Review</i> 30, no. 1 (March 2008), 32-51.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abigail A. Van Slyck, “Mañana, Mañana: Racial Stereotypes and the Anglo Rediscovery of the Southwest’s Vernacular Architecture, 1890-1920,” <i>Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture</i> 5 (1995), 95-108.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 353px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1842px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 353px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 1842px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-2114493852115841302017-10-31T10:04:00.000-04:002017-10-31T10:04:14.930-04:00William Saunders and His Five Sons (and Daughter)<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of the nine children of James and Jane Saunders, it was the youngest son, William, who achieved the most fame outside the family circle. He, in turn, had five sons who all went on to have quite remarkable lives of their own. So let’s delve more deeply into the lives of Alice Miner’s Uncle William and her notable cousins.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">William Saunders in 1897<br /><a href="http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/res.php?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_tim=2017-10-27T17%3A41%3A03Z&url_ctx_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=3206279&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fcollectionscanada.gc.ca%3Apam&lang=eng">Library and Archives Canada</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like the rest of the Saunders siblings, William (1836-1914) was born in Crediton and baptized at the Wesleyan Methodist church in Exeter. Shortly after his arrival in London at the age of thirteen, he was apprenticed to a local pharmacist, John Salter, and by the time he was nineteen he had opened his own drugstore. Two years later, he married Sarah Agnes Robinson (daughter of the minister who had performed the wedding of Bertha Saunders and Richard Patton the year before), and they had six children: Annie Louisa (1858-1938), William Edwin (1861-1943), Henry Scholey (1864-1951), Charles Edward (1867-1937), Arthur Percy (1869-1953), and Frederick Albert (1875-1963).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">William Saunders was a good businessman, but he was also interested in the science of pharmaceuticals. His interest in the medicinal properties of plants led him into the study of botany and then to entomology. In the garden of the Saunders home in London, he established an extensive orchard where he studied plant diseases caused by insects. In 1873, William purchased six acres of land outside the city where he continued his work in entomology and fruit and flower hybridization. These orchards were also early laboratories for the Saunders children, where they received their first lessons in natural history by helping their father with his work.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, 1890<br /><a href="http://friendsofthefarm.ca/links/">Friends of the Central Experimental Farm</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: 16.66666603088379px;">By the mid-1880s, both William Edwin and Henry had qualified as pharmacists and were able to take over many aspects of the family business. This left their father free to pursue a new project: the establishment of Canada’s experimental farm system. In February 1886, Saunders submitted a report to the Minister of Agriculture describing what he had learned on his visits to numerous agricultural research stations in the United States, and proposing that Canada establish its own system of farms for research</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: 16.66666603088379px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">cereal culture, dairying, animal husbandry, horticulture, forestry, and the application of chemistry and botany to agriculture. Soon thereafter, the Dominion Experimental Farms system was established, with William </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: 16.66666603088379px;">Saunders as its director.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: 16.66666603088379px;">In 1887, William, Sarah, Annie, and Fred moved to Ottawa, which was the home of the Central Experimental Farm. Four other farms were also established in Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. The aim of all these farms was to </span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 16.66666603088379px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">produce practical results in the form of better varieties of grain, improved livestock, and fruit-trees that could thrive in the Canadian climate. One of its main goals was the development of strains of wheat suited to the climate of western Canada, and to this end, William Saunders appointed his son Charles to the position of Dominion Cerealist in 1903. </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Canadian postage stamp, issued in 2000,<br />honoring Sir Charles Saunders</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 16.66666603088379px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;">Charles had studied chemistry at the University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins, but had been pursuing a career in music in </span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Toronto. Now he took charge of a new department at the Central Experimental farm, the Division of Cereal Breeding and Experimentation and began work on what became known as Marquis wheat. The strains of wheat being grown in Saskatchewan and Alberta frequently matured too late and were damaged by frost. Marquis wheat matured earlier, produced yields as good or better than other varieties, and had excellent milling and baking qualities. By 1920, 90% of the wheat being grown in western Canada was Marquis wheat, and it was largely responsible for the boom in Canadian wheat exports. In 1934, Charles Saunders was knighted for his services to the Dominion.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although Charles followed most closely in his father’s footsteps, all five sons shared William’s scientific interests. William Edwin ran the family pharmaceutical business, but he also engaged in a dizzying range of other activities, most related to the study and preservation of the natural world. He was an expert ornithologist and a founder of the Ontario Entomological Society, wrote a weekly nature column in the London Free Press from 1929 to 1943, and was instrumental in the preservation of what became <a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/pelee">Point Pelee National Park</a> on Lake Erie—to name just a few of his accomplishments.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Silvia Saunders” peony, named<br />after Percy’s oldest daughter</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Arthur Percy and Frederick Albert also pursued careers in science. As his brother Charles had, Percy (as he was known) attended the University of Toronto and then went to Johns Hopkins, where he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry. From 1900 to 1939, he was a professor of chemistry at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He also carried on the family botanical tradition through his work in the hybridization of peonies. Percy, his wife Louise Brownell, and their four children were beloved members of the Hamilton community, and were remembered fondly by notable students such as Ezra Pound and James Agee (who liked them so much he married daughter Olivia).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The youngest son, Fred, followed in his brothers’ footsteps to the University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins, where his area of study was physics. He taught at Haverford College, Syracuse University, Vassar College, and Harvard University. At Harvard he began research into the field of acoustics, and was able to unite his interests in music and science by studying the mechanical properties of musical instruments, particularly the violin family. Fred also shared the family love of nature, particularly ornithology, and he and his wife maintained a bird sanctuary at their country home.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cover of Henry’s book <i>Parodies on<br />Walt Whitman,</i> 1923</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Henry Scholey’s path started off very much like that of his brothers. He shared their interests in nature and music, and followed William Edwin to the College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia. For thirteen years he worked with William to run the family business. But in 1898 he closed the business and decided to pursue his interest in music, playing the cello in various orchestras and string quartets in Toronto. What Henry ultimately became known for, however, was his extensive collection of material related to the life and work of Walt Whitman. This included every edition of all of Whitman’s writings (except for the first and last editions of <i>Leaves of Grass</i>). Henry also assembled 219 hand-made notebooks in which were gathered newspaper clippings, book reviews, and other printed material that referenced Whitman, and printed limited editions of books about Whitman. In 1932, Brown University purchased the entire Henry Scholey Saunders collection of Whitmaniana—some 15,000 items—for its library.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And what about Annie, the only daughter? As is so often the case, we know much less about the women of the Saunders family than we do about the men. She never married and continued to live with her parents until they died, after which she may have gone to live with one of her brothers in the United States for a time. By the early 1920s she was back in London, where she remained until her death in 1938, but what she was doing during all this time remains a mystery.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The five Saunders brothers in 1934: Percy, Henry, Fred,<br />Charles, and William</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also still something of a mystery is the extent of Alice Miner’s relationship with her cousins. The papers of William E. Saunders in the archives of the University of Western Ontario include some Heart’s Delight Farm greeting cards and calendars, which suggest that they kept in touch, at the very least. Certainly the Saunders brothers would have shared many interests with Alice and William Miner, from agriculture to literature. We hope that further study of Saunders family archival material will reveal more connections!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">T. H. Anstey, “Sir Charles Edward Saunders,” in <i>The Canadian Encyclopedia, </i>Historica Canada, 1985, article published May 16, 2008.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dan Brock, “In Search of Annie: The Forgotten Saunders,” London and Middlesex Historical Society Newsletter, Summer 2016.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harry F. Olson, “Frederick Albert Saunders, 1875-1963: A Biographical Memoir,” National Academy of Sciences, 1967.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Elsie M. Pomeroy, <i>William Saunders and His Five Sons: The Story of the Marquis Wheat Family</i> (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1956)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ian M. Stewart, “SAUNDERS, WILLIAM,” in </span><span style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Dictionary of Canadian Biography</span><span style="background-color: white;">, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 31, 2017, </span><span class="permalink" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/saunders_william_14E.html</span><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">P. A. Taverner, “Memories of William Edwin Saunders, 1861-1943,” <i>The Auk: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology</i> 61, no. 3 (July 1944), 345-351.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-28866693324034309882017-09-14T13:11:00.000-04:002017-09-14T13:11:18.132-04:00Making a New Life in Canada: The Saunders Siblings<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjbiETVSsjRnkN9CRYSotwIJoHqTngGqXTzlsVTQM_T9zgib2QckDIdePEQ-m8jCJE54DSOwoddBOYjQ2f3wEqA27HYIqeRYDMbwIL_acixUBmt7gDtll2_DUqqlMFPhdesWxV2Ah7Azg/s1600/Come_To_Stay.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="374" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjbiETVSsjRnkN9CRYSotwIJoHqTngGqXTzlsVTQM_T9zgib2QckDIdePEQ-m8jCJE54DSOwoddBOYjQ2f3wEqA27HYIqeRYDMbwIL_acixUBmt7gDtll2_DUqqlMFPhdesWxV2Ah7Azg/s400/Come_To_Stay.png" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Immigrants are welcomed by a woman<br />symbolizing Canada, 1880</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In our last blog post, we looked at the life of the Saunders family in England and their arrival in Ontario. Beginning after the War of 1812, there was a significant wave of immigration from Britain and Ireland to Canada, mainly to Ontario. Most of the Saunders brothers and sisters married men and women like themselves, who had also come to Canada with their families as children or young adults. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The desire to find suitable husbands for five daughters may have been one of the motivations behind the Saunders family’s emigration. By 1850, about one quarter of the female population in the United Kingdom between the ages of 20 and 45 was unmarried, and the 1851 census showed that women outnumbered men by as many as one million. The problem of the so-called “surplus woman” was one that would occupy commentators in Britain for the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th. But in many parts of Canada, there were more men than women, particularly in newly-settled areas with large immigrant populations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If seeing their daughters married was indeed one of their goals, James and Jane Saunders were very successful. Shortly after their arrival, daughter Emma (1827-1917) married William Skinner, a family friend from Crediton who had come over to Canada on the same ship. William Skinner, like James Saunders, was a shoemaker, and he established a successful business in London. Emma and William had five children, one of whom, Lillian, was sadly a victim of the notorious 1881 <a href="http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/59596/data">Victoria disaster,</a> in which an overloaded steamboat capsized, killing 182 passengers.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Illustrated title page from Louisa’s <br />autograph book</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next daughter, Louisa (1829-1870), also married soon after her arrival in Canada. How she met Bernard Trainer, or indeed anything about his early life, remains a mystery. They were married in 1850 and lived in London until around 1855, at which time they moved to Goderich, where Bernard Trainer joined the Huron County constabulary. Louisa and Bernard had twelve children (Alice was number seven) before Louisa died in childbirth in 1870. Unfortunately, we have little personal information about Alice’s mother, and no photographs, but an autograph book in the museum’s archives which she assembled before leaving Crediton suggests that she was a young lady of refined tastes and genteel aspirations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ann (1832-1864) seems also to have married in the early 1850s, as did brother Stephen (1824-1889), though I haven’t been able to find out much information about either of them or their spouses. Next in line was Bertha (b. 1834), who married Robert Lynch Patton in 1856 and moved with him to Montreal. The officiant at this wedding was Rev. J. H. Robinson, and a year later William Saunders (1836-1914) married Robinson’s daughter Sarah Agnes. As I noted in my previous post, William was apprenticed to a local druggist and soon opened his own pharmacy. His interest in pharmaceutical plants, horticulture, and entomology led to his appointment as director of Canada’s Experimental Farm system in 1886. William and Sarah’s five sons also went on to have notable careers in science, music, and literature—they’ll get a blog post of their own. The youngest daughter, Mary (1839-1907), was married in 1870 to William Gurd, a gunsmith whose family immigrated from Ireland in the 1840s, and they had three children.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mLDWDi8oP9MxAhz1Al34JJAMQUJ-c096OQ4-SJ3eO-T_ufd0EO5atwclLOZMOCd7swQN_xHB12IcSexuhp1yTKqH9fhMqaZ9FeQQl6WLZeIaaiKob3LAmL7t5wPLOyI99x6hqtjyFwc/s1600/MarySaundersGurd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="758" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mLDWDi8oP9MxAhz1Al34JJAMQUJ-c096OQ4-SJ3eO-T_ufd0EO5atwclLOZMOCd7swQN_xHB12IcSexuhp1yTKqH9fhMqaZ9FeQQl6WLZeIaaiKob3LAmL7t5wPLOyI99x6hqtjyFwc/s320/MarySaundersGurd.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Mary Saunders Gurd</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All in all, the Saunders siblings seem to have led mostly ordinary, middle-class lives. No doubt the parents were happy to see their daughters married to respectable and prosperous men, and two of their sons established in their careers, with William ultimately achieving great success and a national reputation. Edwin (1822-1895), the oldest son, chose to follow his own path, however. Soon after the family arrived in Canada, he moved to Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, where he built a small log cabin and lived by hunting, fishing, and gardening. His nephew William Saunders kept a diary of a family visit to Manitoulin in 1880, during which Uncle Ned helped the five brothers indulge their interests in fishing, hunting wildlife specimens, and sailing. Although Uncle William Skinner is said to have claimed Ned “never did any work,” residents of Manitoulin remembered him as an important part of their small community.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, although Bernard and Louisa Trainer had both died by the time Alice was a teenager, she and her siblings still had an extensive network of aunts, uncles, and cousins, many of whom lived nearby in London. They would continue to maintain these ties after they moved to the United States in the 1880s.</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-52013153497271712472017-08-30T11:08:00.000-04:002017-08-30T11:08:24.030-04:00From Crediton to London: The Saunders Family Arrives in Canada<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Both of Alice Miner’s parents, Bernard Trainer and Louisa Saunders, were immigrants from the British Isles to Canada. Unfortunately, we have very little information about Bernard Trainer’s early life. The notice of his death that appeared in the <i>Goderich Signal</i> in September 1880 stated that he had lived in Goderich for about 25 years. He was believed to have been born in Edinburgh, Scotland, of Irish parents, and had come to London, Ontario “when quite young.” Without any more information, such as the names of his parents, it has proven very difficult to trace his history. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Crediton parish church, where James Saunders <br />and Jane Woollacott were baptized</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Saunders family is more abundantly represented in the records that are available to us. Louisa’s parents were James and Jane Woollacott Saunders, and they were both born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crediton">Crediton</a>, Devon, England. James, the son of William and Eunice Saunders, was born in 1792; Jane was the daughter of William and Jane Woollacott, and she was born in 1795. They were married in August 1817, and their first child, Thirza, was born a year later. She was followed by eight more children: Edwin (1822), Stephen (1824), Emma (1827), Louisa (1829), Ann (1832), Bertha (1834), William (1836), and Mary (1839).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ56G6oO6GjimlVLUs4OgjQIOYjdI9kCcN1YAzY2sAfm9vM5MGLCFJxSUSYwD78oFEcEkz-Y0jSo2fEGePazqUrj_SD1FwcsvQO1eRMcgI40jFmjPRm5oqWbSbsuSHrZRWDin13qV5hnY/s1600/methodist-meeting-1842-granger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="900" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ56G6oO6GjimlVLUs4OgjQIOYjdI9kCcN1YAzY2sAfm9vM5MGLCFJxSUSYwD78oFEcEkz-Y0jSo2fEGePazqUrj_SD1FwcsvQO1eRMcgI40jFmjPRm5oqWbSbsuSHrZRWDin13qV5hnY/s320/methodist-meeting-1842-granger.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">James Saunders was a shoemaker, and he also served as a Methodist lay minister. The Saunders family’s Wesleyan Methodism was a central part of their identity. Methodism was still a fairly new denomination in the early 19th century, but it was growing rapidly. Begun as an effort by Anglican clergymen John Wesley (1703-1791) and George Whitfield (1714-1770) to address what they saw as some of the shortcomings of the established church, it placed great emphasis on preaching, and members were encouraged to meet regularly in small groups for spiritual fellowship and guidance. John Wesley urged members to pursue </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">personal holiness and a disciplined (or methodical) Christian life. He believed that individuals are free to accept or reject God’s grace, and that it is possible to attain </span>perfection, or <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">the overcoming of a will to sin, in this life. </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eventually, Whitfield and Wesley divided over doctrinal issues, and the term “Wesleyan Methodist” was used to distinguish his followers from those of Whitfield, known as the Calvinistic Methodists.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lay ministers such as James Saunders played an important role in Wesleyan Methodism, which originally did not have established houses of worship and relied upon traveling preachers and lay ministers to guide worship and manage the administration of the church. Methodism grew the fastest in those parts of Britain that were being most affected by the Industrial Revolution, and it was most popular among members of the working class and others on the fringes of 18th-century society. Wesleyan Methodism’s emphasis on simple living, self-discipline, and virtuous behavior would have appealed to working people with strivings toward respectability and middle-class status, like James and Jane Saunders.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All nine of the Saunders children were baptized at the Methodist chapel in Mint Lane, Exeter, about seven miles from Crediton. The building of permanent chapels was a product of the period after around 1800, when membership numbers were on the rise. In 1798, there were only about 70 members of Wesleyan Methodist societies in Exeter; by 1815, there were almost 300. In 1808, Exeter had become the center of a circuit, or a group of local churches under the care of a minister who traveled among them, and in 1810 the Trustees decided to begin building a new meeting house that would accommodate 700 people. The first services were held at the Mint Lane chapel in 1813.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We don’t know what prompted James and Jane Saunders to leave England in 1849, but they may have been encouraged to do so by their son Stephen, who had already gone to Canada. James, Jane, and seven of their children </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Thirza was married by this time, and stayed in England) </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">boarded the sailing vessel <i>Margaret</i> in Torquay in the spring of 1849</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like many immigrants, the Saunders family traveled with friends from home, William and Sarah Woodley Skinner and their children.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Margaret</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> made regular trips between Torquay and Québec, carrying emigrants west and returning with loads of timber. This part of the journey took six weeks. After traveling past the falls of the St. Lawrence, they then boarded another boat which would take them up the river to Hamilton, Ontario. There they met up with a Mr. Pickard, who drove them the last 80 miles to London—another two days of travel. The Saunders family arrived in London in late May, 1849.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Photograph of James and Jane<br />Saunders, taken after their arrival<br />in London</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There the Saunders family would have found an established Wesleyan Methodist community and perhaps reunited with other people they knew from England. Certainly they seem to have settled into their new home very quickly. Later that same year, daughter Emma married the Skinners’ eldest son, William, and in 1850 Louisa married Bernard Trainer. William Saunders became an apprentice to druggist John Salter, and in 1855 opened his own pharmacy, which would eventually lead him to a long and distinguished career in science. The other daughters, Ann, Bertha, and Mary, also married prominent London men, while Edwin, the oldest son, became something of a local legend as “the Hermit of Misery Bay.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jane Woollacott Saunders died before Alice was born, in 1862, but James Saunders lived until the age of 87. Although London and Goderich are some 70 miles apart, it would not have been impossible for the Trainer siblings to remain in contact with their Saunders relatives, and indeed there is evidence that they did. We will look at the next generation of the Saunders family—Alice’s mother and her siblings—in our next post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Information about the Saunders family comes primarily from the birth, christening, and marriage records in the International Genealogical Index, available online at <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/igi">FamilySearch</a>. The family was also recorded in the 1841 England Census (this is the earliest census available).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The account of the family’s journey from Crediton to London comes from Elsie M. Pomeroy, <i>William Saunders and His Five Sons: The Story of the Marquis Wheat Family</i> (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1956).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: helvetica neue, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Information on Wesleyan Methodism comes from Allan Brocket</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, <i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Nonconformity in Exeter, 1650-1875</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> (Manchester University Press, 1962) and </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume 2</i> (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2017).</span></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-20498107898632416962017-08-16T13:25:00.000-04:002017-08-16T14:44:01.297-04:00Becoming Canadian, Becoming American<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpRkdApF0xK_HItscwGEMvEi_3quSCGNmPeXZLhR4fpwrIjzYP-9S_8sn4dXj_4K62xYcsdI7nQni0jXv1I6bbVh7LiqnLFiBVyMvgM8JApEwnfHUBGOviZVpskOdnHRohH4GMg4wlnI/s1600/Catharine+Parr+Traill+%2528young%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="260" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpRkdApF0xK_HItscwGEMvEi_3quSCGNmPeXZLhR4fpwrIjzYP-9S_8sn4dXj_4K62xYcsdI7nQni0jXv1I6bbVh7LiqnLFiBVyMvgM8JApEwnfHUBGOviZVpskOdnHRohH4GMg4wlnI/s320/Catharine+Parr+Traill+%2528young%2529.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Catharine Parr Traill<br />(1802-1899)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I recently noted on Facebook, we have been doing some research into cake recipes of the mid-19th century in preparation for Alice’s birthday party in September. One of the most interesting sources we found is a book called <i>The Female Emigrant’s Guide</i> by Catharine Parr Traill, first published in 1854. Traill’s book is similar in some ways to the domestic guides being published around the same time in Great Britain, such as <i>Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management</i>, and in the United States, such as <i>The American Woman’s Home</i> by Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. But Traill’s book is unique in that it was written from a specifically Canadian perspective, and was intended as a guide for women who were emigrating from the British Isles to Upper Canada (later known as Canada West, and now the province of Ontario).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Catharine Parr Strickland was born in 1802 to a middle-class family in Suffolk, England. Her brother, Samuel, emigrated to Upper Canada in 1825, and in 1832, Catharine, her new husband Thomas Traill, her sister Susanna, and her brother-in-law John Moodie followed him there. The families settled on Rice Lake, north of present-day Peterborough. The Stricklands were a literary family, and Traill had already written a novel set in Canada while still living in England. Thus, when the Traill family was in need of money, it was natural that Catharine would turn to her experiences in Canada for material. Her first nonfiction work was <i>The Backwoods of Canada,</i> published in 1836, and based on the first few years of her life in Canada.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Illustration of a Canadian log house<br />from </i>The Backwoods of Canada</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the 1850s, the Traill family was living in much more settled conditions, and Catharine had many more years of experience to draw upon. Traill had two audiences in mind when writing <i>The Female Emigrant’s Guide</i> (or <i>The Canadian Settler’s Guide,</i> as it was called in later editions). One was women like herself, who came from genteel, middle-class backgrounds and who did not necessarily have the skills that they would need in the more remote regions of Canada—knitting, making candles and soap, baking bread (which might require making one’s own yeast as well). The other potential readers were women who came from more modest backgrounds and had limited resources, and who already had these basic household skills, but would need advice that was specific to Canada. These included how to grow and cook with corn, how to make maple sugar, and how to find and prepare local foodstuffs, such as “Indian rice” and wild berries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alice’s mother, Louisa Saunders, immigrated to Canada with her family in 1849. She was twenty years old, and thus was part of the group to whom Catharine Traill often directed particular advice. She urged “the daughters of the intending emigrant to acquire whatever useful arts they think likely to provide serviceable to them in their new country,” and cautioned them not to feel that it was unbecoming to a “lady” to engage in practical household tasks. Traill also reminded girls that one of their most important jobs was “cheering and upholding their mother in the trials that may await her.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEymaZN_cZRMUDRv8HQM_ajtkKGOljFctA31t7Qs05coy1S8Os4gHGd2gLRrq0TBsROaI8bzBhyphenhyphenju9N3NoYIhZgNm3q-AELVmn1IFTmpm20OXLYn4aQVn4VC646ubq7EytXoyVO5u8ryQ/s1600/London%252C+Canada+West%252C+1855.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1595" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEymaZN_cZRMUDRv8HQM_ajtkKGOljFctA31t7Qs05coy1S8Os4gHGd2gLRrq0TBsROaI8bzBhyphenhyphenju9N3NoYIhZgNm3q-AELVmn1IFTmpm20OXLYn4aQVn4VC646ubq7EytXoyVO5u8ryQ/s400/London%252C+Canada+West%252C+1855.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Panorama of London, 1855<br />From the <a href="http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/mdc-London-maps/5/">London Historic Maps Collection</a></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Saunders family—parents James and Jane, and eight of their nine children—settled in London, which was a rapidly growing city. In 1846, it had a population of about 3500 people, and boasted a theater, ten churches, and a weekly newspaper; by 1855 it had a population of 10,000 and was officially incorporated as a city. So they would not have experienced the kind of frontier or “backwoods” conditions that Traill described. Still, making the journey from England to what was then the western limits of Britain’s North American colony would have required some adjustment to new circumstances (including learning the difference between English and Canadian pumpkin pie!). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like many immigrants, the Saunders family traveled to Canada with friends from their home town. The Skinners were also from Crediton in Devon, and the two families would soon be united—William Skinner and Emma Saunders would marry shortly after their arrival in London. The families also would have been able to join a strong Wesleyan Methodist community. This support system undoubtedly helps to account for the relative rapidity with which members of the Saunders family were able to achieve positions of prominence in Canada.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the 1880s, Alice and the rest of the Trainer siblings would themselves become immigrants, moving from Ontario to the United States. Given her own family history, it may seem surprising that Alice later embraced the Colonial Revival movement, which was in many ways nativist and saw immigration as a potential threat to “American values.” But for Alice and her contemporaries (both in the US and in Canada), there was a great deal of difference between immigrants like themselves—English-speaking, of British descent, white, and Protestant—and those who were coming from southern and eastern Europe. The early 20th century was also a period during which some Americans were trying to strengthen the <a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-celebration-that-wasnt-1914-1915.html">ties between the US and Britain</a> by emphasizing their shared cultural heritage. Thus there was no resistance to someone of Alice’s background claiming American identity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In future blog posts, we’ll tell more stories of the Saunders and Trainer families, and further explore these issues of national identity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of Catharine Parr Traill’s books are available in digital form through sites like <a href="https://books.google.com/">Google Books</a> and the <a href="http://archive.org/">Internet Archive</a>. A recent print edition of <i><a href="http://www.mqup.ca/catharine-parr-traill---s-the-female-emigrant-s-guide-products-9780773549302.php?page_id=46&">The Female Emigrant’s Guide</a>,</i> edited by Nathalie Cooke and Fiona Lucas, includes extensive supplementary material, including modernized recipes. Library and Archives Canada has put together a <a href="https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/moodie-traill/index-e.html">website</a> of material—including original letters and other documents—on Catharine Traill and her sister Susanna Moodie.</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-86619128036089165462017-08-02T13:06:00.000-04:002017-08-17T17:34:55.885-04:00Railroads and Refrigerator Cars: An Episode in the Career of William H. Miner<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbmHvBPasI-Jl2aEkP2AnWlVmhA4dIHEmKsFnQNtRksGbiDffsTpt-TC-dQMXEuSvNYLP73sn0zCrEL6iu9hAZXaBOHTsmn1eFecV8IR9aTbs8jCzO2L4YGA0zThhVIaR9QdjwpsQyAA/s1600/Charles_E_Russell_ca1907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="379" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtbmHvBPasI-Jl2aEkP2AnWlVmhA4dIHEmKsFnQNtRksGbiDffsTpt-TC-dQMXEuSvNYLP73sn0zCrEL6iu9hAZXaBOHTsmn1eFecV8IR9aTbs8jCzO2L4YGA0zThhVIaR9QdjwpsQyAA/s320/Charles_E_Russell_ca1907.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Charles E. Russell (1860-1941)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of my favorite things about my job here at the Alice is that I never quite know where my research will take me. The collection is so wide-ranging, and William and Alice’s interests so broad, that anything could happen. Thus it was that I recently found myself reading a book called <i>The Greatest Trust in the World</i> by Charles Edward Russell. Though not as well known today as figures like Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell, Russell was also a muckraking journalist, and the book grew out of a series of articles he had written for <i>Everybody’s Magazine</i> in 1905. Though most Americans didn’t realize it, there was an entity that wielded enormous power over their daily lives—and it would ultimately cause the downfall of the California Fruit Transportation Company, William H. Miner’s employer for most of the 1890s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This entity was the Beef Trust—an organization so powerful, according to Russell, that it had “impoverished or ruined farmers and stockmen, destroyed millions of investments, caused banks to break and men to commit suicide, precipitated strikes, and annihilated industries.” In some places, the trust had so much power that citizens, “even in the privacy of their offices or homes,” dared not speak a word against it. Most Americans thought of companies like Standard Oil as “the ultimate of monopolistic achievement,” but the Beef Trust was “far more vast and powerful.”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6um7iDAgaGGiwImUexUXzlQ5eCoaIEPyMPOEZzF8_A1NqJabrKfBBxYsqIESH7lIeGqkLtvXiuvYVn6g6AnMvxM6Dxfjtg6mKcsa5JjIOStYAs5WkOU8B3tuJeyJsNlV-kPqr_CSzQ8/s1600/refrigeratorcar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="827" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6um7iDAgaGGiwImUexUXzlQ5eCoaIEPyMPOEZzF8_A1NqJabrKfBBxYsqIESH7lIeGqkLtvXiuvYVn6g6AnMvxM6Dxfjtg6mKcsa5JjIOStYAs5WkOU8B3tuJeyJsNlV-kPqr_CSzQ8/s400/refrigeratorcar.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A refrigerator car from the 1870s. Ice was used in all cars until<br />mechanical refrigeration was introduced in the 1950s.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The origins of the Beef Trust (always capitalized by Russell) could be traced back to the invention of the refrigerator railcar in 1874, which transformed how and what people ate—and the biggest effect was on the meatpacking industry, centered in Chicago. Each packing house had its own refrigerator cars, and many railroads maintained their own cars, which could be used by packers at no charge. As Russell explained it, “The railroads were under obligation as common carriers to deliver in good condition the goods that they handled. The refrigerator car was merely an appliance to insure delivery in good condition.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Armour packing plant in Chicago, ca. 1910</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Inevitably, the meatpacking companies consolidated into four main firms: Armour, Swift, Hammond, and Morris. The “big four” were then able to persuade the railroads (Russell doesn’t explain exactly how) to compensate them for using their own refrigerator cars for shipping. In the end, the railroads agreed to pay 3/4 of a cent for every mile hauled. That didn’t sound like much, but it added up to about $7.50 per car for every trip between Chicago and New York. This made it very difficult for companies that didn't own their own refrigerator cars to compete, and allowed the Beef Trust to control the prices of cattle and dressed beef.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By around 1900, the Beef Trust owned about 80% of all the refrigerator cars in the United States, and were transporting all manner of perishable goods, not just meat. Rival firms that did have their own cars “found that the cars of the bigger and more aggressive packers were favored by the railroads, handled more rapidly, sent back with less delay; that the car of the big house was in fact a club to beat the smaller firm to death; and they gradually got out on the best terms they could obtain. Thus the refrigerator car formed the Beef Trust.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Shipping fruit was serious business, and<br />all communication had to be in code.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So where do William Miner and the California Fruit Transportation Company come in? CFT was a subsidiary of the Hutchins Refrigerator Car Company, a pioneer in the industry. Around 1886, Carlton B. Hutchins of Detroit developed an improved refrigerator car that used wool scraps from the garment industry for insulation. Hutchins went into partnership with F. A. Thomas, a Chicago fruit and produce dealer, and in 1888 they transported their first cars of fruit from California to Chicago. This was a risky business—Thomas had to purchase the fruit outright from the growers, who were skeptical of the refrigerator cars’ ability to keep the fruit from rotting. But it worked, and the California Fruit Transportation Company was born.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At first, the owners had every reason to think that “they had something better than a gold-mine. They voted themselves good salaries as officers...they voted themselves fat dividends as stockholders therein, and nothing seemed as easy as making money.” It was during this flush period, in 1890, that William H. Miner was hired as a mechanical superintendent for the company. His work at CFT would have shown the importance of improved draft gears to cushion wooden railcars shipping delicate cargo, and soon after being hired, he filed a patent for what would become known as the Miner tandem spring draft rigging.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqhWZ0-JzL3vTU-jbq7eNyRA6I1iXDeqkgTFel9-EP1iNEExhuLpIa8EODnh7Hy_p8TKol72ymGDTERPsrBxc31ygtVVLo1wS9vB4pvMyfjG-T7YxBZ3kO6sioA6ib5ECqfpbT9Qjr24/s1600/Earl+Fruit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="480" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqhWZ0-JzL3vTU-jbq7eNyRA6I1iXDeqkgTFel9-EP1iNEExhuLpIa8EODnh7Hy_p8TKol72ymGDTERPsrBxc31ygtVVLo1wS9vB4pvMyfjG-T7YxBZ3kO6sioA6ib5ECqfpbT9Qjr24/s320/Earl+Fruit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Earl Fruit Company employees, ca. 1910</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But thanks to the Beef Trust, these good times were not destined to last. In stepped one Edwin Tobias Earl, owner of the Earl Fruit Company, who supplied close to 80% of the fruit shipped by CFT. Earl requested a commission of $10 per car of fruit shipped—which California Fruit refused to agree to. So Earl went to Armour and rented cars from them instead, and “when the California fruit season reopened the CFT suddenly found that wherever it went the Earl Fruit Company was there also, making war and using a familiar and effective weapon; that is to say, it was offering rebates and getting the fruit.” CFT made an arrangement with the Southern Pacific Railway to haul their cars exclusively, but somehow this “exclusive” arrangement did not preclude Earl Fruit Company from shipping in Armour cars.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">California Fruit attempted to find a new market by shipping fruit overseas to Liverpool, but this venture failed, and the company lost more money. To satisfy bank loans, they were forced to transfer 500 of their railcars over to Swift. “A period of febrile existence followed for the California Fruit Transportation Company. It became involved in a business tragedy, features of which were a bank failure, a resulting suicide; and made an end in the transfer to Swift of all the remaining California Fruit Transportation Company’s cars.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Russell does not give the dates of these events, so it is not clear if they happened while William Miner was still working for CFT, which he did until 1897. But certainly the company’s troubles would have provided him with additional motivation to make a success of selling his draft gear, and eventually go into business for himself. We can speculate, too, as to whether this experience of the power of large conglomerates influenced Miner’s lifelong determination to keep his business in his own hands and personally control all its aspects. Russell wrote in 1905, “To all intents and purposes Swift is Armour, and the California Fruit Transportation is Swift, and the Fruit-Growers’ Express is the California Fruit Transportation, and the Beef Trust is one and all of these together.” But such a thing could never be said of W. H. Miner, Inc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Charles Edward Russell, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=minLoi1qvRYC&dq=the+greatest+trust+in+the+world&source=gbs_navlinks_s"><i>The Greatest Trust in the World</i></a> (New York: The Ridgway-Thayer Company, 1905)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">L. D. H. Weld, “Private Freight Cars and American Railways,” <i>Studies in History, Economics and Public Law</i> 31, no. 1 (1908).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-53279230446619195972017-07-28T08:52:00.001-04:002017-07-28T08:52:49.574-04:00Everything Is Lafayette: The Last General’s American Tour, 1824-25<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dedicated readers of this blog (if indeed there are any) may recall back in November 2014 when I included Lafayette commemorative ceramics in my series on <a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2014/11/new-york-state-history-month-new-york.html">New York scenes</a> on transferware. The featured items depicted the Marquis de Lafayette’s arrival in New York harbor on August 16, 1824, at the beginning of his tour of the United States. I thought it would be fun to return to this topic and take a closer look at Lafayette’s grand tour, and some more of the items made to commemorate it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, had first come to North America in 1777 as a 19-year-old full of enthusiasm for the cause of independence. Now he was in his late sixties and had survived both the American Revolution and the French Revolution and its aftermath (and would experience one more revolution, in July 1830). He was accompanied on this trip by his son, Georges Washington Lafayette, and his secretary, Auguste Levasseur, who would later publish an <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=WhGc5a5srvYC&dq=lafayette+in+america&source=gbs_navlinks_s">account</a> of the tour. Originally, Lafayette planned to visit the 13 original states and stay for four months; such was the response that he ended up visiting all 24 states over the course of 13 months.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>“Welcome La Fayett” jug by an unknown maker,<br />in the collection of the Alice T. Miner Museum</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">President James Monroe had chosen an auspicious moment to invite Lafayette to be “the Nation’s Guest.” The United States was enjoying a period of peace and prosperity, and new roads, canals, and steamboats made travel around the country relatively quick and pleasant. By the 1820s, Americans were becoming ever more aware that the Revolutionary generation was passing away. Lafayette was the only one of George Washington’s major generals still alive in 1824; he was a significant figure in his own right for his military contributions, and as a close friend of Washington he provided a personal link to the great men of the past. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">As one Lafayette biographer has written of the tour, “</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a mystical experience they would relate to their heirs through generations to come. Lafayette had materialized from a distant age, the last leader and hero at the nation’s defining moment. They knew they and the world would never see his kind again.”</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Lafayette gloves in the Alice’s collection</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Lafayette and his companions passed through our part of the country in late June 1825. They arrived in Burlington, Vermont, on June 28. There they admired the city’s “beautiful situation” on Lake Champlain, and were greeted by local citizens and the militia. There was a public dinner, and many speeches, after which Lafayette was taken to lay the cornerstone of the new South College building (now known as Old Mill) at the University of Vermont. After a reception at the home of Governor Cornelius Van Ness, Lafayette boarded the steamboat Phoenix, which would take him to Whitehall via Lake Champlain. En route, they passed through (in Levasseur’s words) “that movable field of battle on which Commodore M’Donough, and his fearless mariners, covered themselves with glory, on the 11th of September, 1814.” According to Levasseur, they would have liked to visit Plattsburgh, but were expected to arrive in New York by July 4th, and did not have time. They did make a brief stop in Whitehall before boarding the carriages that would take them to Albany, where Lafayette was greeted by “an arch formed of 200 flags of all nations, by the sound of artillery, and two rows of little girls, who covered him with flowers, the moment he passed before them.”</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJkodsNITV9Stq-Yvm-TWOUuQg9D73grzftyewUkM3hjDVpiVN8_lbBCveTR174o4d4gUUPoSYAtiBAsDzWiYrI_bvVXqusJ9GrlzS2HnN4-LT6ovzUpSJaN7b3uouxTZGosit2b3oMY8/s1600/Lafayette+ribbon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="805" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJkodsNITV9Stq-Yvm-TWOUuQg9D73grzftyewUkM3hjDVpiVN8_lbBCveTR174o4d4gUUPoSYAtiBAsDzWiYrI_bvVXqusJ9GrlzS2HnN4-LT6ovzUpSJaN7b3uouxTZGosit2b3oMY8/s400/Lafayette+ribbon.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Memorial ribbon from the Alice T.<br />Miner Museum collection</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">The parades held and triumphal arches erected for Lafayette’s visit were ephemeral, but there were more lasting souvenirs. Just at the moment when English ceramic manufacturers were beginning to truly tap into the American market, they had the perfect subject for transferware. Lafayette arriving at Castle Garden, Lafayette visiting the tomb of Washington, and Lafayette’s famous face (both old and young, rather in the manner of Elvis memorabilia) decorated plates, jugs, washbasins, saltshakers, and household items of every description. Bandanas and gloves and ribbons were printed with his image, and countless engravings rolled off printing presses. One Philadelphia newspaper commented, “Everything is Lafayette, whether it be on our heads or under our feet. We wrap our bodies in Lafayette coats during the day, and repose between Lafayette blankets at night.”</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Lafayette spent his 68th birthday in Washington with President John Quincy Adams, and departed for France the next day. When he died in 1834, President Andrew Jackson ordered that </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Lafayette receive the same memorial honors that had been bestowed on Washington in 1799. Both Houses of Congress were draped in black bunting for 30 days, and members wore mourning badges. Congress urged Americans to follow similar mourning practices. Memorial services were performed in his honor all over the United States—and more souvenir items were made.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">These items would later become treasured pieces for collectors like Alice Miner and others of her generation. They, too, admired Lafayette, but they also saw these mementos as evidence of the greater patriotism of early 19th century Americans—and they hoped that by preserving and displaying them, they would inspire their fellow citizens to follow that example.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Sources:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Auguste Levasseur, <i>Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; Or, Journal of a Voyage to the United States</i> (2 volumes, 1829)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Marian Klamkin, </span><em>The Return of Lafayette, 1824-25 (</em><span style="background-color: white;">New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Stanley J. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Idzerda</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, Anne C. Loveland, and Marc H. Miller, </span><em style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lafayette, Hero of Two Worlds: The Art and Pageantry of His Farewell Tour of America, 1824-25 (</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1989)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Jhennifer A. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amundson,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> “Staging a Triumph, Raising a Temple: Philadelphia’s ‘Welcoming Parade’ for Lafayette, 1824,” in David Gobel and Daves Rossell, eds., </span><em style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Commemoration in America: Essays on Monuments, Memorialization, and Memory (</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 2013)</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-1455188114397734172017-05-26T09:33:00.002-04:002017-09-15T15:41:16.818-04:00Crazy for Chintz: A New Addition to the Sheraton Room<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjNSw5iQbgiSYZDL44EYmDpr9ckGl4jQ79bYvsxKkSNkxe8jH1etUa_FW_98ttXAOF_B64YuGaJE8wPPK0gZXASEZBQIYDnNPRPhWqmVYIzoD-CiPSAqGPICXk73ZDHlNLW4PSaEC8Bfg/s1600/chintz+bedspread+full+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjNSw5iQbgiSYZDL44EYmDpr9ckGl4jQ79bYvsxKkSNkxe8jH1etUa_FW_98ttXAOF_B64YuGaJE8wPPK0gZXASEZBQIYDnNPRPhWqmVYIzoD-CiPSAqGPICXk73ZDHlNLW4PSaEC8Bfg/s320/chintz+bedspread+full+view.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bedspread, English roller-printed chintz, ca. 1820</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This winter’s renovation project focused on the second-floor bedroom, also known as the Sheraton Room. A coat of paint, some rearrangement of furniture, and a few new highlighted pieces have made this room an even more inviting space. The beautiful Sheraton-style four poster bed has been the perfect way to showcase the wide variety of textiles in the Alice’s collection, such as the <a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2015/04/where-liberty-dwells-there-is-my.html">“Apotheosis of Franklin and Washington”</a> quilt made by Anna Moore Hubbell, Lena Olena Blow’s early-20th century <a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2011/10/lenas-crazy-quilt.html">silk crazy quilt</a>, and the <a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2016/03/from-kentucky-to-chazy-anna-ernberg-and.html">woven coverlet</a> donated by Anna Ernberg. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The bedspread currently on the bed is one that, as far as I can tell, has never been displayed before. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is made of a single layer of cotton chintz printed in a pattern that combines a variety of floral motifs in brown, pinks, blue, and green. The material is only twenty-six inches wide, and the lengths are sewn together with very narrow seams of less than a quarter inch. The top hem is faced with a strip of cotton in another print. The material was most likely made in England around 1820 using the roller-printing process.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtlKf00PHt7GA-sbM-rvupf3JJ5u2s7hHG9vFfRy3a2TKi_vyXPRCib7-vkO_RdFWYpyZUOjHPuPQJZ4ggP5y0Pyv-63ekuT-OlM7mNLv2DFjpgX95MAtpoimjhpbGzF_M0u4QHfGRCE/s1600/1750-75_India_PaintedDyed_banyan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="768" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtlKf00PHt7GA-sbM-rvupf3JJ5u2s7hHG9vFfRy3a2TKi_vyXPRCib7-vkO_RdFWYpyZUOjHPuPQJZ4ggP5y0Pyv-63ekuT-OlM7mNLv2DFjpgX95MAtpoimjhpbGzF_M0u4QHfGRCE/s320/1750-75_India_PaintedDyed_banyan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An example of an Indian chintz made for the<br />European market, ca. 1750-1775</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When British, Dutch, and French trading companies began importing textiles from India in the 17th century, Europeans were immediately captivated by the floral printed and painted cottons they called <i>indiennes</i> (in France) and <i>chintzes</i> (in England). These lightweight, washable, and colorful fabrics were much in demand both for household furnishings and for apparel, and European manufacturers soon began working to develop the technology to make their own versions. They were so popular, in fact, that French and English silk and wool manufacturers feared the competition and successfully agitated to restrict the manufacture and import of printed textiles. Despite these laws, the popularity of printed textiles only grew during the 18th century.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSAUCPh8NgPTU0g_6HUJUfgThccltXXvhYcqurRIINM4TTdLANoCIwIjPqzrGN3U9quizvZSbh1Ssgot87krqmLH4DtEartKr1u2yoxKqXRMKoJSoxGRwpwz1z3DWjyUmLsiOZLC26K_Q/s1600/Calico+Printer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="639" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSAUCPh8NgPTU0g_6HUJUfgThccltXXvhYcqurRIINM4TTdLANoCIwIjPqzrGN3U9quizvZSbh1Ssgot87krqmLH4DtEartKr1u2yoxKqXRMKoJSoxGRwpwz1z3DWjyUmLsiOZLC26K_Q/s400/Calico+Printer.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Block printer at work.<br />“Calico” was another general<br />term for a printed textile.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were three basic ways to transfer a pattern to fabric: block printing, copperplate printing, and roller printing. Block printing uses carved wooden blocks, one for each color in the design, to which colorant is applied before being placed on the fabric and struck with a mallet to impress the pattern. Though the basic idea behind block printing is simple, it required great skill to precisely align the blocks to create the pattern, and the more colors used, the more difficult it was. Nonetheless, even as new technologies for printing were introduced, block printing remained the most common technique until the early 19th century.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the 1750s, copperplate printing was introduced in Ireland. This form of printing fabric uses the same principles as printing on paper—a metal plate is engraved with the design and ink (or dye) is applied to the plate. Copperplate printing had some advantages over block printing: patterns could be much bigger (because the printing was done with a press in which the fabric was laid on top of the plate) and images could be much more detailed and realistic. Copperplate printing was used to produce the famous <i>toiles de jouy,</i> but was also used for chintzes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A major revolution in printed textiles came at the end of the 18th century with the invention of roller printing. This uses an engraved plate fixed to a continuously rolling cylinder, which is refreshed with new coloring medium on each turn and prints the fabric in one pass from end to end. Roller printing eliminated the need to reposition the block or plate, as well as the fabric, after each impression. The advantages were immediately apparent—printing was much faster and thus, cheaper. For the first time, printed textiles could be produced on a large scale. This, combined with new developments in chemical dyes, meant that by the 1830s, they were no longer luxury goods exclusively for the middle and upper class, but were widely available (they lost much of their prestige among the well-to-do at this point—hence the term “chintzy” for something cheap or gaudy).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggjiGlYpXZCu_R34gt5Bs_D5IFiUB0oBNi-XEPXFOYVQUSloAqbX71dvM3A0G_JlYY9jdJ4J0Th-aYsUSuWZnxlTpO5PkI4692U51HH6EhKMrMGRtYX9pn8h2pTizsc8-VMAMkWKcxhrg/s1600/chintz+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggjiGlYpXZCu_R34gt5Bs_D5IFiUB0oBNi-XEPXFOYVQUSloAqbX71dvM3A0G_JlYY9jdJ4J0Th-aYsUSuWZnxlTpO5PkI4692U51HH6EhKMrMGRtYX9pn8h2pTizsc8-VMAMkWKcxhrg/s320/chintz+detail.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Detail of bedspread. Note that the pattern runs all<br />the way to the selvedge.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The narrow width of the material in the bedspread, combined with the crisp, detailed printing and use of multiple colors, suggests that this fabric was roller-printed. The muted color scheme, and the use of blue overprinting on yellow to produce green, suggests a date prior to the 1830s. The dark background is also more common in later printed textiles. This material still has its original glazing, produced through the application of friction to create a crisp, glossy finish. Normally glazing would wear off through use and washing, but a purely decorative bedcover like this one would not need much washing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As is unfortunately the case with many of the items in the collection, we don’t know how Alice acquired this bedspread or what its history might be. But it certainly makes a fine addition to the Sheraton Room!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Printed Textiles 1760-1860 in the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum</i> (Smithsonian Institution, 1987).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eileen Jahnke Trestain, <i>Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide, 1800-1960</i> (Paducah, KY: American Quilter’s Society, 1998).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“18th Century Printed Cotton Fabrics,” <a href="http://demodecouture.com/cotton/">http://demodecouture.com/cotton/</a></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-1896937347048502882017-05-18T11:07:00.000-04:002017-05-18T11:07:44.652-04:00The Celebration That Wasn’t: The 1914-1915 Peace Centenary<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFt56SZO3cT2RfM0nIrA2Jmsx4VipOyKssDaz04Qa_o2sHNjYYvpJz4bk-R0gzqxBGMEyinFb8FmuNt278hXadEbvm9wUiS0zWbW8FrGwspbntEoM8YnFQenVm42W3sOn9SoIaIQNFos/s1600/640px-Signing_of_Treaty_of_Ghent_%25281812%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNFt56SZO3cT2RfM0nIrA2Jmsx4VipOyKssDaz04Qa_o2sHNjYYvpJz4bk-R0gzqxBGMEyinFb8FmuNt278hXadEbvm9wUiS0zWbW8FrGwspbntEoM8YnFQenVm42W3sOn9SoIaIQNFos/s320/640px-Signing_of_Treaty_of_Ghent_%25281812%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Signing of the Treaty of Ghent</i><br />by Amédée Forestier, 1914</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everyone loves a centennial celebration, and in 1910 a group of American and British citizens were already preparing for what they believed would be a significant anniversary. 1914-1915 would mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, ending the War of 1812 and beginning of one hundred years of peace between Britain and the US. Peace Centenary Committees had been formed on both sides of the Atlantic, and plans were being made to mark the occasion with the appropriate plaques, ceremonies, pageants, and monuments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A pamphlet issued in 1913 laid out the aims and plans of the Committee. The members especially wished to emphasize the special relationship among English-speaking people in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, and their common cultural, legal, and political traditions. At a time when new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were arriving in ever-larger numbers, and African-Americans were pushing back against the restrictions of segregation and discrimination, many Americans of British ancestry sought ways to place so-called “Anglo-Saxon” heritage at the center of the culture—and by doing so assure the security of their own position as the political and social leaders of the nation.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorIO4vS5AcrwzHSdhG8QYUHc-et0ikaFG7Ga122ws5L0WT3_VGlwBnQpqV0VCOp2h82l5hsyTefMDh2N3ZANHpR5u0nfdORsVL7nBYyQrjPi7btHRJWOHZbtUzmgvYWtjOa3pVXxNiA0/s1600/peace+stamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorIO4vS5AcrwzHSdhG8QYUHc-et0ikaFG7Ga122ws5L0WT3_VGlwBnQpqV0VCOp2h82l5hsyTefMDh2N3ZANHpR5u0nfdORsVL7nBYyQrjPi7btHRJWOHZbtUzmgvYWtjOa3pVXxNiA0/s320/peace+stamp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Design for a commemorative postage stamp</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Committee suggested a wide range of commemorative activities for 1914-1915, from the traditional placing of historic markers to more grandiose plans, such as the erection of a companion to the Statue of Liberty, “Peace,” on an artificial island in New York Harbor. Other ideas included a ceremonial banquet to be held in Ghent on January 8, 1815, replicating the one held in 1815, “a great merchant marine parade from Buffalo to Duluth and return, with celebrations in the border cities and towns,” a “Museum of the Peaceful Arts,” to be established in New York, and memorial arches to be built at the US-Canadian border between New York and Quebec, and Washington and British Columbia. Most of these activities were to be planned and executed by local committees, of which the Northern New York Committee was by far the largest with over 300 members.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914 put a halt to most of these plans. While the United States did not enter the war until April 1917, the general feeling was that celebrating peace in the midst of war didn’t make a lot of sense. Moreover, there was a reluctance to spend money on pageantry and monuments when those funds could be used to support the war effort. Cities like Plattsburgh and New Orleans that had already organized commemorative events for 1914 carried on as planned, but most of the other ideas were never carried out (Ghent was under German occupation by January 1915, so no banquet), or had to wait until the war was over (a Peace Arch was eventually constructed on the Washington-British Columbia border, but not until 1921).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One task that the Committee was able to carry out successfully was the purchase of Sulgrave Manor, the English ancestral home of George Washington. Lawrence Washington, great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of George, acquired the manor in 1539, and members of the Washington family lived there for about 70 years. The Committee hoped that in time, Sulgrave Manor would become a “shrine” and a place of pilgrimage for Washington’s admirers in Britain, just as Mount Vernon was in the United States.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DOBd692dSr80-PKTSY9iMFmn5q3FZCZ3QLjnEOM6bPvjjmlKIlkvc3DvZYbzh021Vl2c7eiPKfcBeyoVm5QP_ASyj8IZQ3KNaE3TAmT2TMiCDdbRSvvDqkAqUTzhI5tiSPhnk6vifhA/s1600/Sulgrave+Manor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DOBd692dSr80-PKTSY9iMFmn5q3FZCZ3QLjnEOM6bPvjjmlKIlkvc3DvZYbzh021Vl2c7eiPKfcBeyoVm5QP_ASyj8IZQ3KNaE3TAmT2TMiCDdbRSvvDqkAqUTzhI5tiSPhnk6vifhA/s400/Sulgrave+Manor.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Appeal for support of Sulgrave Manor<br />sent to William Miner</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Washington’s connection to Sulgrave Manor was fairly tenuous. By the time his great-grandfather left England for Virginia in the 1650s, the family had long since left the village of Sulgrave. Washington probably didn’t know much about his “ancestral estate” or his English forebears. But what was important to the people who preserved Sulgrave Manor in the early 20th century was the link it provided to that precious “Anglo-Saxon” heritage. It allowed them to emphasize that Washington was English, the product of many generations of English traditions, and therefore imbued with all the virtues that they associated with England, particularly those found in small rural, pre-industrial communities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Records in the Alice’s archives show that William Miner donated $200 to the Sulgrave Institute and $250 to the Washington Manor House fund prior to 1922 (the building was officially dedicated in June 1921). At this time, Alice and William Miner were involved with the restoration of the Kent Delord House in Plattsburgh, and plans were underway for the Colonial Home in Chazy. William Miner was also engaged in researching his own English ancestry. Supporting the restoration of Sulgrave Manor would have fit into their larger philanthropic goals and ideas about historic preservation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ethel Armes, <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=WY4lAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=sulgrave+institution&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwit_NKYl_fTAhVi74MKHaKTBXYQ6AEIPDAF#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Washington Manor House: England’s Gift to the World</a></i> (New York: The Sulgrave Institution, 1922).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">American Committee for the Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of Peace Among English-Speaking Peoples, <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/generalprospectu02amer">General Prospectus of the Project to Celebrate the Centennial of the Signing of the Treaty of Ghent</a></i> (New York, 1913).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Marquess of Crewe, “The Sulgrave Institution and the Anglo-American Society,” 1922 (pamphlet in museum archives).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“The Sulgrave Institution of the United States and of the British Commonwealth: A Statement and Programme,” ca. 1923 (pamphlet in museum archives).</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-47110192189448084422017-04-26T10:08:00.000-04:002017-08-17T17:23:43.729-04:00Transforming the Debris of War: Trench Art of World War I<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluDDG21BfAV2vruCKS-HpDOAuf6TLsD17lleWyhaszeBG3nUooqrt2JQYI6DRkxSNwbb7ei9PX8k5Dv-L7HPmnbaA0zBM9I3lq-nBMltyEgHE6uAeyopio9iUlaGAlDLWD-LWVxoIDN4/s1600/pile+of+shells+after+battle+of+passchendaele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluDDG21BfAV2vruCKS-HpDOAuf6TLsD17lleWyhaszeBG3nUooqrt2JQYI6DRkxSNwbb7ei9PX8k5Dv-L7HPmnbaA0zBM9I3lq-nBMltyEgHE6uAeyopio9iUlaGAlDLWD-LWVxoIDN4/s320/pile+of+shells+after+battle+of+passchendaele.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soldiers resting on a pile of shell cases after the <br />Battle of Passchendaele, September 1917<br /><a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205079801">Imperial War Museums</a> </span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">© IWM (Q 2915)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The technological developments of the late 19th and early 20th century meant that World War I was a new kind of warfare. Machine guns, mortars, and other field artillery vastly increased the range of munitions fire, but also discouraged troop movements. Instead, opposing armies dug into protective trenches from which they could fire at each other, with occasional attempts to gain ground by going “over the top.” The constant noise of artillery, and the massive numbers of shell cases and other debris left behind by this type of warfare, had a profound effect on the men in the trenches. One of the ways in which they processed this experience was through the production and purchase of so-called “trench art.”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBFp-RyHJHxHZJ5Pv7jZUuw1dITLh8MmC1Hqbo0cQ5Rn_6D9UxAZceXF6LZ_lL6F0lFdKLIPIUlcPvfNo7jfwKObVDTlg1PfkvIxWKCe70HqvdvK4ZsoyUvP2NGqUIQxulDpiumMHYrJk/s1600/Trench+art+matchbox+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBFp-RyHJHxHZJ5Pv7jZUuw1dITLh8MmC1Hqbo0cQ5Rn_6D9UxAZceXF6LZ_lL6F0lFdKLIPIUlcPvfNo7jfwKObVDTlg1PfkvIxWKCe70HqvdvK4ZsoyUvP2NGqUIQxulDpiumMHYrJk/s320/Trench+art+matchbox+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Matchbox cover decorated with insignia of the<br />Royal Canadian Artillery<br /><a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30083820">Imperial War Museums</a> <span style="text-align: start;"> </span><span style="text-align: start;">© IWM (EPH 4285)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trench art encompasses a whole range of objects made from shells, shell cases, detonators, bullets, shrapnel, and other scrap metal both during and after World War I. During the war, many of these pieces were made by off-duty soldiers as a way to fill their time and make some extra money. They fashioned items like cigarette lighters, matchbox covers, letter openers, and pens from scrap metal, sometimes personalizing them or decorating them with the insignia of regiments stationed in the area. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the war, economic deprivation, combined with the widespread availability of war débris, produced a thriving civilian trench art industry in France and Belgium. Individuals continued to produce items for sale to war widows, pilgrims, and battlefield tourists until war broke out again in 1939. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8HE99UmrBUBuxb30kvXIVALAPmYhMTrFULNaFNlCjw4Q9JTpNd6A9xCvANDwqOAvv_-ntHbt11DKOFxfKpVnR37Ao3TEUHTgFv3D5jPzpu14j9vBozht2QM7Gu6_jmiLQKZNEswoGSk/s1600/Trench+art+crucifix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8HE99UmrBUBuxb30kvXIVALAPmYhMTrFULNaFNlCjw4Q9JTpNd6A9xCvANDwqOAvv_-ntHbt11DKOFxfKpVnR37Ao3TEUHTgFv3D5jPzpu14j9vBozht2QM7Gu6_jmiLQKZNEswoGSk/s320/Trench+art+crucifix.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Battlefield souvenir crucifix </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30081931">Imperial War Museums</a> </span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">© IWM (EPH 1915)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nicholas Saunders, who has written extensively about trench art, notes that the large number of soldiers declared “missing,” along with the British decision not to repatriate the dead, meant that there was a continuous stream of visitors to the old Western Front between 1919 and 1939. Many of these visitors appear to have returned home with some sort of trench art souvenir. “Such objects,” Saunders writes, “were often the only material reminder of the dead.” Widows and family members purchased trench art for a variety of reasons: “as souvenirs of a visit, as acts of worship to the deceased’s memory, and of solidarity and empathy with local people for whom their loved ones had died and whose economic hardships were everywhere apparent.” There was an additional layer of irony here, too, as many of the women who later visited the battlefields had themselves worked in the factories that produced the weapons of war.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHm2FOz0D2KMLXrrnmLsw0-uhEZqC6WxliRgbDDVp9Q0pgh34hChXscsWdLnpLMFUn7VD2N8TNaXUj1H4OPEP6PofiN1uanG_IEBb2wf2IgtpeaGltoiUd9iEtueNKSmYGtgyngQRIUb0/s1600/trench+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHm2FOz0D2KMLXrrnmLsw0-uhEZqC6WxliRgbDDVp9Q0pgh34hChXscsWdLnpLMFUn7VD2N8TNaXUj1H4OPEP6PofiN1uanG_IEBb2wf2IgtpeaGltoiUd9iEtueNKSmYGtgyngQRIUb0/s320/trench+art.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trench art of unknown origin and purpose</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The origin and purpose of this piece of trench art from the Alice’s collection is unknown. It is made of scrap brass and a bullet, and is decorated with a German Iron Cross medal and a flattened metal disc, possibly a coin or button. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It may have been intended for use as an ashtray.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The nature of the item suggests that it was made by a soldier during the war, rather than as a later souvenir. It is possible that this item, like the German helmet we featured last week on our Facebook page, was brought back by local soldier Ralph Worthley Wheeler. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Wheeler went to France with the 26th Engineers, which was responsible for ensuring a steady supply of clean water for soldiers and animals at the front, as well as at hospitals and encampments. He returned to the United States in June 1919 and was hospitalized in New York. He was finally discharged in January 1920, but died just a few weeks later as a result of illness acquired during his service. It is likely that his parents, Ralph and Fannie </span>Wheeler<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> of Chazy, donated his war souvenirs to the Alice </span>after<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> his death.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The meaning of trench art is ambiguous. On the one hand, the fragmented nature of the objects can be seen as reflecting the literal fragmentation of objects, landscapes, and bodies during battle. On the other hand, trench art might be looked at as an attempt to exert some kind of control over the chaos of war, by turning its débris into something useful and even beautiful. For civilians, trench art provided a link to absent loved ones, and by bringing these objects into their homes, they in a </span>sense<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> “domesticated” the war, making shells, bullets, and grenades an </span>everyday<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> part of their environment. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Sources:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Nicholas J. Saunders, “Bodies of Metal, Shells of Memory: ‘Trench Art’ and the Great War Re-cycled,” <i>Journal of Material Culture</i> 5, no. 1 (March 2000): 43-67. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Fergus Read, “Trench Art,” <a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/trench-art-0">Imperial War Museums</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><br /></span></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-13597792061503888402017-04-10T10:04:00.000-04:002017-04-10T10:04:37.774-04:00The American Red Cross in the First World War<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the German Army invaded Belgium in August 1914, it sparked a massive humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Belgian civilians were desperately in need of food, clothing, and medical care, and as the war advanced, this need extended to the occupied regions of northern France as well. Americans quickly moved to support the organizations that were formed to address the crisis. Future president Herbert Hoover first came to national attention as the chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, administering the distribution of over 2 million tons of food in two years. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poster for Red Cross clothing drive</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also at the forefront of humanitarian aid was the American Red Cross. First established in the US in 1881, the Red Cross was still fairly small, but it was one of the few national organizations that was prepared to take on this kind of work. The ARC was able to launch a ship, the <i>SS Red Cross,</i> within a few weeks of the war’s outbreak, carrying medical personnel and supplies to be distributed in England France, Germany, and Russia. Although the United States was still neutral at this time, in September 1914 the ladies of West Chazy were busy making up garments from material donated by local businesses, which they sent to the American Red Cross offices in New York. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the US officially declared war on Germany in April 1917, the role and responsibilities of the Red Cross changed dramatically. The ARC would continue its humanitarian work with civilians in Europe, but would now also take on the responsibility of attending to the needs of American soldiers and their families both at home and overseas. In May 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed a War Council to direct the Red Cross and appointed New York banker Henry P. Davison as its chair.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZ-c97_XoZFG9nVNtaSjYwEnYve-ykKi3eJdm4uhyphenhyphenV3R_GbIqZ56d0PDMpm8Q6B9Gc11gU1lvFo4bUtDLdS4s9YSx6mydxi8cHKwypeYCOcdT2FXTAVNRbOA933qzEc7B8fHDOWnhPBQ/s1600/Red+Cross+pajamas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZ-c97_XoZFG9nVNtaSjYwEnYve-ykKi3eJdm4uhyphenhyphenV3R_GbIqZ56d0PDMpm8Q6B9Gc11gU1lvFo4bUtDLdS4s9YSx6mydxi8cHKwypeYCOcdT2FXTAVNRbOA933qzEc7B8fHDOWnhPBQ/s320/Red+Cross+pajamas.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Official Red Cross pajama pattern<br />Image from <a href="http://www.unsungsewingpatterns.net/2009/04/official-american-red-cross-pattern-no.html">Unsung Sewing Patterns</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Davison, with the assistance of other men from the banking and business communities, completely reorganized the Red Cross. They created 13 geographical divisions, which were further subdivided into chapters (e.g., the Plattsburgh Chapter, which encompassed all of Clinton County) and then into branches (Chazy, Champlain, Mooers, etc.). As Davison wrote, each chapter was “a complete miniature Red Cross” with its own offices and committees. The goal was, as much as possible, to standardize the production, collection, and distribution of the items being made at the local level—socks, bandages, pajamas, “comfort kits,” etc. The Red Cross issued official patterns for knitted and sewn items, and set standards for everything, down to the number of bandages that should come out of each yard of gauze.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IknpTABuiYwAhHf9sKlxFwcfpkYDZziWYt1PdOjmrQLrGEvUcAnZ4Pa6CkjITAACKvfccET6KAm2nqExoHlGBhUiH7EKSLRk8QVWaQaqKwjAM5rw6c7oAcFPWA_V44Iv4zEujBvivww/s1600/War+Fund+Week.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IknpTABuiYwAhHf9sKlxFwcfpkYDZziWYt1PdOjmrQLrGEvUcAnZ4Pa6CkjITAACKvfccET6KAm2nqExoHlGBhUiH7EKSLRk8QVWaQaqKwjAM5rw6c7oAcFPWA_V44Iv4zEujBvivww/s320/War+Fund+Week.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red Cross War Fund Week poster</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to producing clothing and other items for soldiers and refugees, the Red Cross raised funds to be used for war relief work. Most of this fundraising was concentrated into two “war drives,” one-week periods when Americans were urged to focus their efforts on the financial needs of the Red Cross. The Red Cross set a goal of $100 million for each drive (June 18-25, 1917 and May 20-27, 1918) and both times exceeded that goal, collecting over $283 million total.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alice Miner played an important role in helping Chazy raise its share of the second drive’s goal. War Fund Week began with a patriotic meeting at Chazy Central Rural School, at which representatives from the chapter offices spoke about the work of the Red Cross. Three days of canvassing to collect donations followed. Alice, as head of the entertainment committee, organized a screening of the film “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” at the school auditorium, and the Boys’ and Girls’ Glee Clubs performed, raising additional funds. The week culminated with a tea at Heart’s Delight, followed by a dance at Harmony Hall. Guests were free to stroll about the grounds, which were furnished with chairs and hammocks. In all, Chazy raised $1394.59 during War Fund Week in 1918.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg16AVNnyD62AZgLaUX-nFFg9250zTUs6XvFzK7FmSJF83qIOAZZsHnu7ZXGlNn7pBIZgGsjQ5d6sJSnbkSB-8PYGbe3RZZzoLEH_Q0X-amZpTvrAieyYPPfaTjU8M9iHuKEigIJG5XLrQ/s1600/Red+Cross+medal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg16AVNnyD62AZgLaUX-nFFg9250zTUs6XvFzK7FmSJF83qIOAZZsHnu7ZXGlNn7pBIZgGsjQ5d6sJSnbkSB-8PYGbe3RZZzoLEH_Q0X-amZpTvrAieyYPPfaTjU8M9iHuKEigIJG5XLrQ/s320/Red+Cross+medal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Louise Trainer’s Red Cross Service Medal</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alice’s sister Louise Trainer must have also contributed to War Fund Week and other Red Cross activities in Chazy, because she was awarded a service medal for her work in 1918. While the higher levels of administration were mostly filled with men, at the local level, Red Cross work was largely in the hands of women like Alice and Louise. Providing medical care, clothing, and “comforts” for soldiers and their families fell within the realm of activities thought suitable for women, and many of them already had experience working with charitable, missionary, and other volunteer organizations. For people who were unable to fight due to their age or sex, the Red Cross was the ideal organization into which to channel their energy and patriotism.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sources:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“World War I and the American Red Cross,” <a href="http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/red-cross-american-history/WWI"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">redcross.org</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The American Red Cross,” <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://wwionline.org/articles/american-red-cross/">wwionline.org</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Henry P. Davison, <i>The American Red Cross in the Great War</i> (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1919)</span></span></div>
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Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-37592902940528904782017-03-29T14:33:00.003-04:002017-03-29T14:33:49.084-04:00Helen C. Gunsaulus: Collector and Curator<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SdAHZghPn2q9yUfqPqy1cwUf1I4SrBHWO1aTbwbR0XFDZ8DQpqWIfmCkdN7tr82qmsqve6_zhwWLyJUHsLd5p4rV4UQWb3m5ttsHDV_edfyvaodM3SW3lCSz7hA0CLWvOgy9yYBoIx0/s1600/Frank+and+Helen+Gunsaulus.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_SdAHZghPn2q9yUfqPqy1cwUf1I4SrBHWO1aTbwbR0XFDZ8DQpqWIfmCkdN7tr82qmsqve6_zhwWLyJUHsLd5p4rV4UQWb3m5ttsHDV_edfyvaodM3SW3lCSz7hA0CLWvOgy9yYBoIx0/s320/Frank+and+Helen+Gunsaulus.png" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frank and Helen Gunsaulus, 1915</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Frank W. Gunsaulus is a recurring character in the story of the Alice T. Miner Museum, appearing most recently in our last post as a mutual friend and fellow collector of Alice and Emma B. Hodge. The close relationship between the Miners and Frank Gunsaulus extended to the rest of the Gunsaulus family and particularly his youngest daughter, Helen. As a young woman, she worked closely with her father to curate and research his collections, and eventually came to occupy an important position in the Chicago museum world in her own right. A recognized expert in Japanese art, she cataloged Alice Miner’s collection of Japanese woodblock prints in 1927.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Helen C. Gunsaulus was born in 1886 in Baltimore, Maryland, where her father was the pastor of Brown Memorial Church. The following year, Rev. Gunsaulus was called to the Plymouth Congregational Church and the family settled in Chicago. Helen attended Ferry Hall School, a girls’ preparatory academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, and then went to the University of Chicago, graduating in 1908. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like many young women of her class and background, she spent a year traveling in Europe after completing her formal education. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Helen’s work in museums began through her own collecting (a selection of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surimono">surimono</a></i> from her collection was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1912) and her work with her father. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1916, Frank Gunsaulus donated his collection of Japanese sword mounts to the Field Museum of Natural History, and Helen took on the task of preparing a catalog. Three years later, she was formally hired as assistant curator of Japanese ethnology, which (as the museum’s annual report stated) would permit “the systematic and intelligent study and disposition of considerable material in this division...Miss Gunsaulus brings to the work she has undertaken, studious habit and special training, with enthusiasm and aptness for museum practice, as the work thus far done upon the collections in this division gives evidence.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5BcvTc5F7BOR7YYqXay3DBz-GjORypljit6OFhIpRIh7Gj8tFprmpTT02t4Q1oU6Y2VB9QJrCoCqCyCrZTiTk789SiM1d_-xlDjZ1kPsHQAoEMDG6l6Ofh9Yc5mfJ0zARrK3uHe3qpLc/s1600/Helen+Gunsaulus+1920s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5BcvTc5F7BOR7YYqXay3DBz-GjORypljit6OFhIpRIh7Gj8tFprmpTT02t4Q1oU6Y2VB9QJrCoCqCyCrZTiTk789SiM1d_-xlDjZ1kPsHQAoEMDG6l6Ofh9Yc5mfJ0zARrK3uHe3qpLc/s320/Helen+Gunsaulus+1920s.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helen Gunsaulus in her office<br />at the Art Institute, 1920s</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the early 20th century, as more white, middle- and upper-class women were joining the workforce, they found the museum field one of the most friendly and open to them. Unlike professions like law and medicine, which had educational and licensing requirements that were difficult for women to meet, museum work had no universal qualifications. The world of art could also be seen as an extension of the domestic sphere. Women like Helen Gunsaulus, who came from well-to-do families and had been raised to appreciate art and had the means to travel, in addition to being college-educated, were in many ways ideal museum workers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1926, Helen became assistant curator of Oriental Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although the Department of Oriental Art was only established in 1921, the museum had been collecting Japanese prints and other artworks since the early 1900s and had presented a groundbreaking exhibits of prints (organized by Frank Lloyd Wright) in 1908. Clarence Buckingham’s extensive Japanese print collection was first shown in 1915 and was formally accessioned in 1925. After the death of long-time curator Frederick Gookin in 1936, Helen Gunsaulus took over as Curator of the Clarence Buckingham Print Collection. Though Japanese prints were her specialty, she also wrote on a variety of other subjects, including Japanese textiles, clothing, and masks, Near Eastern embroidery, and Persian pottery.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigTgHxedYSyHCLf_vqwYXaBSSj4uGIxGfG4-nUunitanMMS8fFkuFYs24VGNtDbN61Jxtdpt8k0lzpxyA-CShXG6nyKcy8ZfMRcAcJo1SjQtgid4QUzjS1mluqrfGza8-LXoTZR8AJjaE/s1600/Helen+Gunsaulus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigTgHxedYSyHCLf_vqwYXaBSSj4uGIxGfG4-nUunitanMMS8fFkuFYs24VGNtDbN61Jxtdpt8k0lzpxyA-CShXG6nyKcy8ZfMRcAcJo1SjQtgid4QUzjS1mluqrfGza8-LXoTZR8AJjaE/s320/Helen+Gunsaulus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Helen Gunsaulus (far right) at Heart’s Delight Farm, 1917</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was shortly after her appointment as curator of Oriental art that Helen came to Chazy to catalog Alice Miner’s collection of Japanese prints. The print collection had been assembled by Emma Hodge, perhaps with Helen’s advice. After her visit, Helen wrote to William Miner, saying, “Do not ever mention being indebted to me and mine after all of the generous and beautiful evidences of your friendship. I can never ever repay either if you for your kindness. Anything I can do for you is the greatest satisfaction to me. It was a pleasure to work on the prints and I learned a great deal in studying them and working out their meanings and the names of their makers.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Helen lived in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood with her partner, Helen Mackenzie, who also worked at the Art Institute of Chicago (first as curator of the Children’s Museum, and later as the curator of the Gallery of Art Interpretation). They both retired in 1943 and moved to their summer home on Cape Cod, where they were active members of the community, organizing exhibits and other programs at the South Yarmouth public library. When Helen Gunsaulus died in 1954, her extensive collection of Japanese prints went to the Art Institute of Chicago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Information about Helen Gunsaulus’s life was drawn from census and other records available through Ancestry.com, articles in the <i>Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago,</i> <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Gunsaulus%2C+Helen+Cowen%22">Field Museum publications</a>, and the <i><a href="http://archives.chicagotribune.com/">Chicago Tribune</a></i>.</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 458px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 24px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 458px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 24px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-171816143766484352017-03-10T09:36:00.000-05:002017-03-10T09:36:37.444-05:00A Partner in Collecting: Emma B. Hodge<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmBZFPUOP-xL0M0rryMvqjUR_3_g_SCdAU6wvS8uVGa0tLc9BkmXEKVjUcTfZl-Clu8Bwk0xkEi1dtnVZj0ws68Y9bxgcn8737yzqAgPQc0YMnXLvIba24khVZRCZX7Y6OJlEWOZou67o/s1600/Emma+B.+Hodge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmBZFPUOP-xL0M0rryMvqjUR_3_g_SCdAU6wvS8uVGa0tLc9BkmXEKVjUcTfZl-Clu8Bwk0xkEi1dtnVZj0ws68Y9bxgcn8737yzqAgPQc0YMnXLvIba24khVZRCZX7Y6OJlEWOZou67o/s320/Emma+B.+Hodge.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Publicity photo of Emma B. Hodge</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Alice T. Miner herself, the individual who probably did the most to shape the way the museum looks today is Emma B. Hodge. Her influence is most evident in the ceramic collection, which Alice acquired under her mentorship, but she also donated books, textiles, Japanese prints, and ephemera such as Valentines. An early collector of American folk art, Hodge also played an important role in the Art Institute of Chicago as a patron and a donor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Emma Blanxius was born in 1862 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Christian and Amelia Petterson Blanxius. Like Alice, Emma came from a large family and had three older sisters. By 1870, the Blanxius family had moved to Chicago and as a teenager Emma—whose parents were both immigrants from Sweden—joined the Freja Society, a Swedish and Norwegian choral group. Through the Freja Society she met Walter Hodge, an English immigrant working in a dry-goods store. They were married in 1879 and had three children.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SFuVylscIraX9DiIIwr04_kp3mC_vEpuCcUzmro-apz46fIEsLV5kGJ7OmaRE0sa5u13k1x3hzp1gxGxW_RkKe6tKX26zKJZUfJm_zZFzMuVtmX5Dy-iC-o14ZpfzSD7GRhXqLgI0ZY/s1600/Frank+Gunsaulus+and+Central+Church+Choir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SFuVylscIraX9DiIIwr04_kp3mC_vEpuCcUzmro-apz46fIEsLV5kGJ7OmaRE0sa5u13k1x3hzp1gxGxW_RkKe6tKX26zKJZUfJm_zZFzMuVtmX5Dy-iC-o14ZpfzSD7GRhXqLgI0ZY/s400/Frank+Gunsaulus+and+Central+Church+Choir.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Frank Gunsaulus (left), Emma Hodge (second from right),<br />and other Central Church Choir members at Heart’s Delight</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The 1900 census shows that by that time Hodge was a widow living with her children, her mother, and her sister Jene (both also widowed). She supported her family as a professional musician, singing in the choir of the Central Church in Chicago. This nondenominational church had been established in 1875 and was as much a theatrical venue as it was a religious one. Music was a focal point of its services, and in 1879 it had moved into the newly built Central Music Hall, a multi-use building that held shops and offices along with an auditorium. Emma Hodge had previously been a member of the Plymouth Congregational Church choir, but when its pastor, Frank W. Gunsaulus, moved to Central Church in 1899, she came with him. In addition to singing at church services, the Central Church quartet performed widely throughout the United States, often accompanying Gunsaulus in “musical lectures.”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDbNx0abMVjXWnw4hIyySpqvH44tqRJ-mpBN2kg89v2s_FoY5I9uC4phJUl9gPjcXwa1Ut5hx-D3w3gXrOP50j9XZ1sm26wGNawZfqc-B-efFH05fQr68qiwoGvqGX1nzwyfipqF66vU/s1600/Emma+Hodge+quilt+exhibit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcDbNx0abMVjXWnw4hIyySpqvH44tqRJ-mpBN2kg89v2s_FoY5I9uC4phJUl9gPjcXwa1Ut5hx-D3w3gXrOP50j9XZ1sm26wGNawZfqc-B-efFH05fQr68qiwoGvqGX1nzwyfipqF66vU/s320/Emma+Hodge+quilt+exhibit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Quilts from Emma Hodge’s collection on display at<br />the Art Institute of Chicago, 1915</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s not clear if Alice Miner originally met Emma Hodge through her friendship with Frank Gunsaulus, or the other way around, but the three of them shared interests in collecting books, ceramics, textiles, and other decorative arts, and were early supporters of the Art Institute of Chicago. Between 1912 and 1915, Hodge and her sister, Jene Bell, lent and then donated over one thousand pieces of American and English ceramics to the Art Institute in honor of their mother Amelia. Hodge also became interested in collecting textiles, particularly quilts and samplers. To Hodge, quilts represented “the story of American women from Jamestown and Plymouth down; the story of their thoughts and hopes and dreams, as well as the skill of their fingers.” Though Hodge and her fellow Colonial Revival-influenced collectors tended to romanticize the past, they also were some of the first people to recognize quilts, samplers, and other women’s work as art.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZW4NJpQ-z1wyid9PwOve-rgchD451ZB3K6R8Sy806rckEZN1D2F2lZY1MCIdIdlEnM2lllugvkfxdbs0rRhqgTIopKmkMRrJd47LZpA5hXnM_pOHOdYKLD59_PT5JLV48QXoDZNEiNkU/s1600/Russian+towel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZW4NJpQ-z1wyid9PwOve-rgchD451ZB3K6R8Sy806rckEZN1D2F2lZY1MCIdIdlEnM2lllugvkfxdbs0rRhqgTIopKmkMRrJd47LZpA5hXnM_pOHOdYKLD59_PT5JLV48QXoDZNEiNkU/s1600/Russian+towel.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Embroidered Russian towel<br /><a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/76320?search_no=16&index=24">Art Institute of Chicago</a>, <br />gift of Emma Hodge (1919)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Emma Hodge also understood the power of art and museums to shape public opinion. In 1918 she organized an exhibit at the Art Institute of textiles from Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Russia—all areas that experienced profound suffering during World War I. As one newspaper reporter observed, knowledge of what was currently happening in those regions “looms like a ghost at the feast of enjoyment of color and design.” The beauty of the textiles stood in contrast with the suffering of their makers, and helped to humanize people who might otherwise have seemed distant and foreign to Americans. By generating sympathy for those ravaged by the “war machine,” the exhibit also had the potential to encourage support for organizations like the Red Cross.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hodge’s 1918 textile exhibit was held in Gunsaulus Hall, a recently opened addition to the Art Institute which had been funded by a $50,000 gift from William and Alice Miner. Even as the Miners turned more of their attention to Chazy and Heart’s Delight Farm, they remained connected to Chicago’s art world through friends like Emma Hodge. As for Emma, she became nationally known as an expert in antiques, and was the frequent recipient of queries from people who believed—or hoped—that they were the owners of some rare and valuable piece. As her obituary notice in the <i>Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago</i> stated, “It was often her uncheering task to reply that these cherished possessions were worth little or nothing, a duty she accomplished with rare tact and kindness.” Until the end of her life in 1928, she remained an “enthusiast and delver into the historical past,” and an “unfailing and patient adviser of the new collector.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1924, Emma Hodge presented Alice Miner with a massive scrapbook of newspaper clippings, programs, photographs, and other material about herself and their mutual friend Frank Gunsaulus. Much of the information in this post comes from the scrapbook. Information was also drawn from Judith A. Barter and Monica Obniski, <i>For Kith and Kin: The Folk Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago</i> (2012). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-34939570489462698672017-02-28T10:31:00.000-05:002017-02-28T11:07:36.071-05:00“A Negro girl five Years old named Phillis”: Slavery in Northern New York<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0CdlSFOD8XlRaht0iJ9zsdfjmsaxZiNj1JgdVQ2_pyXpdvRTBprpDLZjEwOY_O-RQW4DfYopdUBfhub08Fdmcg3_7cp4tpVCMyaFkbvXBMhw0UCxUrh8T0VXICXT7AhVFjkRPTxWI-4/s1600/Franklin+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0CdlSFOD8XlRaht0iJ9zsdfjmsaxZiNj1JgdVQ2_pyXpdvRTBprpDLZjEwOY_O-RQW4DfYopdUBfhub08Fdmcg3_7cp4tpVCMyaFkbvXBMhw0UCxUrh8T0VXICXT7AhVFjkRPTxWI-4/s320/Franklin+detail.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Detail of quilt made by Anna Moore Hubbell.<br />Textile ca. 1785-1800</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post begins with a return to an item from the Alice’s collection that I’ve discussed several times before, on the <a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2015/04/where-liberty-dwells-there-is-my.html">blog</a> and on North Country Public Radio’s “<a href="https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/29781/20151013/adirondack-attic-patriotic-quilt-at-the-alice-t-miner-museum">Adirondack Attic</a>.” The quilt made by Anna Moore Hubbell using a patriotic textile is truly one of the gems of the collection due to the unique nature of the object itself, as well as its connection to local history. Anna (1790-1861) was the daughter of Pliny Moore, one of the founders of the town of Champlain, and the wife of Julius C. Hubbell, a long-time prominent citizen and lawyer in Chazy. The quilt was donated to Alice T. Miner by Anna’s granddaughter Isabella Mygatt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The textile that Anna Hubbell repurposed to make the quilt was originally part of the furnishings of Pliny Moore’s elegant residence in Champlain. In this post, I want to take a closer look at the residents of that household, which included not just Pliny Moore and his wife and seven children but an enslaved woman named Phillis. Although very little information about Phillis has entered into the official historical record, her life nonetheless opens a window into the often-neglected history of slavery in northern New York.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYdpHybqOWi8z6JWqcP61e7hzFy0V9bDxsFnVKFQgrh4at7JzwnV7xPHM63_K-NTRH2rlmyzNOgK9GUBDlZInpnV9B5kPrzJkIPLMDNBk3bWaGUgq7ttDDzCj3G65estqMCygJ8hhkfM/s1600/map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYdpHybqOWi8z6JWqcP61e7hzFy0V9bDxsFnVKFQgrh4at7JzwnV7xPHM63_K-NTRH2rlmyzNOgK9GUBDlZInpnV9B5kPrzJkIPLMDNBk3bWaGUgq7ttDDzCj3G65estqMCygJ8hhkfM/s320/map.png" width="272" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Map showing location of Kinderhook<br />and Champlain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First, let’s look at how and why Pliny Moore settled in Champlain. Moore was born in 1759 in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Like many 18th century families, the Moores made several moves in search of new prospects—first to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and then to Spencertown, New York, near Kinderhook. During the Revolutionary War, Moore enlisted in a regiment commanded by Colonel Marinus Willett and earned a lieutenant’s commission. Moore’s Revolutionary War service would prove to be significant in a number of ways, not least of which was the fact that his second enlistment took place under a new law which offered land bounties for soldiers; as an officer he was entitled to receive 1,000 acres. As early as 1782, Moore began purchasing claims from fellow soldiers, or taking on the job of locating land on their behalf in exchange for a portion of their claims. Why, exactly, Moore was drawn to northern New York, remains unknown, but he began to formulate a project for a grant along the Canadian border in 1783.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For several years, Pliny Moore traveled back and forth between Kinderhook and what would become Champlain, surveying land, laying out lots, building dams and sawmills. During this time he also married Martha Corbin and their first child, Noadiah, was born in 1788. In the spring of 1789, the family settled permanently in Champlain, which was now part of the newly-created Clinton County. Moore tried his hand at almost every kind of business that could be done in northern New York—timbering, making potash, milling, carding and fulling wool, maple sugaring, along with farming and livestock raising. He became an agent for John Jacob Astor and others, receiving furs coming into the United States from Canada, and served as postmaster for the town of Champlain and county court justice and later judge.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0t8MUACjMoXjeyzvqyVWLILmCSKtQDH5hJkdwJEXzHpYqxdUkcyv0xgfg-yViZHLXLkKWaKbNgvZesBjx_2sFN0Noig57mI0E52d1OV7Dl27uQn574nMREMvMqIAit1eU0Y6iryCzzM/s1600/pliny+moore+house.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0t8MUACjMoXjeyzvqyVWLILmCSKtQDH5hJkdwJEXzHpYqxdUkcyv0xgfg-yViZHLXLkKWaKbNgvZesBjx_2sFN0Noig57mI0E52d1OV7Dl27uQn574nMREMvMqIAit1eU0Y6iryCzzM/s320/pliny+moore+house.gif" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pliny Moore’s home, as depicted in an 1869 publication</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During this period, Moore maintained his connections to the southern part of the state, where many members of the Moore and Corbin families still lived. In 1793, he purchased a slave from Isaac Van Slyk of Kinderhook. The deed of sale simply describes her as “a Negro girl five Years old named Phillis”; Moore paid £14 (about $65) for her. Moore likely purchased Phillis with the idea that she could provide domestic assistance for his growing family, which by that time included three young children. Owning a slave was also a sign of status. Like many people who moved to frontier regions during this period, Moore was eager to find ways to demonstrate that he was nonetheless a man of gentility. The house he built in 1801, furnished with fashionable items like patriotic textiles, would be the ultimate symbol of refinement, but even before then, Moore was showing his neighbors he was a man of substance by purchasing a slave.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSv6XyUkyZ3rHj3XI1RdbvneDLJzQ8edicZenAt1GvnnW5V66uuY0aFNauqa_EasObRSVdgQE_yr6ymSkFCPU0MgiuDk70J9d76CdQbW2Fk7XrmHMdXRamBS3d23z623WfYRUCZRVzOw/s1600/nieu+amsterdam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSv6XyUkyZ3rHj3XI1RdbvneDLJzQ8edicZenAt1GvnnW5V66uuY0aFNauqa_EasObRSVdgQE_yr6ymSkFCPU0MgiuDk70J9d76CdQbW2Fk7XrmHMdXRamBS3d23z623WfYRUCZRVzOw/s320/nieu+amsterdam.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New Amsterdam, engraving ca. 1640</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For five-year-old Phillis, moving 200 miles from her home in Kinderhook to the remote northern outpost of Champlain could only have been deeply traumatic. Although we don’t know anything about her life in Kinderhook, it seems safe to assume that she was taken away from her parents and perhaps siblings and other relatives. Her first language may have been Dutch. In the 18th century, New York State had the largest population of enslaved people in the north, and most of them were concentrated in the Hudson Valley, where the early Dutch settlers had established large landed estates. Phillis thus would have been leaving a place where she was part of a large and long-standing black community, and going to a part of the state where she was one of a small handful of people of color (the 1790 census counted only 33 nonwhite people in all of Clinton County) and would be the only enslaved person in the Moore household.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1799, New York passed a gradual emancipation act, which freed children born to enslaved mothers after July 4, 1799, though they would serve a period of indenture until the age of 28 (for men) or 25 (for women). Anyone already enslaved as of July 4, 1799 would be reclassified as a permanent indentured servant, but effectively was still a slave. In 1817 a new law was passed that would free those slaves born before July 4, 1799—but not until July 4, 1827. When, exactly, Phillis became free is not clear. In 1818, Pliny Moore wrote in his will, “I gave her her freedom many years since[. S]he has hitherto chosen to remain in my family as before her freedom.” However, the 1810 federal census recorded her as a slave in the Moore household. In a society where slavery was disappearing but still had no real place for people of color, “freedom” was a slippery concept.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqIEol0ycyvtf2ySzjSqsQRz3tDCJ1Yja9VjdCegAKGmzKhHCtR6CqWo3-nPi_to5Nwc79XGP0DalvbnGYUUkx0K66P1490HEsy8NUcYa5-XBax_kH0JY352mmQUzW-Hr_L2Ngj6Wkk0/s1600/Cook+in+ordinary+costume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqIEol0ycyvtf2ySzjSqsQRz3tDCJ1Yja9VjdCegAKGmzKhHCtR6CqWo3-nPi_to5Nwc79XGP0DalvbnGYUUkx0K66P1490HEsy8NUcYa5-XBax_kH0JY352mmQUzW-Hr_L2Ngj6Wkk0/s400/Cook+in+ordinary+costume.jpg" width="258" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are no images of Phillis. <br />This drawing of a cook is by<br />Anne-Henriette-Marguerite de Neuvelle,<br />a French émigré who lived in<br />New York from 1807 to 1814.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How much difference it would have made to the material circumstances of Phillis’s life whether she was a slave, an indentured servant, or a free person of color, is a difficult question to answer. Moore framed Phillis’s decision to remain with the family as a choice, but her options were probably fairly limited, particularly because she had children to provide for. Moore stated in his will that Phillis had, in his opinion, “conducted vilely in lewdness & occasioned much trouble & expence with her children yet she has many good qualities is patient honest kind to all my family & much attached to them all.” He left her $10 per year, “as long as her conduct is virtuous,” and hoped that one his children would bring her to live with them after the death of Martha Moore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Moore’s words raise as many questions as they answer. We can guess that her “vile” and “lewd” conduct was probably having children out of wedlock, but we don’t know for sure. How many children did Phillis have, when were they born, who was their father, and what happened to them? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Moore believed that Phillis was “much attached” to his family, and she probably was—but again, she didn’t have a lot of choice, after being taken away from her own family at the age of five. Moore’s financial support was contingent upon Phillis’s good behavior, though it must be said that he used similar leverage on his own children, threatening to disinherit his son Royal, who had eloped with a “worthless Strumpet.” However, Moore also expected that his children would eventually become independent, whereas he assumed that Phillis would continue to be someone’s responsibility for the rest of her life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because everything we know about Phillis comes through the writing of Pliny Moore, she disappears from the historical record after his death in 1822. She probably continued to work for Martha Moore until Martha died in 1825, but what happened to her after that remains a mystery. As is so often the case when researching the lives of non-elite Americans, there are a lot of holes in our knowledge. Still, just acknowledging that Phillis was part of the Moore household and a member of the Champlain community helps to enrich our picture of life in northern New York in the early days of settlement. Pliny Moore is known today as a pioneer, but Phillis was, too. Her labor, and the labor of other men and women, enslaved and free, remembered and unremembered, was essential to the development of the North Country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pliny Moore’s papers, including documents related to the life of Phillis, are part of the McLellan Collection, Special Collections, Feinberg Library, SUNY Plattsburgh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Information about the life of Pliny Moore and his family comes from Allan S. Everest, <i>Pliny Moore: North Country Pioneer of Champlain, New York</i> (Clinton County Historical Association, 1990).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An excellent overview of the history of slavery in New York is <i><a href="https://shop.nyhistory.org/collections/books-media/products/slavery-in-new-york?variant=1209651688">Slavery in New York</a>,</i> a book edited by Ira Berlin and Leslie M. Harris, and published in conjunction with an exhibit of the same name held at the New-York Historical Society in 2005.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-80096094709868108622017-02-13T15:06:00.000-05:002017-02-13T15:07:13.118-05:00William Lee and George Washington<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Washington and His Family,</i> engraved by J. Sartain,<br />published by Wm. Smith, Philadelphia, ca. 1850</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the first things that visitors to the Alice notice are the many images of George Washington to be found throughout the museum. In sculpture, on ceramics, in print, and in painting, his familiar face is everywhere. While many of these images emphasize his military career, others depict him in a more domestic light, as in the engraving of Washington and his family that hangs in the second-floor hallway. This engraving, produced around 1850, is based on a portrait painted by Edward Savage in the 1790s. Savage himself made a number of different engravings of Washington and his family, and its many variations were popular throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Detail of Edward Savage’s painting</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Both the painting and the engravings depict George and Martha Washington seated at a table at Mount Vernon, on which plans for the new capital city are displayed. Standing with them are George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis, two of Martha’s grandchildren, who came to live at Mount Vernon after the death of their father in 1781. Standing behind Martha Washington is William Lee, an enslaved man who served as George Washington’s personal valet and had accompanied him throughout the campaigns of the Revolutionary War.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During his lifetime, William (also known as Billy) Lee was something of a celebrity, and was probably one of the best known African-Americans in the nation. Because of his long and close association with Washington, we know much more about him than we do about most enslaved people of the Revolutionary era. Lee was also the only one of Washington’s slaves who was granted immediate emancipation upon Washington’s death. Billy’s story is therefore a good way to examine George Washington’s relationship to slavery, and particularly the tensions between the ideals of liberty and the reality of bondage that were at the heart of the Revolution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">George Washington became a slaveowner at the age of eleven, when his father died and he inherited ten individuals. Over the years, Washington purchased additional slaves, and inherited others. By the time of his death in 1799, he owned 123 people. Also living at Mount Vernon were 153 enslaved men and women who had belonged to Martha Washington’s first husband, Daniel Parke Custis. Although they were part of Martha’s property during her lifetime, neither she nor George owned them outright. They could not be freed, and after her death they would pass to the remaining Custis heirs. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbgK75rUOLszmaHxxncagsakigUItglWw8rZAWXZAxjFGFbFKtx9ys3hWIvaitOwMz8Lu0_lkn_XNRZOJp4rL6eYANVh4bHw8CXEUfAVtHhpLXryvuqQ4ANWnBQ3uQb6w-xhFWx-cpa4/s1600/Trumbull%252C+Washington+and+Billy+Lee.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbgK75rUOLszmaHxxncagsakigUItglWw8rZAWXZAxjFGFbFKtx9ys3hWIvaitOwMz8Lu0_lkn_XNRZOJp4rL6eYANVh4bHw8CXEUfAVtHhpLXryvuqQ4ANWnBQ3uQb6w-xhFWx-cpa4/s320/Trumbull%252C+Washington+and+Billy+Lee.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another (probably imaginary) depiction <br />of William Lee, by John Trumbull</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">William Lee was one of the slaves that George Washington purchased. He and his brother Frank came to Mount Vernon as teenagers after Washington bought them from Mary Smith Ball Lee. In addition to his duties as valet, Lee also accompanied Washington on surveying expeditions and served as huntsman during fox hunts. George Washington Parke Custis recalled that Billy “rode a horse called <i>Chinkling,</i> a surprising leaper, and made very much like its rider, low, but sturdy, and of great bone and muscle. Will had but one order, which was to keep with the hounds; and, mounted on <i>Chinkling,</i> a French horn at his back, throwing himself almost at length on the animal, with his spur in flank, this fearless horseman would rush, at full speed, through brake or tangled wood, in a style which modern huntsmen would stand aghast.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition to his skill as a horseman, William Lee was known for serving George Washington throughout the Revolutionary War. Lee accompanied Washington on all his campaigns from 1775 to 1783, and was responsible for transporting and safeguarding Washington’s “most precious papers.” Washington and Lee returned to Mount Vernon in December 1783 and resumed their regular patterns. However, during a surveying expedition in 1785, William fell and broke his kneecap. It never healed correctly, and three years later, he fell and broke his other knee. Despite his limited mobility, Lee was determined to accompany President Washington to the capital at New York in 1790. Washington expressed his willingness to “gratify him in every reasonable wish” in recognition of his faithful service, but William Lee stayed only for a short time in New York before returning to Mount Vernon.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Detail of census of enslaved men and women <br />at Mount Vernon, 1799</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nine years later, as George Washington made his will, he again singled out William. His other slaves would only be freed after Martha Washington’s death, but Billy Lee was to be given immediate freedom, if he chose. Or, “</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">if he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment),” he could “remain in the situation he now is.” In either case, he was to be given an annuity of thirty dollars “</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War.” William lived at Mount Vernon until his death in 1810, and was the object of much interest among the many visitors who continued to visit Washington’s former home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For over two hundred years, commentators have used Billy Lee’s story as a way to make their own points about race and slavery. For slavery apologists, Lee was an example of a good slave, one who had earned his freedom through good behavior and loyalty to his master. His life after emancipation, when he developed a drinking problem (no doubt due to his ongoing physical ailments), was seen by some as proof that black people could not really survive outside slavery. Others have looked to the relationship with Billy Lee to find evidence of Washington’s true feelings about slavery. To some, Washington’s relatively indulgent treatment of, and his decision to emancipate, Lee, suggest that Washington came to question the morality of slave ownership. Their documented close relationship seemed to offer proof that friendship and genuine affection between slave and master could exist. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the other hand, Washington <i>could</i> have freed Billy, or any of the 122 other slaves he owned, before his own or Martha’s death. A law passed in Virginia in 1782 made it possible to emancipate slaves by deed (prior to that law, manumission required the approval of the Governor and council). However much he may have come to dislike owning slaves, Washington chose to defer any concrete action until after his death. He had no way of knowing, when he made his will, that Martha Washington would free his remaining slaves a year later, prompted by several suspicious fires that stoked fears of an uprising. When Martha herself died in 1802, the Custis slaves became the property of her grandchildren, but descendants of Washington and Custis slaves continued to live at Mount Vernon and in the surrounding neighborhood for generations, long after the Washingtons themselves were gone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of the information about the life of William Lee comes from Mary V. Thompson, “<a href="https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/06/william-lee-and-oney-judge-a-look-at-george-washington-slavery/">William Lee and Oney Judge: A Look at George Washington and Slavery,</a>” <i>Journal of the American Revolution.</i> Additional information on Washington and slavery can be found at <a href="http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/">Mount Vernon</a>’s website.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two popular 19th-century accounts of the life of Washington that discuss Billy Lee are George Washington Parke Custis, <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5zn155G9fLsC&dq=billy%20lee%20george%20washington&source=gbs_similarbooks">Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington</a></i> (1859) and Benton J. Lossing, <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=8tNCAAAAIAAJ&dq=mount+vernon+and+its+associations&source=gbs_navlinks_s">The Home of Washington: Mount Vernon and Its Associations</a></i> (1871).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For an example of one of Washington’s contemporaries who did free his slaves during his lifetime, read about <a href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Carter_Robert_1728-1804#start_entry">Robert Carter III</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 437px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 438px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 437px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 438px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-11166618962507149792017-02-01T11:05:00.000-05:002017-02-01T11:05:29.422-05:00Talking About the Things That Aren't There<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">February is Black History Month, which means that it’s the time of year when museums around the United States take the opportunity to highlight objects in their collections that tell the story of black Americans. And every year at this time I think about how the Alice can mark the occasion when the collection doesn't seem to include much of relevance to African-American history. In tackling this question, it’s important to think about why the Alice’s collection looks the way it does, and use that knowledge to shape a more inclusive interpretation.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the American Wing’s period rooms,<br />depicting the home of a wealthy Philadelphian.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Alice is very much the product of an approach to collecting that was typical in the early 20th century. Collecting antiques was largely the hobby of well-to-do Americans of northern European descent, and for the most part they were interested in acquiring the sort of items that would have been owned by their ancestors or people like them. They wanted to collect items that were examples of fine craftsmanship, and ideally objects that had some connection to people who had played an important role in the founding of the nation. This was also true of the museum collections of early American decorative arts that were being founded during this period, such as the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The American Wing’s curator, R. T. H. Halsey, wrote in 1925 that the period rooms were “representative of the homes of men—parsons, planters, mariners, merchants, and tradesmen—by whose efforts and sacrifices the Republic was made possible.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Historians, curators, and collectors of the early 20th century generally had a fairly limited view of whose “efforts and sacrifices” were worth remembering. Working people and the poor rarely played a part in their accounts of the past. The existence of slavery was acknowledged but its significance was minimized. In some cases, authors felt that slavery was an embarrassing aberration that was best glossed over, while others upheld the view that it had been a benign and paternalistic institution. And it must be said that many white Americans simply didn’t think that black Americans had contributed much to the nation, nor did they think they really belonged as members of the national community. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJPt6DkmWrf7lrNJu3nCCPHlfaiElkKJXoOycsFOjZxBq-xb4RlLHdNaLvFOpo_uQZ8Ukm-wOlpUWHXBc8oJYghaqcvzxptVXHgaJTURW02BphqE_Ri8gIsqS64Yd7EbBvlTNUY1mvCU/s1600/Carter+Woodson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJPt6DkmWrf7lrNJu3nCCPHlfaiElkKJXoOycsFOjZxBq-xb4RlLHdNaLvFOpo_uQZ8Ukm-wOlpUWHXBc8oJYghaqcvzxptVXHgaJTURW02BphqE_Ri8gIsqS64Yd7EbBvlTNUY1mvCU/s320/Carter+Woodson.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dr. Carter G. Woodson<br />1875-1950</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, during this same period, African-American scholars and activists were working to educate the public about black history. They wanted black Americans to realize that they <i>had</i> a history, and that history was not wholly defined by the experience of slavery. They hoped to instill racial pride by emphasizing the economic, political, military, and cultural contributions of African-Americans. At the same time, they hoped that these messages would reach white Americans and help to counteract assumptions about black inferiority. They wanted everyone to understand that black Americans had a distinct history, but one that was also inseparable from US history.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the most important individuals in this movement—and the reason why we have Black History Month today—was Carter G. Woodson. Woodson was born in Virginia in 1875, the son of former slaves. Largely self-educated as a young man, he eventually completed a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1912, becoming only the second African-American to earn a doctorate. In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and became the editor of the <i>Journal of Negro History. </i>Woodson believed that prejudice was “the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind.” Education, then, would be key to bringing about social change.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Negro History Week Bulletin,<br />1946, with message from<br />President Truman</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To this end, Woodson and the ASNLH established Negro History Week in 1926. They chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and Frederick Douglass (February 14), two days that had long been commemorated in the African-American community. Woodson and the Association set a theme for the celebration each year, and distributed materials: “pictures, lessons for teachers, plays for historical performances, and posters of important dates and people.” Originally the object of Negro History Week was to encourage the teaching of black history in public schools, but it soon spread further. The growing black middle class was particularly receptive to Woodson’s ideas, and black history clubs were formed in many communities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the 1940s, Negro History Week had expanded to the entire month of February in some localities, and the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s encouraged the trend in that direction. The official shift from Negro History Week to Black History Month came in 1976, as it was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford as part of the Bicentennial commemoration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Carter Woodson hoped that Negro History Week would eventually die out because it would become commonplace to teach black history as an integral part of US history. That hasn’t happened yet, but it certainly is true that Americans today are more aware of the importance of black history (witness the overwhelming response to the recent opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture). And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that since black history is so intertwined with broader US history, it shouldn’t really be that difficult to find it at the Alice—we just might have to look a little bit harder to find it. Over the next month, I’ll be telling some of these stories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://asalh100.org/origins-of-black-history-month/">“Origins of Black History Month,” </a>Association for the Study of African American Life and History</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-50612173959278939502016-12-17T10:23:00.000-05:002016-12-17T10:23:44.162-05:00Lamb’s Wool and Smoking Bishop: Christmas Punch Traditions<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No “Christmas Gambols” would be complete<br />without a bowl of punch (1783)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my last post I talked about how Christmas traditions in Britain and North America changed from the 18th to the 19th century, as the holiday became more domestic and child-centric. One thing that remained constant, however, was the place of punch in Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Closely related to the tradition of wassail (a mulled cider or ale also known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassail">lamb’s wool</a>) punch obtained an almost iconic status in the 19th century through the writings of Charles Dickens.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Punch itself has its origins in India, and its first mention in European historical sources comes in a letter from one English East India merchant to another, written in 1632. From India it spread, via merchants and sailors, to the Caribbean, and on to the eastern seaboard of America and to Europe. There is some speculation that the word “punch” derives from the Hindi word <i>panch,</i> meaning five, for the five ingredients, but many punches have more or fewer ingredients.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnxbfefRr_W4kNgrmOkio2fmAAJJ0tzYA717FlBz7zgopvNz-TMr-_TmDyhXgFayG_kiUxqdadWN0UezYYY9XGcNSbVMmlUlkeUrVw7_fhkToZ9U1Ssfxzg9kWfsOFpE0mWsu-QU3j6g/s1600/George+Jones+Majolica+punch+bowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTnxbfefRr_W4kNgrmOkio2fmAAJJ0tzYA717FlBz7zgopvNz-TMr-_TmDyhXgFayG_kiUxqdadWN0UezYYY9XGcNSbVMmlUlkeUrVw7_fhkToZ9U1Ssfxzg9kWfsOFpE0mWsu-QU3j6g/s320/George+Jones+Majolica+punch+bowl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Majolica punch bowl by George Jones, ca. 1875<br />Mr. Punch supports an orange-rind bowl</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In any case, by the early 18th century, punch had settled into a consistent formula: one measure of something acid (usually citrus juice), two of something sweet (sugar), three of something strong (brandy, rum, sometimes wine), and four of something weak (water, tea, milk). In the 19th century, punch recipes began to change again. As punch historian Elizabeth Gabay notes, “</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fixed proportions were no longer always followed; many different fruits, liqueurs, wines, and even beer were added and generally punches became less acidic and more sweet and rich. At the same time, the nature of Christmas and New Year celebrations changed, becoming more dramatic and ritualised. The same punch every year became an essential part of the festivity.” Special punch bowls and cups, intended to be used just for the holidays, also became common.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_zTT1pftZg_HAf4qxhN3Pi2zpSHLkdYcHHdVGd629Gvg5yGDfKpl0Yg34k0gSpO1_pKOPXoNvAuIwx3UI4N-fZKto2lF57evaoINSaakrHhSRAcahpiKlI06PXKLwnrKhCgglou6JRI/s1600/Scrooge+and+Bob+Cratchit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_zTT1pftZg_HAf4qxhN3Pi2zpSHLkdYcHHdVGd629Gvg5yGDfKpl0Yg34k0gSpO1_pKOPXoNvAuIwx3UI4N-fZKto2lF57evaoINSaakrHhSRAcahpiKlI06PXKLwnrKhCgglou6JRI/s320/Scrooge+and+Bob+Cratchit.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Scrooge and Bob Cratchit<br />Illustration by John Leech (1843)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Charles Dickens’s descriptions of yuletide celebrations, </span>particularly<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> <i>A </i></span><i>Christmas</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><i> Carol</i> (1843), helped to </span>solidify<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> punch’s status as central to the holiday. Scrooge sees a vision of an ideal Christmas, which includes “</span></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.” At the end of the story, a reformed Scrooge tells Bob Cratchit, “</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!” <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_Bishop">Smoking bishop</a> was made with port and a roasted orange; </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dickens himself seemed to prefer a rum punch:</span><br />
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“To make three pints, take a strong, common basin (which may be broken, in case of accident, without damage to the owner’s peace or pocket) and in it place the finely sliced rinds of three lemons, a double-handful of sugar lumps, a pint of dark rum and a large wine glass of brandy. Set alight and allow to burn for three or four minutes (extinguish by covering with a lid). Add the juice of three lemons and a quart of boiling water. Stir, cover, leave for five minutes and stir again. Taste and sweeten if necessary, but observe that it will be a little sweeter presently. Pour into an ovenproof jug or bowl and cover with a leather cloth. Place in a hot oven for 10 minutes. Remove the lemon rind before serving.”</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the American colonies, punch developed in its own way, eventually producing that classic Christmas drink, eggnog. Egg punch was common in Britain, but the Americans made it richer and more custard-like. One observer in 1815 noted that in “</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the South it is almost indispensible at Christmas time, and at the North it is a favourite at all seasons.” </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">George Washington’s recipe for eggnog included rye whiskey, Jamaican rum, sherry, eggs, sugar, cream, and milk. Eggs and milk were harder to come by in the winter, and more expensive, so eggnog was a true holiday treat.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKOPtwOPUf68UElG_toaW1dvL_H5DB6GA-w6nJ5iFqxRRiBeLHaK-1B0W8b08A61u4fx2qyGYPSwVsL5yYLKVftjYWt8PnAJ8xHcSK7P7VZ8N0Hv5TnnRB5JfQlWO2iCCF5nYLXj8MEkg/s1600/Punch+bowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKOPtwOPUf68UElG_toaW1dvL_H5DB6GA-w6nJ5iFqxRRiBeLHaK-1B0W8b08A61u4fx2qyGYPSwVsL5yYLKVftjYWt8PnAJ8xHcSK7P7VZ8N0Hv5TnnRB5JfQlWO2iCCF5nYLXj8MEkg/s320/Punch+bowl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pressed glass miniature punch bowl and cups, <br />probably late 19th century</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a number of large bowls in Alice’s ceramics collection that look like they could hold a fine batch of punch, but none that are specifically identified as such. There is, however, a very <i>small</i> punch bowl, with six matching thimble-sized cups. This miniature set would have been a salesman’s sample, carried by a traveling sales representative of the manufacturer to display to potential retailers. Perhaps it was passed on to a lucky child after the model was discontinued, to be the star of a dolls’ Christmas party!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post is largely drawn from the site <a href="https://punchstory.com/">A History of the World Through a Bowl of Punch</a>, particularly the post “<a href="https://punchstory.com/celebrating-christmas-and-new-year-with-punch/">Celebrating Christmas and New Year with Punch</a>.” This blog holds a wealth of information about punch, including recipes!</span><br />
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></em>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-53822211133211789862016-12-09T13:42:00.000-05:002016-12-09T13:42:11.491-05:00A New Christmas Tradition: Toys for Good Little Girls and Boys<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2Y7LUOxNVuH6drsTeMzTbNPGSfjSZsRVpGD71lf_VzhPS6Ugwfcqq1J1bHphuyrglzWncEs3_pCjF0Uql58C7xeOs87PooLNjmpfeu3MazK8Tbz2lInDMPUXr67f1p6xq5bfMMPhKOQ/s1600/GirlDoll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2Y7LUOxNVuH6drsTeMzTbNPGSfjSZsRVpGD71lf_VzhPS6Ugwfcqq1J1bHphuyrglzWncEs3_pCjF0Uql58C7xeOs87PooLNjmpfeu3MazK8Tbz2lInDMPUXr67f1p6xq5bfMMPhKOQ/s320/GirlDoll.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A mid-19th c. doll from the Alice’s collection</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“‘<span style="color: #222222;">Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.” The link between Christmas and presents, made in the famous first line of Louisa May Alcott’s </span><i style="color: #222222;">Little Women, </i><span style="color: #222222;">seems like an obvious one. But when Alcott published </span><i style="color: #222222;">Little Women</i><span style="color: #222222;"> in 1868, this idea was still relatively new. The practice of giving children presents—and specifically, toys—was, like many of our other Christmas customs, a product of the early 19th century. It came out of shifts in the way Christmas was celebrated, along with changes in how childhood was viewed, in Europe and North America.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">This subject first came to my attention through a <a href="http://daily.jstor.org/why-we-give-children-toys-for-christmas/">post on the blog JSTOR Daily</a>, which references a recent article by historian Joseph Wachelder. He examined issues of the London daily newspaper <i>The Morning Chronicle</i> from 1800 to 1827, and found a steady increase in advertisements for presents suitable for giving to children at Christmas. Many of these were toys with educational components, such as chemistry sets, “dissected maps” (geography puzzles), and games based on history and current events.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtRjwBQhMJ_1kzFDaYbUQk-DFkyt9it-o0ZKnjdAsqOJGl_A0_tBpAiv6r-L4J29J4LFlY4SUf5a7ZaVSj9VfjGZpfI_EK1i-HCcAC9OTowPs14BTjEoqQ8TKx7yYOwlKGr6KAGgIusx8/s1600/Christmas+in+the+Country.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtRjwBQhMJ_1kzFDaYbUQk-DFkyt9it-o0ZKnjdAsqOJGl_A0_tBpAiv6r-L4J29J4LFlY4SUf5a7ZaVSj9VfjGZpfI_EK1i-HCcAC9OTowPs14BTjEoqQ8TKx7yYOwlKGr6KAGgIusx8/s320/Christmas+in+the+Country.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A scene of Christmas revelry from 1791</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">So what had happened to cause this development? First, how Christmas was being celebrated was starting to change. As Wachelder describes, in the 18th century, “Christmas was a public feast, characterized by revelry, <a href="http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Holiday06/wassail.cfm">wassailing</a>, and abundant eating and drinking.” When gifts were given, they went from people of higher status to those lower on the social scale—from masters to servants, for example. December was a period of relative leisure, as the harvest was completed and food was still abundant. Christmas was also a time of sanctioned social inversion, when workers, servants, and peasants could demand special </span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">privileges from their superiors.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But gradually, over the course of the 19th century, Christmas became a domestic, family-oriented holiday. Historian Stephen Nissenbaum has argued (in his book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Christmas-Cultural-History-Cherished/dp/0679740384/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481296377&sr=1-1&keywords=battle+for+christmas">The Battle for Christmas</a></i>) that this change can be traced to the spread of wage labor and capitalist modes of production. For some urban workers, Christmas was just another day of work (think Bob Cratchit). For others, winter might well be a time of unemployment, as water-powered factories shut down until the spring thaw. “December’s leisure thus meant not relatively plenty but forced unemployment and want. The Christmas season, with its carnival traditions of wassail, misrule, and callithumpian ‘street theater,’ could easily become a vehicle of social protest, an instrument to express powerful ethnic or class resentments.”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_m77fnekgRuzz6I8cIXTfXwiWd3X12bu4w7i6JuqyrsC4y3QFmj_nOjPUrbYZY_gX6OagaC_ZKzKvJds9pLCl3E9IgSzgGJHpvoNxL07yPQQHX20r0rfT5Rh5M1YKQWowFQxJ8lL9Gwo/s1600/victorianxmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_m77fnekgRuzz6I8cIXTfXwiWd3X12bu4w7i6JuqyrsC4y3QFmj_nOjPUrbYZY_gX6OagaC_ZKzKvJds9pLCl3E9IgSzgGJHpvoNxL07yPQQHX20r0rfT5Rh5M1YKQWowFQxJ8lL9Gwo/s320/victorianxmas.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A child-centered Victorian Christmas</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To forestall this possibility, elites adopted new Christmas customs that moved celebrations inside the family circle. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was during this period that many of our current Christmas traditions were introduced: decorated trees, Christmas cards, Santa Claus—and presents for children.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As it happened, understandings of childhood and the role of play were also changing during this period. Of course, playthings of various kinds—dolls, tops, marbles, and the like—had existed for centuries, but the idea that playing with toys was an essential part of a child’s development was a product of the late 18th century.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhu9GxCqu5kYnhmp_oOg815gZSNT-vBSfHyqBJEnAdtU_9MrA9n7wpdsK1DqujVdkZYmxFtfHq8I9bE5htDQoHu5V5Erbeuz8Km4MftV4LZTbUDLJo4sIOqkKKDlbbxm28tEfc5eiMwME/s1600/Edgeworth+family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhu9GxCqu5kYnhmp_oOg815gZSNT-vBSfHyqBJEnAdtU_9MrA9n7wpdsK1DqujVdkZYmxFtfHq8I9bE5htDQoHu5V5Erbeuz8Km4MftV4LZTbUDLJo4sIOqkKKDlbbxm28tEfc5eiMwME/s320/Edgeworth+family.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw85197/The-Edgeworth-Family">Portrait of the Edgeworth family by Adam Buck, 1787.</a><br />As the second oldest of a family of 22(!), Maria<br />had plenty of experience with children.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joseph Wachelder points to the book <i>Practical Education</i> by Maria and Richard Lovell Edgeworth, published in 1798, as a key moment in the history of toys and childhood. Edgeworth brought together two strands of thought on the nature of childhood: John Locke’s view of children as “blank slates” who could be shaped and guided by their parents, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that children should be able to develop their natural character through self-directed experiences and play. Maria Edgeworth suggested that toys were the ideal medium through which parents could steer the education of their children. She argued that children “require to have things which exercise their senses of their imagination, their imitative and inventive powers.” Toys should not be expensive or too precious to be used, but should “invite play and discovery,” and if they were broken in the process, at least children would learn something about what was inside and how they worked.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaZ-7GSLi78MNLqSEpcKlT0bbKciXBYNUFS-Kz7fnY9yhvgkWY1QaEs2dnJBHNQJyZs9nYqBHReFgZXnb4p8ApPvJ_1HAP5v0Gh3fCR3MTgtXAo1jRpxq82dUfgxyHwr80pqN_fROk7k/s1600/Chinese+puzzle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaZ-7GSLi78MNLqSEpcKlT0bbKciXBYNUFS-Kz7fnY9yhvgkWY1QaEs2dnJBHNQJyZs9nYqBHReFgZXnb4p8ApPvJ_1HAP5v0Gh3fCR3MTgtXAo1jRpxq82dUfgxyHwr80pqN_fROk7k/s320/Chinese+puzzle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Chinese Puzzle, one of the toys advertised <br />in the <i>Morning Chronicle, </i>1817</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wachelder’s study of the <i>Morning Chronicle</i> suggests that publishers and booksellers were some of the first businesses to jump on the Christmas toy bandwagon. Books, of course, were ideal Christmas presents, being both entertaining and educational, but publishers also soon began producing a variety of games and puzzles. Some of these, like “The Battle of Waterloo,” introduced in 1816, were clearly designed to capitalize on current events, while others tapped into the popular sciences of chemistry and astronomy (“Accum’s Chemical Amusement” promised that its experiments were “</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">easily performed and unattended by danger”). Toys that produced optical illusions, such as kaleidoscopes and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaumatrope">thaumatropes</a>, were also very popular.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over time, more and more toys would be available for purchase, thanks to technological developments and the continuing sentimentalization of childhood. By the second half of the 19th century, it was difficult for many people to imagine a Christmas that didn’t include toys. So as you’re out searching for Hatchimals this holiday season, remember that you are participating in a tradition that stretches back 200 years!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sources:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joseph Wachelder, “Toys, Christmas Gifts, and Consumption Culture in London’s <i>Morning Chronicle,</i> 1800-1827,” <i>Icon</i> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vol. 19, Special Issue Playing with Technology: Sports and Leisure (2013), pp. 13-32</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stephen Nissenbaum, <i>The Battle for Christmas: A Social and Cultural History of Our Most Cherished Holiday</i> (Vintage, 1997)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maria Edgeworth and Richard Lovell Edgeworth, <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=UvSmKssC3BgC&dq=Edgeworth+practical+education&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Practical Education</a></i> (First American edition, 1801)</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 40px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 24px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 40px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 24px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 40px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 24px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: #bd081c; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 40px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 24px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Ellen E. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07233655742077260814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720768783335558263.post-82400950540113148122016-11-30T10:21:00.000-05:002016-11-30T10:21:40.544-05:00New York State History Month: Silas Arnold’s War of 1812 Musket<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipg4lIsNJi_ZdWEVf96Q7Epl5vKMWhyGoYdpQx9U8fIxacb76LvTjUwfqwAC07q3QDLtG-it8LGMl9xCn6ddRWkTjt9voSmLHDRWRU2MBDxKb9K96xUembpw5Sx_BugGwmPIkeMZnW4a0/s1600/muskets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipg4lIsNJi_ZdWEVf96Q7Epl5vKMWhyGoYdpQx9U8fIxacb76LvTjUwfqwAC07q3QDLtG-it8LGMl9xCn6ddRWkTjt9voSmLHDRWRU2MBDxKb9K96xUembpw5Sx_BugGwmPIkeMZnW4a0/s320/muskets.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Silas Arnold’s musket on the right</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I was planning my blog posts for New York State History Month, I wanted to make sure that I covered a range of time periods and experiences with the three items I chose. Ending with the musket used in the War of 1812 by Silas Arnold of Keeseville seemed like the perfect conclusion. We’d have items worn overseas during World War I (<a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2016/11/new-york-state-history-month-loren.html">Loren Bundy’s uniform</a>) and items collected in Washington, D.C. and Virginia during the Civil War (<a href="http://minermuseum.blogspot.com/2016/11/new-york-state-history-month-charles.html">Charles Moore’s photographs</a>), and then finally an item used right here in Clinton County during the Battle of Plattsburgh: an 1804 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_1795_Musket">Springfield Model 1795</a> flintlock musket with bayonet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, when I began to research the history of the musket, I found that things were not quite what they seemed. First, I wanted to know more about Silas Arnold himself. A quick search revealed that Arnold was born on May 4, 1801, which would have made him just thirteen years old at the time of the Battle of Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814. Of course, boys in their teens did participate in the battle—the students from Plattsburgh Academy who formed Aikin’s Rifle Company or Aikin’s Volunteers. But there’s no indication that Silas Arnold was part of this group; he was not one of the seventeen young men presented a rifle by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1826.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0g_a2OAYLoLAki9mZuGvFSFGUTjwHxAaHhZsW-1-NQ9gf5_qMNGeO9HRInIw9Gw2eq9c8H_v_frnc7um7IFAkmpDaOvvonYd3N36b3WMjjJyXmTfZjzJjkiAhIaiMxframs6S0Ud7Ubk/s1600/Martin+Aitken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0g_a2OAYLoLAki9mZuGvFSFGUTjwHxAaHhZsW-1-NQ9gf5_qMNGeO9HRInIw9Gw2eq9c8H_v_frnc7um7IFAkmpDaOvvonYd3N36b3WMjjJyXmTfZjzJjkiAhIaiMxframs6S0Ud7Ubk/s320/Martin+Aitken.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Engraved plate from rifle presented to Martin Ai(t)kin</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The second thing I learned about Silas Arnold that made me question his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh was his Quaker background. It isn’t entirely clear whether the Arnold family were formal members of the Society of Friends, but Silas’s parents, Elisha and Mary Arnold, were buried in the Quaker Union cemetery in Peru. Silas’s obituary notes that he had “i</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nherit[ed] to a large degree some of the best of the principles of the Friends, among whom he was born, and his early years passed.” Pacifism is a key element of Quaker belief, and neither Elisha nor Silas Arnold are listed among the men of Peru who served in battle, as recorded in the <i>History of Clinton and Franklin Counties</i>. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEosPuFpngZ65v5KKLkTzWCzu83wUt4YBkjeJny9SefuQ6IvurtuXMWS2jpGj-EZpx5hI3o_Lz2n3l5b-as9Nl9sGlmiXhSPz-F0-bbbiYbYAqNe49d61gdMorDSTbvtsQZjRAa9aJwqI/s1600/Silas+Arnold+house.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEosPuFpngZ65v5KKLkTzWCzu83wUt4YBkjeJny9SefuQ6IvurtuXMWS2jpGj-EZpx5hI3o_Lz2n3l5b-as9Nl9sGlmiXhSPz-F0-bbbiYbYAqNe49d61gdMorDSTbvtsQZjRAa9aJwqI/s320/Silas+Arnold+house.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Silas Arnold House, Main Street, Keeseville</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> the strongest evidence against Silas Arnold having fought in the Battle of Plattsburgh is that his obituaries do not mention it. When he died in January 1879, both the </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Essex County Republican</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> and the </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Plattsburgh Republican</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> published lengthy accounts of Arnold’s life, which seems to </span>have<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> been pleasantly uneventful. Of his early years, the <i>Essex County Republican</i> said only that he “</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">passed his boyhood and youth upon the farm, and engaged in the business pursuits of his father.” Elisha Arnold had discovered a bed of iron ore on a tract of land between Peru and Schuyler Falls, the income from which gave Silas a comfortable start in life. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1840, he moved to Keeseville with his wife, Gulielma (daughter of Richard Keese, another early Quaker settler), son Elias, and daughter Mary Anna. Here he continued in business and became president of the Essex County Bank and a trustee of the Keeseville Academy. He purchased a home that had been </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">built around 1820 by Dr. Caleb Barton and had it remodeled in the fashionable Greek Revival style by local architects Seneca and Isaac Perry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to the <i>Plattsburgh Republican,</i> “</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He was a genial and kindly man, and had a vast deal of quiet humor....</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 11px;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He possessed a singularly even temperament, and though resolute, his voice was never raised in anger nor his pulse quickened by excitement.” In his later years, his greatest pleasure was to spend time in the Adirondacks, camping and fishing on Saranac Lake. </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">His life was not without trouble—his beloved daughter Mary Anna died in 1862 at </span>the<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> age of 29, shortly after her marriage to Winslow C. Watson, Jr., and he lost his wife in 1875. The picture of Silas Arnold that </span>emerges<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> from these accounts that of a devoted </span>husband<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> and father, a respected and prosperous citizen—but not a soldier.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRECROBBLeh01r4Iw8jx-nIQAu97CGZLgOkuIpXLiZgOrczzxOsg5MIf71kMKqE7jNpRfqYgRQ_psFpdVCOtw_cZVnIMjfYmLKy8AMh7LzCNCLBXAFaUOW7Az-S_ws_CAcoi99tdofhE/s1600/Silas+Arnold+items.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRECROBBLeh01r4Iw8jx-nIQAu97CGZLgOkuIpXLiZgOrczzxOsg5MIf71kMKqE7jNpRfqYgRQ_psFpdVCOtw_cZVnIMjfYmLKy8AMh7LzCNCLBXAFaUOW7Az-S_ws_CAcoi99tdofhE/s400/Silas+Arnold+items.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A. G. Fletcher’s notes regarding his donation</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">So where did this story originate? It seems to have started with the person who donated the musket to Alice T. Miner: A. G. Fletcher of Keeseville. A note in the museum’s files, written by Fletcher, states “Flint Lock Musket—carried in Battle of Plattsburgh by Arnold given to me by Silas Arnold Keeseville N.Y.” At the same time, he also donated a “Flint Lock Pistol same age & given by Arnold.” Was this a case of misunderstanding on Fletcher’s part? Did Silas Arnold give him a musket and pistol that <i>had</i> been used in the Battle of Plattsburgh, but by someone else? Did Fletcher believe that associating these items with Silas Arnold enhanced their value? Any early-19th century firearm would be of historical interest; one used in the region’s most significant military engagement would be even more so; and if it were used by a prominent local citizen, even better.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Muskets of </span>this type were used during the War of 1812, so it’s not impossible that this one was in fact used during the Battle of Plattsburgh. Beyond that, we may never know for sure, unless additional information comes to light (and if you know anything, please contact us!). As it stands now, the musket, along with the pistol, serves as a cautionary tale about uncritically accepting the stories that come attached to so many historical relics. These stories may not necessarily be unreliable, but they do need to be verified using other sources.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This story brings us to the official end of New York State History Month for 2016, but we will continue to highlight the people and events of our region throughout the rest of the year, and into 2017!</span><br />
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