tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14629465358838468812024-03-17T16:32:54.526-04:00Vast Public IndifferenceHistory, grad school, and gravestones!CDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390048358391513711noreply@blogger.comBlogger1437125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-19335350027282081352013-05-21T10:09:00.001-04:002013-05-21T10:09:53.854-04:00Pompe Stevens, Enslaved Artisan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rqrSJnr578M/UZt-TF90otI/AAAAAAAAHMs/w9RT23Ch4Q0/s1600/DSC_9803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rqrSJnr578M/UZt-TF90otI/AAAAAAAAHMs/w9RT23Ch4Q0/s400/DSC_9803.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I have a new article up at <a href="http://www.common-place.org/vol-13/no-03/lessons/index2.shtml">Common-place</a>, exploring the history of enslaved artisans like Pompe Stevens. The main argument is that modern museums (particularly those in Northern cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston) can expand their interpretation of early African-American art by re-contextualizing decorative arts objects that were made in workshops that employed skilled slaves. Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-72471162430220700942013-05-14T12:17:00.000-04:002013-05-14T12:17:18.235-04:00Cambridge's Un-Churchyard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wqTQ1udiXqQ/UZJcsVtXGVI/AAAAAAAAHMM/lKRl_CHN6m8/s1600/-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wqTQ1udiXqQ/UZJcsVtXGVI/AAAAAAAAHMM/lKRl_CHN6m8/s320/-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Last week, the Cambridge Historical Commission re-installed a long-lost granite marker at the location of Cambridge's first meeting house. The marker was <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1398951588/Granite-of-first-Cambridge-meetinghouse-unearthed#axzz2THaiRg00">discovered during some construction and returned to its place near the corner of Dunster and Mt. Auburn Streets</a>.<br />
<br />
I visited the spot a couple of days ago and took the opportunity to reflect on the distance between the meeting house and Cambridge's old burying ground. Unlike graveyards in England, which were formally consecrated ground and usually located immediately adjacent to a church (hence the term "churchyard"), the burying grounds of early Massachusetts were neither formally sacred nor adjacent to a meeting houses. Prior to 1670, most burying grounds were separated from local meeting houses by a distance of a quarter mile or more. That might not seem like a considerable distance, but in the context of early settlements, it was a real separation. You can see the distance on <a href="http://www2.cambridgema.gov/historic/hsqhistory1.html">this 1635 map of Cambridge</a> — the "Burying Place" is in the upper left corner, the meeting house is near the middle of the settlement, at the corner of Spring and Water Streets, marked <i>MH</i>.<br />
<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="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NzydZ4gZe2s/UZJc5eUPPjI/AAAAAAAAHMU/9YZ0n4zW-6o/s1600/1635_map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="532" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NzydZ4gZe2s/UZJc5eUPPjI/AAAAAAAAHMU/9YZ0n4zW-6o/s640/1635_map.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">map from the <a href="http://www2.cambridgema.gov/historic/hsqhistory1.html">Cambridge Historical Commission</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
As you can see, the distance is quite significant relative to the overall pattern of settlement. The creation of geographical distance was just one of the ways that the emigrant generation overturned the legal and doctrinal traditions governing graveyards in England. Massachusetts "burying places" were really burying places, not churchyards in any sense of the word.<br />
<br />
But, if you visit Cambridge's old burying ground today, you could be forgiven for seeing it as a churchyard. After all, it is flanked on one side by Christ Church and on the other by the First Parish Church of Cambridge. It is important to note that the landscape as it exists today is a creation of the 18th and 19th centuries, not the 17th century.<br />
<br />
The following map shows the development of the modern landscape. "The Old Burying Ground" is clearly marked in the upper left, just across Mass Ave from the oldest part of Harvard Yard. The red circle marked "1" indicates the location of the original meeting house, built in 1632. In 1652, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Parish_in_Cambridge">a new meeting house</a> was erected at the site of modern-day Lehman Hall, at the elbow of Mass Ave (the blue circle marked "2"). It was closer to the burying place, but still not quite enough to make a churchyard.<br />
<br />
In 1759, the Church of England built <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church_%28Cambridge,_Massachusetts%29">Christ Church</a> adjacent to the burying place. In doing so, they created a churchyard, not by burying people near a church, but by dropping a church on a pre-existing graveyard. This is exactly what happened in Boston in 1686, when Governor Edmund Andros seized a corner of the Ancient Burying Ground in order to build King's Chapel. If you have ever wondered why on earth John Winthrop and John Cotton are buried next to the flagship Anglican church in colonial Massachusetts, that's why. They were long dead and long buried when King's Chapel was built. In my dissertation, I argue that Andros deliberately chose the burying ground over several other possible sites as an affront to Congregationalist Bostonians who objected to the of building King's Chapel anywhere in Boston. Samuel Sewall, who had inherited some of John Cotton's original homestead refused to sell Andros a tract of that land, arguing that it would have been an affront to Cotton, so Andros dropped the church on Cotton's grave instead. Charming.<br />
<br />
The blue circle marked "4" is the current location of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Parish_in_Cambridge">First Parish in Cambridge</a> (now Unitarian Universalist). It was built in 1833 and reinforced the illusion that the old burying ground had been built as a churchyard.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLpFioYrFjo/UZJdNJMCulI/AAAAAAAAHMc/ENO0K3X-9Qk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-05-14+at+11.49.54+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VLpFioYrFjo/UZJdNJMCulI/AAAAAAAAHMc/ENO0K3X-9Qk/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-05-14+at+11.49.54+AM.png" width="400" /> </a></div>
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All of this is a long way to say that historic landscapes change over time. The "preserved" landscapes we encounter in the present day are vastly different from past landscapes. In this case, the modern appearance of Cambridge's old burying ground masks the original reforms enacted by the emigrant generation and creates the very thing they undid — a churchyard.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-67748894888226511122013-05-06T13:14:00.000-04:002013-05-06T18:12:10.672-04:00The Excommunication of Tamerlan TsarnaevIn 1704, <a href="http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2011/05/samuel-sewall-on-burying-executed.html">Judge Samuel Sewall presided over the funeral of John Lambert</a>, a convicted pirate who had been executed for his crimes. While murderers and victims of suicide were routinely excluded from Massachusetts burying grounds, Sewall took pity on Lambert's family:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">By
my Order, the diggers of Mm Paiges Tomb Dugg a Grave for Lambert, where
he was laid in the Old burying place Friday night about midnight near
some of his Relations: Body was given to his Widow. Son and others made
suit to me.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">This was not a flashy, public funeral. Sewall buried the pirate at midnight, preventing any sort of spectacle that might have dignified the proceedings. But he did bury him. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">When
the Winthrop Fleet arrived in Massachusetts in 1630, one of the first legal
reforms implemented by the emigrants concerned the establishment and
administration of "burying places." </span>At the time, all active graveyards in England were churchyards —
consecrated spaces owned by the Church of England and governed by canon
law.* Religious dissenters would establish independent burying grounds in the
1660s, but, in 1630, all English subjects could expect to be buried in a
churchyard. According to the most recent iteration of canon law (1604),
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“No minister shall refuse or delay . . . to bury
any corpse that is brought to the Church or Churchyard.” </span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even people who had “lived and died most profanely,
more like a very atheist and a gross infidel, than like any Christian at all,” were
afforded sacramental burial, though Church officials permitted ministers to use
their “wisdom and discretion” in tempering some of the more effusive prayers in
the Common Prayer burial service.</span><br />
<br />
They did allow an exception: churchyards should refuse to bury people who
had been excommunicated for "some grievous and notorious crime." This
usually meant suicide or murder. But it also applied to obnoxious and outspoken dissenters like the Baptist minister Samuel Howe. When Howe died in 1640, no churchyard would take his
body, so
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">“his
Friends were forced to lay his Body in the
High-way, as one which was numbred amongst the Transgressors.” It was an
ignominious end, but the only one available to people who could not be
admitted to the Church of England's sacred churchyards.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unlike the churchyards they had
known in England, graveyards in Massachusetts were municipally owned and
operated. They were not formally consecrated and ministers did not lead
funeral services, nor say prayers at the graveside. This rejection of
the English churchyard was part of a larger effort by the emigrant
generation to purge elements of Church practice that smacked of
vestigial Catholicism, including sacramental marriage, burial, the
practice of appointing godparents, and the custom of "churching" women
after childbirth.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Massachusetts graveyards continued to exclude executed criminals and victims of suicide. This was not true 100% of the time — I have <a href="http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2011/05/samuel-sewall-on-burying-executed.html">written before about Samuel Sewall's involvement with burying people who died under these circumstances</a>. Where the churchyard implied that the entire community belonged to the established Church, the municipal burying ground made no distinctions based on denomination (or race, or even religion, necessarily), accepting all members of the civic community. Exclusion from the common burying ground was exclusion from the body politic, not from the church membership.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is with this history in mind that I have been reading <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/05/cambridge-officials-say-tsarnaev-can-buried-city-cemetery/cCsII4AnDxSxgI4s92qlCL/story.html">accounts of the Tsarnaev family's difficulty in finding a cemetery to accept the body of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev</a>. While they have found a philanthropic funeral home director in <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/03/bombing-suspect-body-accepted-worcester-funeral-home-cause-death-released/9vYI3BX11GTQdgWxbvD2TI/story.html">Peter Stefan of Worcester</a>, they have not yet been able to find a cemetery — public or private — that is willing to bury Tsarnaev. Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy has announced that <a href="http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/05/05/family-may-not-conduct-second-autopsy-body-tamerlan-tsarnaev-according-funeral-director/qr5o7l7aq4HhuS5UNiCjdJ/story.html">he will not permit Tsarnaev to be buried in Cambridge's municipal cemetery</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The difficult and stressful efforts of the residents of the City of
Cambridge to return to a peaceful life, would be adversely impacted by
the turmoil, protests and wide spread media presence at such an
interment . . . The
families of loved ones interred in the Cambridge Cemetery also deserve
to have their deceased family members rest in peace.</blockquote>
In a city like ours, where the residents share no single language, religion, or ethnic background, it seems that exclusion from municipal burial is the last way we have to excommunicate someone.<br />
<br />
I understand Healy's reasoning. But, at the same time, the thing that stands out to me in these press accounts has been the compassion of Peter Stefan. He has <a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20130503/NEWS/305049988/1116">dedicated his professional life to burying society's outcasts</a> — people who are homeless or destitute or drug-addicted or criminals or otherwise civilly excommunicated. In the present situation, he has decided to take Tsarnaev's case because someone has to do it. ‘‘My problem here is trying to find a gravesite. A lot of people don’t
want to do it. They don’t want to be involved with this,’’he told reporters, noting that he took an oath to bury all of the dead with dignity. It's understandable that others do not want to get involved — Stefan's funeral home has been <a href="http://www.wbur.org/2013/05/04/protesters-tamerlan-funeral">inundated with angry protesters</a>.<br />
<br />
The impulse to excommunicate is strong. It's the last way we can condemn someone who has injured our community. But in focusing on whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev <i>deserves</i> a dignified burial, the protesters outside Peter Stefan's office are missing the Grace of his response. He's not burying Tsarnaev because Tsarnaev deserves it, but because Stefan is giving him the free gift of dignity that he extends to everyone. I'm not Catholic anymore, but I was raised Catholic, and I would like to see some Catholic cemetery somewhere offer to bury Tsarnaev, not because he deserves it, but because it is a powerful statement of the forgiveness that Catholics believe is an absolute mandate from God.<br />
<br />
Samuel Sewall hated Catholics. He feared them so much that he once snuck out of a meeting because he was afraid that the others present might adjourn in order to attend a funeral where the Book of Common Prayer and its Catholic-lite prayers would be read, and he didn't want to be swept along to such an affair. But Samuel Sewall also buried John Lambert, the pirate. In the dark, in secret, but he buried him all the same. Sewall is not remembered for his role in burying Lambert — if anyone remembers his name today, it is usually because he was one of the judges who presided over the Salem Witch Trials. He was also the only one to issue a public apology, standing before the congregation of Old South Church and humbling himself for his role in perpetrating injustice. There are worse footsteps to follow.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: xx-small; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*There was a medieval Jewish cemetery in London, but since England had expelled Jews from the country in 1290 and would not re-admit them until 1656, it was not officially recognized as an active burying place in the pre-Civil War era. There were a few non-parochial churchyards, like "New Churchyard" on the grounds of Bedlam Hospital, but these were still formally consecrated and subject to canon law.</span>Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-30794751628673389422013-05-01T13:20:00.000-04:002013-05-01T13:20:09.920-04:00Smithsonian: Jamestown Colonists Engaged in CannibalismThere's <a href="http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/smithsonian-and-preservation-virginia-reveal-startling-survival-story-historic-jamestown">probably no gravestone for this</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Douglas Owsley, the division head for physical anthropology at the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, presented today a
forensic analysis of 17th-century human remains proving that survival
cannibalism took place in historic Jamestown. The findings answer a
long-standing question among historians about the occurrence of
cannibalism at Jamestown during the deadly winter of 1609–1610 known as
the “starving time”—a period during which about 80 percent of the
colonists died.</blockquote>
The <a href="http://www.apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=1">Jamestown Rediscovery project</a> has been doing awesome work excavating and reconstructing the Jamestown site. They post lots of <a href="http://www.apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=9">updates and field reports</a> for anyone who is interested. I have used some of their discoveries in my own work, particularly their excavation of four grave shafts located in the chancel of the <a href="http://apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=459">1608 Church</a>, which shows continuities between burial practices in 17th-century England and Virginia that were not replicated in New England.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-41746373319642595202013-04-25T07:31:00.000-04:002013-04-25T07:31:00.584-04:00101 Ways, Part 119: Took His Exit<i>For a brief intro to the "101 Ways to Say 'Died'" series, click <a href="http://vastpublicindifference.blogspot.com/2008/08/101-ways-to-say-died.html">here</a>.</i><br />
<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="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b358OUQm09c/UXczeUMcceI/AAAAAAAAHH8/oyU0ptHNMOU/s1600/DSC_0394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b358OUQm09c/UXczeUMcceI/AAAAAAAAHH8/oyU0ptHNMOU/s640/DSC_0394.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Tyler Mann, Wrentham, MA, 1792</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here is deposited the body of</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
JOHN TYLER MANN</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
he was born the 5th, Octr. 1791.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
he took his exit 24th, Novr, 1792.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Son of Doct. James & Mrs Patty Mann</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sweet lovely boy, twas thine, with myriads more,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To close the opening eye, soon after birth;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How happy they, whose toils so soon are o're, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
How blest the babe, consign'd to parent earth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This reason whispers, thus religion cries,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Their voice in unison, proclaims thee blest;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But still the trickling tears, and heavy sighs,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Speaks the sad sorrows of a mothers breast.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Say, does religion blame the gentle tear?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Can reason condemn the heartfelt sigh of woe?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Impossible! our Jesus wandring here</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wept o're his friends nor chek'd afflictions flow.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Similar to <a href="http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2008/11/101-ways-part-62-made-his-exit.html">#62: Made His Exit</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
As far as I can tell, the verse is original.</div>
Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-3707087096312504192013-04-24T07:09:00.000-04:002013-04-24T07:09:00.216-04:00Gravestone of the Day: Dinah<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="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rr7tKn6O174/UXai_U_0bfI/AAAAAAAAHHs/85C5UGJdXLQ/s1600/DSC_9186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rr7tKn6O174/UXai_U_0bfI/AAAAAAAAHHs/85C5UGJdXLQ/s640/DSC_9186.JPG" width="614" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinah, 1762, Newport Common Burying Ground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
June 12th, 1762</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
died Dinah aged</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
28 Years Servt.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to John Tweedy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wife of Haman</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Servt. to</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
James Tanner </div>
<br />
This stone neatly encapsulates the nested dependency of enslaved women in colonial New England. Marriages among slaves were sometimes recognized as legal in Rhode Island, but married slaves were not permitted to form independent households. I always think of stones like this whenever I read debates over whether women should change their surnames at marriage. What did a surname mean to Dinah? I choose to call her Dinah, rather than Dinah Tweedy or Dinah Tanner because <a href="http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2010/09/j.html">I just can't answer that question definitively</a>. Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-44107474117669035592013-04-23T10:55:00.000-04:002013-04-23T10:55:24.316-04:00Also His Wife's Arm<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="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L64rtunbzM0/UXafKOyLtfI/AAAAAAAAHHc/0Af7NDyGaMQ/s1600/DSC_9008.JPG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="578" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L64rtunbzM0/UXafKOyLtfI/AAAAAAAAHHc/0Af7NDyGaMQ/s640/DSC_9008.JPG.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">carving by John Bull, Newport Common Burying Ground, Newport, RI</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's been a while. Between dissertation-babies and actual babies, I have sort of abandoned this blog lately. But now that the weather's getting better, I'm hoping to get back out on the road with the camera and update this space with more odds and ends of memorial culture.<br />
<br />
So help me, I will find a way to mention this gravestone in my dissertation:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
WAIT daughtr. of</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
WILLIAM and</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
DESIRE TRIPP</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
died April 24th</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
1780 Aged 10</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mo. 10 days.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Also WILLIAM </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
their Son</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
died March</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
17th 1784 Aged</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
22 Mo.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Also his Wife's</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Arm Amputated Feby. 20th 1786.</div>
<br />
Carved by John Bull — runaway apprentice, mutineer, and innovative carver — of Newport, RI. Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-88619177796940686392013-01-08T21:21:00.002-05:002013-01-08T21:21:14.371-05:00Women Named America in the 1850 Census
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<b>More than 5,000 women named America are listed in the 1850
Federal census. These are the best of them:</b></div>
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America Bacon, Tattnall, GA, b. 1847</div>
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America Bell, Nevins, IN, b. 1838</div>
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America Best, Screven, GA, b. 1825</div>
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America Bragg, Macon, IL, b. 1826</div>
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America Bully, Perry, TN, b. 1807</div>
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America Church, Wilkes, NC, b. 1844</div>
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America Cupp, New Madrid, MO, b. 1839</div>
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America Eden, Wooford, KY, b. 1824</div>
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America England, Lindsey, MO, b. 1845</div>
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America Fortune, Greene, AL, b. 1803</div>
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America Freeman, Smyth, VA. b. 1849</div>
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America Funk, Clinton, OH, b. 1810</div>
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America Goforth, Johnson, MO, b. 1837</div>
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America Golden, Sonora, IL, b. 1847</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Hell, Eel River, IN, b. 1841</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Justice, Nottoway, VA, b. 1822</div>
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<br /></div>
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America King, Buckeystown, MD, b. 1825</div>
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<br /></div>
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America A. Land, Saline, MO, b. 1805</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Law, Chambers, AL, b. 1837</div>
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<br /></div>
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America McDonald, Robertson, TN, b. 1837</div>
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America Marvel, Lawrence, IL, b. 1850</div>
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America Nations, Greene, IN, b. 1847</div>
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America Noble, Farmersville, NY, b. 1809</div>
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America Peace, Henry, TN, b. 1848</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Queen, Somerville, AL, b. 1832</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Southern, Hardin, KY, b. 1830</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Vice, Jackson, IN, b. 1834</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Weekly, Wyoming, WI, b. 1841</div>
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<br /></div>
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America West, Halifax, VA, b. 1822</div>
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<br /></div>
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America Right, Campbell, VA, b. 1820</div>
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<br /></div>
<b>
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<b>Honorable mention goes to:</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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North America Ashley, Gallatin, MS, b. 1827</div>
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<br /></div>
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North America Humphrey, Muhlenberg, KY, b. 1848</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>And a special certificate of achievement for adding just a
little extra specificity goes to:</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Anglo America Roe, Telfair, GA, b. 1836</div>
Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-45721945559295176382012-12-12T10:00:00.000-05:002012-12-12T10:00:06.502-05:00Cracking Roger Williams's Code<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k23PaZg_oPo/UMibWzy5LEI/AAAAAAAAHB8/1SKgyoq3Mo8/s1600/rwilliams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k23PaZg_oPo/UMibWzy5LEI/AAAAAAAAHB8/1SKgyoq3Mo8/s400/rwilliams.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Congrats to the team at Brown on <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2012/12/the_roger_williams_code_how_a_team_of_scholars_discovered_the_theologian.html">cracking Roger Williams's onerous shorthand</a> and revealing a new text! I know we're all clamoring for more treatises on the evils of infant baptism, but this is actually pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing the full translation, especially the bits where Williams discusses the shortcomings of Indian conversions.<br />
<br />
<br />Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-90717008568325467462012-12-04T11:06:00.001-05:002012-12-04T11:09:23.053-05:00A Word on Anna Wintour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gEDGu3T93Sg/UL4f7JECFvI/AAAAAAAAHA8/mbXi1M6MMQ8/s1600/Anna-Wintour-Fur.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gEDGu3T93Sg/UL4f7JECFvI/AAAAAAAAHA8/mbXi1M6MMQ8/s400/Anna-Wintour-Fur.png" width="297" /></a></div>
<br />
I know, Anna Wintour is not usually my beat, but bear with me a moment.<br />
<br />
Some news outlets are reporting rumors that <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/12/anna-wintour-reportedly-on-obama-short-list-for-us-ambassador/">President Obama is considering Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, for the post of Ambassador to either the UK or France</a>. This may or may not be true, but the reaction from my conservative friends is noteworthy.<br />
<br />
The immediate response in my Facebook feed is outrage. There's lots of "R.I.P. Chris Stevens" and complaints that Wintour is ridiculous by definition. She's only being considered because she's a big fundraiser!!!<br />
<br />
Spare me. Who among our recent ambassadors to the UK or France has not been a major fundraiser for the president who appointed him? What made someone like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stamps_Farish_III">William S. Farish </a>a great choice for the job? His vast experience raising thoroughbred horses?<br />
<br />
But Anna Wintour is a woman and the editor of a fashion magazine, so she is obviously frivolous. She's not a leading businesswoman with tremendous organizational skill and an impressive network of influential European friends. Woman. Fashion. Luxury. Vice.<br />
<br />
Seriously, reading these freakouts is like being transported to the 18th century. Let's just make John Adams ambassador to France. Because that was such a <a href="http://theamericanscholar.org/franklin-in-paris/">rousing success the first time</a> around.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-37542011322206043092012-10-24T23:04:00.002-04:002012-10-24T23:04:52.805-04:00Here's a StumperStephen Pinker, writing for the <i>New York Times</i> Opinionator wonders, "<a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/why-are-states-so-red-and-blue/">Why Are States So Red and Blue?</a>"<br />
<br />
Yes, of course, red states and blue states have different ideas about government and vastly different social values, but "why do ideology and geography cluster so predictably?"<br />
<br />
Words not appearing in this article: slavery, slaves, nullification, secession, Civil War, Reconstruction, Civil Rights, race, patriarchy.<br />
<br />
Yes, the fundamental differences in our conception of government, personal autonomy, and commonweal that erupted into a Civil War along geographical lines <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-past-aint-even-the-past/263853/">a few generations ago</a> linger on. Go figure. <br />
<br />
It's somewhat amazing to me that someone can frame a thesis about the South's "culture of honor" without mentioning the white supremacist and patriarchal foundations of that culture, specifically as they align with modern political issues from women's sovereignty over their bodies to the "moochers vs. makers" mindset. I am equally floored by his wilderness/frontier/civilizing framework. I mean, I know historians have had a hard time communicating to the general public, but I thought that we could probably get the Harvard professors of social science to pay some attention to some of the major works written in the past 30-odd years. A short reading list for Professor Pinker might include Stephanie McCurry's <i>Masters of Small Worlds</i>, Daniel Walker Howe's <i>What Hath God Wrought</i>, and Patricia Limerick's <i>Legacy of Conquest</i>.<br />
<br />
I mention this article mostly as a note to myself to bring it up to my advisor next time I see her. At a recent meeting, she told me that it was unsporting to go after <i>Albion's Seed</i> with knives drawn because it is hopelessly dated and has been thoroughly debunked and discarded. True though that may be, this is the second time in a week I've seen it used in a major media outlet, so it clearly needs a bit more hammering.<br />
<br />
Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-77014313982747827182012-09-28T17:55:00.000-04:002012-09-28T17:55:00.256-04:00Family AnnihilatorsTragic news from Virginia today<i> </i>— a man named Albert Peterson <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/28/virginia-man-kills-family-and-himself-over-fear-obama-would-be-re-elected/">killed his family and himself </a>because he "felt that our God-given rights were being taken away." Family friends are also telling the press that Peterson feared that government spending would "be on the backs of his boys."<br />
<br />
The whole incident has me thinking about family annihilators in the Early Republic, who were also faced with a profound shift in political power during their lifetimes. Like Americans in the Early Republic, modern Americans are seeing traditional structures of patriarchal power crumble, and some of them are reacting with violence. I'm reposting a piece I wrote several years ago on the deaths of the Beadle family of Wethersfield, CT:<br />
<br />
<i>For a brief intro to the "101 Ways to Say 'Died'" series, click <a href="http://vastpublicindifference.blogspot.com/2008/08/101-ways-to-say-died.html">here</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__zYu2MdAxIk/SNBVHQ4fsWI/AAAAAAAABMY/6x5ZsJevQWM/s1600-h/beadle+massacre" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__zYu2MdAxIk/SNBVHQ4fsWI/AAAAAAAABMY/mKBbbhuAKKU/s320-R/beadle+massacre" /></a>On December 11, 1782, William Beadle of Wethersfield, CT attacked his family with a knife and an axe, killing his wife and all four (or five?) of his children. He then committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol. The family's maid was the only survivor of the household — William sent her to bring a letter to a neighbor just before the attack. The letter turned out to be a confession, but by the time the neighbors arrived at the house, it was too late.<br />
<br />
William Beadle was not the only 18th-century American to murder his family. Many modern readers will be familiar with the <a href="http://dohistory.org/diary/themes/purrinton/index.html">Purrinton murders</a>, a case publicized by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in her Pulitzer Prize-winning <a href="http://dohistory.org/book/index.html"><i>A Midwife's Tale</i></a>. Between 1780 and 1840, at least seven American men committed acts of familicide, crimes that were widely publicized in sensational (and very popular) pamphlets. Daniel Cohen, author of "<a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Homicidal+compulsion+and+the+conditions+of+freedom:+the+social+and...-a017149965">Homicidal Compulsion and the Conditions of Freedom</a>," argues that family annhilators "were profoundly traumatized by the radical new 'conditions of freedom' experienced by common Americans in the early republic, particularly the new geographic mobility, economic instability, and religious liberty."<br />
<br />
Most of the family annihilators, like Beadle, committed suicide and were not given "decent" burials. I'm not sure whether they were denied the honors of burial in consecrated ground because they were murderers or because they committed suicide. Here's the <i>Connecticut Journal</i> (12/12/1782) on the subject:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__zYu2MdAxIk/SNBT4-wdx0I/AAAAAAAABMQ/Cl8bdKUPJIs/s1600-h/Picture+13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__zYu2MdAxIk/SNBT4-wdx0I/AAAAAAAABMQ/1oBPW5-phAs/s400-R/Picture+13.png" /></a></div>
I have not been to the graveyard in Whethersfield, so I don't have a picture of Lydia Beadle's grave. I don't want to steal other people's photos, but I will link to them (<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/23195639@N04/2226759046">here</a> and <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=beadle&GSfn=lydia&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=1782&GSdyrel=in&GSst=8&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=16480550&">here</a>).<br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Here lie interred Mrs. Lydia<br />
Beadle Age 32 Years<br />
Ansell Lothrop Elizabeth Lydia & Mary<br />
Beadle her Children: the eldest aged<br />
11 and the youngest 6 years Who<br />
on the morning of the 11th day of Decr AD 1782<br />
Fell by the hands of William Beadle<br />
an infatuated Man who closed the<br />
horrid sacrifice of his Wife<br />
& Children with his own destruction. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pale round their grassy tombs bedew's with tears,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Flit the thin forms of sorrow and of fears;</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Soft sighs responsive swell to plaintive chords,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And Indignations half unsheath their swords.</div>
Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-79506669131472397122012-09-19T11:21:00.000-04:002012-09-19T11:21:34.137-04:00Bless You, Thomas LechfordThat's probably not something that has been said very often. Thomas Lechford was a lawyer in 17th-century England (so maligned right off the bat). He was exiled to America around 1637 for some vaguely Nonconformist views on church government. He spent 3 or 4 years in New England, but was driven out of Massachusetts Bay for . . . nonconformist views on church government. As far as I can tell, he did not have many friends.<br />
<br />
But bless him anyway. When he returned to England in 1641, Lechford wrote a book called <i>Plaine Dealing or Newes from New-England</i>, which detailed all of the new and dangerous ideas being practiced in the colonies. There are hundred of inscrutable treatises on church government from the early 17th century, but <i>Plaine Dealing</i> lives up to its name as the most straightforward of any of them. Not only is language colloquial (hallelujah!) and uncluttered (miraculous!), Lechford writes with the exasperation of a reasonable person whose life has been upended by the ceaseless demands of religious fanatics who are fundamentally beyond appeasement.
Here is how he describes the feeling of being caught in the ever-shifting tide of Puritan grievances as expressed in congregational church government:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Some have well compared the humour of the people in this kind, to a merry relation of an old man and his sonne, passing through the streets of a City, with one horse between them: First, the old man rode, then the people found fault with his unkindnesse, in that he did not cause his son to ride with him: then the young man gets up too, now the people say they are both unmercifull to the beast: downe comes the old man, then the young man is unmannerly to ride, and his father walk on foote: at last downe goes the young man also, and leads the horse, and neither of them to ride. Well, but alter the inconstant vulgar will; if so, God grant it be for the better. But then consider stories, one alteration follows another; some have altered sixe times, before they were setled againe, and ever the people have paid for it both money and bloude.</blockquote>
This is, by the way, the grand finale of <i>Plaine Dealing</i>. And it was written in 1641, when the "money and bloude" of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms were just beginning to flow.<br />
<br />
So bless you, Thomas Lechford. I don't think you'd like modern democracy very much, but I admire your commitment to calling out everyone around you for making unreasonable demands. And for writing clearly. Mostly the writing clearly.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-66156742522953829332012-09-04T22:01:00.002-04:002012-09-04T22:01:40.046-04:001812 GirlThere's a new American Girl doll, and she's from . . .<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gs6fUIRb5mY/UEavY9-xtuI/AAAAAAAAG5Q/IThbyEOnS50/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-09-04+at+9.46.42+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gs6fUIRb5mY/UEavY9-xtuI/AAAAAAAAG5Q/IThbyEOnS50/s320/Screen+Shot+2012-09-04+at+9.46.42+PM.png" width="291" /></a></div>
<br />
. . . the War of 1812?<br />
<br />
Ok. Wevs.<br />
<br />
Apparently, her father owns a shipyard on Lake Ontario and there will be some Great Lakes naval battles in her books. Which is kind of awesome? And unexpected.<br />
<br />
Look, I know there are a lot of problems with the American Girl dolls and their stories. They argue that childhood is ahistorical, with the same storylines iterated with minimal alterations for girls living in four different centuries. But I also loved those dolls and read every one of their books 100 times when I was in elementary school. Anything that gets girls interested in history is a good starting point, even if it is pretty bad history in the long run. At the very least, they're better than the Elsie Dinsmore dolls and books.<br />
<br />
And there is also the small matter of my now being able to purchase these teeny shield back chairs and federal-style table. Well played, Pleasant Company. Well played.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GVNGtPLf9vI/UEayYyMVXsI/AAAAAAAAG5g/OX3Y2XrBbjw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-09-04+at+9.55.12+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GVNGtPLf9vI/UEayYyMVXsI/AAAAAAAAG5g/OX3Y2XrBbjw/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-09-04+at+9.55.12+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-61498114555919259182012-08-15T21:25:00.002-04:002012-08-15T21:25:58.489-04:00Name of the Day<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Peacock Bigger</b></span></div>
<br />
He was a merchant, brazier, and distiller in Philadelphia in the 1730s-1740s.<br />
<br />
Not kidding. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hhsVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=%22peacock+bigger%22+philadelphia&source=bl&ots=ubZaRcv-Lz&sig=BP53G4Rb9xg58HxUxXfMyzUl-HU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5kssUP2LPKXY0QHEg4CACQ&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22peacock%20bigger%22%20philadelphia&f=false">Look him up</a>. Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-90415100398809449282012-08-07T12:46:00.003-04:002012-08-07T12:46:54.354-04:00Name of the DayI've been working with some probate records at the Mass State Archives this week. I try to be productive, but sometimes it's difficult to avoid the lure of just flipping through the probate index for funny names. It's difficult to concentrate on wills when I know the index is full of these:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sewall Swallow</b></span></div>
<br />
Guardianship (1891), Suffolk County Probate #86860)Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-67267686860631209522012-07-25T12:48:00.001-04:002012-07-25T12:48:52.737-04:00Kids These Days<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=q_Y-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=laws+new+haven+colony&source=bl&ots=4ALUE48wiS&sig=eJJf-jcR32Eo7pZy4Ynp_M-_SMg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YiEQUOTTNJSz0QGV2oCACQ&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=married&f=false">New Haven Colony, 1642</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Samuel Hoskins and Elizabeth Cleverly being desirous to join together in the state of marriage, and not being able to make proof of their parent's [sic] consent, but seeing they both affirm they have the consent of their parents, and withall having entered into contract, and sinfully and wickedly made themselves both unfit for any other, and for which they have both received Publique correction, upon these considerations granted them the liberty to marry.</blockquote>Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-34184237661921019992012-07-20T23:25:00.001-04:002012-07-21T14:24:43.349-04:00"The Worst Mass Shooting in US History"<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="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u2NVtkcAMXg/UArztofEoAI/AAAAAAAAG0Q/fLP9-7PKY1Y/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-07-21+at+2.23.06+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u2NVtkcAMXg/UArztofEoAI/AAAAAAAAG0Q/fLP9-7PKY1Y/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-07-21+at+2.23.06+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Update: This is the CNN homepage on Saturday afternoon at 2:30</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's late, so I'll make this quick:<br />
<br />
I really wish that <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/bloomberg-obama-romney-act-prevent-colorado-style-massacres/story?id=16819968#.UAodc79paDM">all of</a> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/expressing-support-art-colorado-theater-shooting-victims-004706946.html">these</a> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/extras/2012/07/20/nightline-daily-line-july-20-mass-shooting-in-colorado-theater/">news</a> <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2012-07-20/the-worst-mass-shooting-in-american-history/">outlets</a> would stop calling today's mass murder in Colorado the "worst mass shooting in US history." It is not. It may be "the worst mass shooting involving a single shooter or pair of shooters since World War II," but US history does not begin in 1945.<br />
<br />
The criterion being used by CNN seems to be the total number of people shot (killed + wounded), thus elevating today's events over more deadly shootings like Columbine and the Virginia Tech massacre in service of whipping up ratings. I suppose they can use whatever criteria they want, but calling it the "worst mass shooting in US history" is inaccurate and misleading.<br />
<br />
I suppose that you could make the case that mass shootings by soldiers should not count, even if they are shooting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike">civilian strikers</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre">children</a>, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Pillow_Massacre">prisoners of war</a>. But still, today's shooting is not even the worst incident of civilian-on-civilian gun violence in American history — more than 100 people were killed in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre">Colfax Massacre of 1873</a>. I suppose you can quibble about whether people shot with a cannon are victims of "shootings," but these are all firearm deaths. <br />
<br />
I find many things troubling about this framing, but here are the big three:<br />
<ul>
<li>It erases state violence against civilians. The worst mass shootings have been perpetrated by groups of heavily armed men in officially sanctioned killings of civilians.</li>
<li>It erases violence against Native Americans and African Americans. Most of those military massacres targeted people of color. Not that white civilians didn't massacre their black neighbors with great vigor (again, I direct you to the Colfax Massacre).</li>
<li>It makes it sound like America is getting more violent over time. Not true. Don't let people think the past was all petticoats and flag waving. The violence of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries was horrific.</li>
</ul>
So please, ABC, add some qualifiers into your sensational reports.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-92061379414144608672012-05-04T12:10:00.001-04:002012-05-04T12:10:14.173-04:00History in the NewsSome stories about American history from around the internet:<br />
<ul>
<li><i>The New York Times</i> covers book conservator <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/us/at-brown-university-stumbling-across-a-rarity-in-the-rare-book-room.html?_r=1&hp">Marie Malchodi's discovery of a rare Paul Revere engraving</a> tucked into a book in the Hay Library at Brown University. In college, I worked (briefly) in this book conservation lab, but I never found anything cool there. I did, however, find a copy of the regimental history of the 116th Pennsylvania signed by St. Clair Mulholland and inscribed with a message donating it to the George G. Meade chapter of the G.A.R. in Philadelphia. That was in the regular stacks, though, not the rare books library.</li>
<li>Also from the <i>NYT</i>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/us/map-markings-offer-clues-to-lost-colony.html?_r=1">an old map reveals a new clue</a> to "one of early America's oldest secrets": the fate of the Roanoke colony. The story is actually pretty cool — someone found a patched map and under the patch are some markings indicating a possible location for a previously unidentified fort or settlement. The whole tone of the story made me laugh a bit, though. Perhaps I'm just not convinced that there's anything all that "mysterious" about the "disappearance" of the Roanoke colonists. Yes, it's true that we don't know exactly which of two or three possible fates befell them. But surely the fact that 100 underprepared civilians left on the American coast for three years without resupply "vanished" does not require some sort of extraordinary explanation. My favorite part of this article is the last line, where historian Karen Kupperman is quoted as saying, "To my mind, the most interesting question at this point is why were the patches put on, and who put them on, and when."</li>
<li>From the <i>Washington Post</i>, a collector and historian of 20th-century radio history <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/in-national-archives-thefts-a-radio-detective-gets-his-man/2012/05/02/gIQAN1chxT_story_1.html">catches a thief at the National Archives</a>. And it turned out to be one of the archivists. Yikes.</li>
<li>Not strictly history related, but Harvard just announced the winners of the <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/5/4/hoopes-prize-winners-announced/">2012 Hoopes Prize</a> (awarded for excellent undergraduate theses). Two of the winners were my students in History 97 (the intro course required of all sophomore history concentrators). Congrats!</li>
</ul>Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-33516961964271911212012-05-02T19:50:00.000-04:002012-05-02T19:50:02.689-04:00Preservation and RespectToday, I am reading Norman J.G. Pounds' <i>The History of the English Parish: The Culture of Religion from Augustine to Victoria</i> (2000) and enjoying it very much. If you ever wanted to know anything about medieval/early modern English parish churches — from how the sextons were paid to where the stones were quarried — this is a good place to start. I'm finding Pounds' systematic explanation very helpful for reconstructing the church that New England's emigrant generation would have known.<br />
<br />
Like any good British historian of a certain generation, Pounds sometimes interrupts his history with a bit of armchair pontification. While I appreciate the detail work he has done in recovering the history of the English parish, I disagree with many of his pronouncements, some of which seem reactionary and shallow. For example, Pounds says of the erosion of inscriptions on church floors:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The parish church is the community's mausoleum. The floor of its nave might have been covered with slabs and monuments to its departed members, but the tramp of feet has over the centuries dislodged the brasses and worn inscriptions smooth. Effigies, sculpture and heraldry have been mutilated or removed. This is a tragedy and a violation of the rights of the dead. It is also an act of vandalism, destroying historical evidence which deserves to be protected for its own sake. For every church there should be a careful record of its monuments and of the persons commemorated, both within it and in the enclosing cemetery.</blockquote>
I've discussed this attitude before — particularly in regard to the <a href="http://www.vastpublicindifference.com/2009/07/mementos-at-arlington.html">preservation of grave offerings at Arlington National Cemetery</a>. As an historian with a particular interest in material culture, I love old things, but the idea of preserving objects by removing them from their contexts bothers me. I'm all for documenting objects — photograph them, record the names on the old gravestones, etc. But should we "protect" them by alienating them from their original purposes? That strikes me as selfish.<br />
<br />
In the case of the Arlington offerings, I argued that preserving artifacts is not inherently more respectful than destroying them. Should a letter left on a loved one's grave be preserved for the eyes of future historians? As an historian, I say yes, please say everything! As a person, I say no — that object isn't meant for me and I do a sort of violence by claiming it. I feel the same about putting gravestones in museums.<br />
<br />
In the case of the worn inscriptions in the English churches, I don't agree with Pounds' accusation that erosion is "an act of vandalism." In fact, I think it's lovely that the congregation has shuffled over those inscriptions for so many years that the words have worn off under their feet. It's not that someone stole the plates for personal gain or destroyed them out of malice. Things decay. It's part of their existence. And trying to forestall that decay by "protecting" them seems to miss the point. You could install a plexiglass floor over the memorials in these churches so no one could actually touch them or remove them from their places and put them in a museum, but why is that better than preserving their place in the life of its community?Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-28935898926908114552012-05-01T19:51:00.001-04:002012-05-01T19:51:42.727-04:00Meditations on the Dead: Mather vs. StoryToday, I've been mulling over Cotton Mather's <i>A Christian Funeral</i> (1713), specifically as it contrasts with the use of cemeteries envisioned by Joseph Story in his dedication address at Mount Auburn (1831).<br />
<br />
Mather and Story agree on one thing: the living should learn from the dead.<br />
<br />
Mather:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Let the Dead Person in the Coffin, become a Lively Teacher unto us: their Death, a Lively Sermon unto us. When we see the Sleep of Death upon one of our Acquaintance, let it Awaken in us, many Pertinent Meditation.</blockquote>
Story:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Our Cemeteries rightly selected, and properly arranged, may be made subservient to some of the highest purposes of religion and human duty. They may preach lessons, to which none may refuse to listen, and which all, that live, must hear. Truths may there be felt and taught in the silence of our own meditations, more persuasive, and more enduring, than ever flowed from human lips. The grave hath a voice of eloquence, nay, of superhuman eloquence . . .</blockquote>
Yet, despite some superficial similarities, Mather and Story actually have very different views on how the living should relate to the dead. Mather places the living in close proximity to "the Dead Body" and emphasizes feelings of abject humility. He deems four meditations most appropriate for funerals:<br />
<ul>
<li>"The Frailty of Dying Man; and Frail Mans Tendency to Death"</li>
<li>"The Certainty, the Speediness, and for ought we can foretell, the Suddenness of our own Death"</li>
<li>"The Compassion of God, in Sparing of us, when Death has had a Commission to fall upon others"</li>
<li>"The Insignificancy of all Worldly Satisfactions, unto a man that must Leave the World" </li>
</ul>
Mather may hear "a loud Voice from the Hearse," but it says, "Friend, Thou must quickly come to this!" <br />
<br />
Story hears a voice, but it's saying something very different:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As we sit down by their graves, we seem to hear the tones of their affection, whispering in our ears. We listen to the voice of their wisdom, speaking in the depths of our souls. We shed our tears, but they are no longer the burning tears of agony. They relieve our drooping spirits and come no longer over us with a deathly faintness. We return to the world, and we feel ourselves purer, and better, and wiser, from this communion with the dead.</blockquote>
Someone coming from one of Mather's funerals might feel many things, but not comfort. Mather's funeral lesson is that man is vulnerable and wretched. Story leaves the grave feeling strong and uplifted.<br />
<br />
Mather's "voice" is purely metaphorical, but I'm not sure Story's actually is. Or even if his is — he "seems to hear" — the seeds of spiritualism are present in the rural cemetery movement's embrace of an immediate, mystical connection with the dead.<br />
<br />
Mather does allow that mourners may learn a "Lesson of Goodness or Wisdom" by remembering the life of an exemplary Christian and "send[ing] up our secret wishes to Heaven, Lord, Help me to do so too!" But this is very different from Story's immediate connection with the dead. In Mather's thinking, the dead body is an object of meditation, an aid to remembrance, and an inspiration for prayer. For Story, the body is not particularly important, but the setting of the grave is crucial for establishing an immediate connection with the dead. In the former case, the dead person humbles the living and brings him crawling to God. In the latter, the dead person's spirit strengthens the living, and I can't quite see where God fits in at all.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-11001028514706840632012-04-30T11:17:00.000-04:002012-04-30T11:17:33.689-04:00Originalist Smackdown: Healthcare Mandate EditionIn <i>The New Republic</i>, Harvard Law Professor Einer Elhauge delivers an <a href="http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/102620/individual-mandate-history-affordable-care-act">awe-inspiring smackdown of the "originalist" case against the healthcare mandate</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But there’s a major problem with this line of argument: It just isn’t
true. The founding fathers, it turns out, passed several mandates of
their own. In 1790, the very first Congress—which incidentally included
20 framers—passed a law that included a mandate: namely, a requirement
that ship owners buy medical insurance for their seamen. This law was
then signed by another framer: President George Washington. That’s
right, the father of our country had no difficulty imposing a health
insurance mandate.</blockquote>
I have my own problems with Constitutional Originalism and its flawed theory of history, but this is just straight up pwning. Elhauge goes on to detail several instances in which actual Congresses made up of actual Founding Fathers passed mandates, including an individual mandate that required sailors to purchase medical insurance.<br />
<br />
If such a ruling would not hurt so many millions of vulnerable Americans, I could almost wish that the Supreme Court would strike down the mandate just so that we could have this awesome example of "actual" Founding Fathers vs. "original" Founding Fathers. I may get that wish fulfilled anyway, much to my sorrow.<br />
<br />
More <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_best_policy/2012/04/affordable_care_act_the_supreme_court_and_the_constitution_harvard_law_professor_einer_elhauge_shows_how_the_founding_fathers_supported_mandates_.html">coverage from <i>Slate</i> here</a>.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-81759832714058176322012-04-27T21:21:00.001-04:002012-04-27T21:21:29.466-04:00Name of the DayI'm sitting here, watching <i>Who Do You Think You Are</i>, working on Pete's family tree. He's descended from pretty much everyone in colonial New England (he's a Beecher!), so it's fun for me.<br />
<br />
My favorite names in the branch I'm working on are Oliver Fisk (b. 1750) and his wife, Olive Wickes (b. 1750). Together, they form the Oliver-Olive Fisk-Wickes family.<br />
<br />
<br />Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-2827169202966101532012-04-23T11:09:00.001-04:002012-04-23T11:09:32.117-04:00John Copley, BritonJane Kamensky has <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-04-22/ideas/31372855_1_john-singleton-copley-new-wing-artists">a great article in Sunday's <i>Boston Globe</i></a> about how Americans think about John Singleton Copley. She argues that our collective memory of Copley — as embodied in the MFA's exhibition of his work in its "Revolutionary Boston" exhibit — positions Copley as an American and a participant in the Revolutionary movement, but that it would be more appropriate to think of him as what he was: a British provincial.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But Copley did not imagine himself that way, and might well have been
surprised to discover how thoroughly America has claimed him. Copley’s
life, his works, and his words defined him as a subject of the British
empire, not a citizen of the American republic. Born in British America
in 1738, he died in his comfortable home on Hanover Square in London in
1815, having spent the Revolution, the War of 1812, and more than half
of his long life in England. Copley was buried as he was born: a loyal
subject of the crown. He never set foot in an independent United States.</blockquote>
Read the whole article.<br />
<br />
The more I read about the MFA's Art of the Americas Wing, the more I wonder about whether the gap between academic history and public history is bridgeable.Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462946535883846881.post-16943090124113338922012-04-18T13:52:00.001-04:002012-04-18T13:52:59.051-04:00On New England AestheticsHere is <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=FwswAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA27&dq=%22john+h.+sheppard%22+librarian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4v2OT4iWF-j50gGK77i7Dw&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22john%20h.%20sheppard%22%20librarian&f=false">John H. Sheppard</a>, member of the board of directors of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and librarian of the Society (1861-1869), <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=NUkDGz_upnQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=drains&f=false">on the aesthetics of colonial New England</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">It seemed not enough to erect temples to God,
without regard to any order of architecture, without form or comeliness,
looking like steepled barns, and then to use them for unholy purposes and town
meetings; but, in too many instances, the very churchyards were neglected,
unfenced, and uncared for, the graves exposed to horses cattle, and dogs, not a
tree nor a flower suffered to shade or bloom there, and neither walk nor path
laid out among the falling, struggling stones, for the pensive mourner to muse
over a loved one, or drop a tear over his grave.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Sheppard was an Englishman, raised in the Anglican church. I will keep "steepled barns" close to my heart. </span>Caitlin GD Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05317897772288904474noreply@blogger.com0