With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, it’s time to think about our New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions are a wonderful way to reflect upon the past year, on the year to come, and attempt to bring about changes in our lives. It’s in our nature to seek this kind of renewal – everyone likes a fresh ...
Year: 2011
The Acquisitions Table: The Californian
The Californian (San Francisco, CA). 70 issues, 1864-1867. This bound volume of The Californian begins with the first issue of May 28, 1864. It was primarily a weekly literary periodical with some local news thrown in. Charles Henry Webb started the paper but Bret Harte soon succeeded him as the editor. One of the contributors hired ...
The Great Gliddon Mummy Unwrappings of 1850
While most people today are familiar with Egyptian mummies through various sorts of media — books, television, films, supermarket tabloids, museum exhibitions and the ubiquitous Halloween decorations — people in mid-nineteenth century America did not have this same experience. To them, mummies were rare, mysterious relics, most often associated with the Biblical past, and few ...
The Acquisitions Table: The American Juvenile Pictoral Primer
The American Juvenile Pictorial Primer. New York: Edward Dunigan, 1843. Up until about 1820, The New England Primer, with its religiously inspired alphabet, account of John Rogers’s burning at the stake, and religious dialogues, dominated the American primer market. By the 1840s, secular primers like The American Juvenile Primer featuring pictures and large type became quite ...
Curwen’s Calendar, Part II
Last week I shared some letters from the Curwen Family Papers showcasing the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. The colonies officially made the change in 1752, yet some letters in the Curwen Family Papers exhibited the switch previous to the official change. Why the early appearance of these dates? The change was ...
The Acquisitions Table: Allan’s Lone Star Ballads
Allan, Francis D. Allan’s Lone Star ballads. A collection of Southern patriotic songs, made during Confederate times. Galveston: J.D. Sawyer, 1874. First obtainable edition of this important Confederate and Texas songster; Allan had previous issued a much shorter compilation in 1863, now extremely rare. In his preface, Allan explains that during the Civil War he assiduously ...
Prints for a Different Parlor
Disclaimer: This post contains adult content. If there are any children reading this blog, or anyone else who wishes to avoid the "hidden" side of the 19th century, this post isn't for you. But for the rest of our readers, we could use your help learning more about a new acquisition. The AAS curator of graphic ...
The only book you’ll ever need
According to its preface, A New Academy of Compliments: or, Complete Secretary “is a book full of variety, and many things not found in any other.” Without a doubt, this is the most eclectic book to have crossed my desk during many years as a cataloger. It begins with directions for composing letters using examples addressed ...
The Acquisitions Table: Nancy Snow’s Account Book, 1844-1847
Snow, Nancy. Account Book, 1844-1847. An example of repurposing of books, Nancy Snow’s account book was composed within what was at one point a penmanship book, published in 1832. Nancy wrote her name on the inside cover, indicating she used this book as a student the Clapp School when she was 14 years old. Twelve years ...
Curwen’s Calendar
The Curwen Family Papers represents one of the earliest collections in the manuscript department. This collection, which includes material from 1637 through 1808, provides an insightful look into pre-revolutionary America. Samuel Curwen, the main player in this collection, was a Harvard graduate, class of 1735, a trader in Salem, Massachusetts, and a Tory. When his ...
Chromolithographed Christmas Cards
The holiday rush has started for us all, so we hope you will forgive us at Past is Present for having taken a bit of a break recently. To kick off the month of December, in the spirit of Christmas giving, please accept these chromolithographed Christmas cards as our present from the past. Click on ...
The Acquisitions Table: Major Downing’s Advocate
Jack Downing was a comic character created in 1830 by Seba Smith, who developed the country dialect-speaking character in a series of letters for the Portland Courier. As Downing became famous, Charles Augustus Davis imitated the style and wrote under the same name for New York papers. Davis started Major Downing’s Advocate on Mar. 12, ...
A Follow-Up to “Can You Read This Image?”
In the intervening week or so since my post on this mysterious image appeared on the AAS blog, I contacted Alexander Anderson scholar and AAS member Jane Pomeroy. She graciously sent me this scanned copy of the full image found in her copy of the Mahlon Day 1830 edition of Divine Songs. According to Jane, she ...
The Acquisitions Table: A Representation of the Progress of Intemperance
A previously unrecorded satirical cartoon printed in Lowell, MA, by J.H. Varney, possibly a relation of (or pseudonym for) local newspaper publisher Samuel J. Varney. The cartoon references the 1840 repeal of a Massachusetts state law which regulated the sale of alcohol in quantities under 15 gallons. A large railroad carriage full of drunken men ...
Lecture tonight!
Tuesday, November 15, at 7:30 p.m. at the American Antiquarian Society Carolyn Eastman will be talking about Books and the Imagined World of Travel in the Eighteenth Century. For more information, including directions, click here. In the eighteenth century, lavishly illustrated travel narratives quickly became one of the most popular book genres for American readers. These books ...