This large, colorful broadside was probably printed in two different locations. The red-printed border, which includes advertising slogans suitable for dry goods merchants (and a cartoon of a horse-drawn mail wagon and train with caption “Clear the tracks!!”), bears the Philadelphia imprint of John Duross. The bordered blank sheets were presumably sold to merchants across ...
Last week, Henry left us, and his mother, hanging. His regiment encountered a skirmish, and although he was not harmed, Henry could not share the details until a few days later. On Sunday, October 27th, he tells his mother about the encounter, and his swim to safety. Below are some highlights. You can read the ...
A few weeks ago, I shared a letter from Henry Joslin, a Civil War Corporal from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. On October 20th, 1861, Henry was again writing home to his mother. Below are some excerpts from the letter. You can read the full transcription here. I suppose that before you get this you will have received the ...
Each year we present a Baron Lecture as part of the festivities surrounding the Society’s annual meeting. The series is named after Robert C. Baron, president of Fulcrum Publishing and long time AAS member and Council Chairman from 1993-2003. These lectures provide a wonderful opportunity for an AAS member who has written a significant and ...
The frontispiece to this elocution text features a rare illustration of a young lady doing physical exercise along with her male colleagues to prepare for speaking. By 1867, female reformers like Lucy Stone had blazed new trails for women as public speakers before mixed audiences of men and women. To reflect this change in social ...
AAS has few newspapers from Delaware County, NY and, until this spring, only two issues from the town of Deposit. Six years ago we were the underbidder at auction on a lot of the Deposit Courier. The person who won it was a Californian, John Aiello, who had grown up in Deposit. Mr. Aiello promised ...
And now for some concluding thoughts from Jeanne McDougall about her encounter with Hannah Weld. If you've missed the previous two posts about Hannah and her mother Mary, click here to get caught up. What can you say after experiencing such an extraordinary epistle? My reading for the day came to a full stop; any day ...
Aston Gonzalez, Ph.D. Candidate in History, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Jay and Deborah Last Fellowship: "Kneeling and Fighting: African American Artists' Depiction of Black Humanity" My project at the American Antiquarian Society investigates how African American visual artists produced work that acted as counternarratives to the racist messages contained in popular literature, images printed in ...
AAS member (and publisher’s cloth binding expert) Steve Beare regularly alerts us to interesting bindings he spots on eBay. Thanks to his deeply appreciated referrals, over the past two years we have added many unusual bindings to the AAS collection. Perhaps the most remarkable of Steve’s finds is this gift book binding of fine-ribbed white ...
Last week, AAS reader Jeanne McDougall introduced us to the Weld family. Today, she continues exploring the mother and daughter pair, and examines their relationship and personalities through Hannah's letter. During the closing days of February 1799, Hannah would have had every reason to wish her daughter back home with her in Boston rather than far-off, ...
