Chronicles of New England. Chap. 1000. [United States: s.n., 1826-7?] Two copies of the earlier Chapter 999 have been traced (one of which was already at AAS), but this appears to be the only copy of Chapter 1000. When it appeared at auction this fall, we had to have it. A satire written in Biblical style, ...
Month: June 2014
Metadata and the Right to Own an Archival Collection
I left off last month promising details of how the work of early nineteenth-century American antiquarians has, over the last two centuries, morphed into the work of cataloging, archiving, and collecting, of how the “science” of antiquarianism has become the “science” of information. To address this shift, we might start by looking at how the ...
The Acquisitions Table: Elliot Cowdin Letterpress Copy Book
Cowdin, Elliot. Letterpress Copy Book, 1861-1869. Elliot C. Cowdin (1819-1880) was a well-known merchant in New York. As a young man he was greatly involved with the Mercantile Library Association, where he learned much about his trade. Later in life he became involved in politics, especially during the Civil War. This letterpress copy book contains copies ...
Filling in a Gap: Reporting Lincoln’s Assassination
In May I picked up a large collection of newspapers from the Indiana State Library. It took 20 book cart loads to unload the back of the 26’ truck. There were a number of bundles of miscellaneous newspapers of single or scattered issues. While going through one of the bundles, I came across an issue of ...
The Acquisitions Table: Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin. New York: J. Dalton, for the New York Albion, ca. 1860. Large format engravings were distributed in several ways in pre-Civil War America. They could be ordered from a publisher by subscription, purchased directly through book and print dealers, or awarded as premiums for membership in an organization, such as the American Art Union. Many ...
Give Pieces a Chance
The Acquisitions Table: Afternoon Tea
Afternoon Tea: Rhymes for Children. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons; London: Frederick Warne and Co., ca. 1880. This delicate color-printed illustration of children at play is taken from a book of children’s poetry published jointly in New York and London by the England-based houses of Thomas Nelson and Sons and Frederick Warne. Both publishers were ...
Now in print
Every quarter at AAS we release a list of recent publications by those who have researched at the library as fellows, members, or readers. To see this list, as well as a list of works published from 2000-2014, please visit our recent scholarship page on the AAS website. If your book, article, or other achievement is not included, ...