One of the greatest strengths of the AAS fellowship program is that researchers from around the globe, working in diverse disciplines (history, English, art, creative writing, archaeology, etc.), all live together just up the street from Antiquarian Hall. During their lunch hour and after being forced out of the reading room at 5 pm, ...
Author: Elizabeth Watts Pope
Curator of Books, American Antiquarian Society
The Civil War comes to “Mary S. Peake, the Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe,” Part 1
What we have for you today is the story of a remarkable African American woman and her community. The story was told by Rev. Lewis C. Lockwood, self-described as the “First Missionary to the Freedmen at Fortress Monroe, 1862,” in a book titled: Mary S. Peake, the Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe. (The full text ...
Congratulations, John!
Please join us in congratulating John B. Hench, retired vice president for collections and programs at AAS. His recent book, Books as Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World War II, was awarded the 2010 George A. and Jean S. DeLong Book History Book Prize from the Society ...
Past is Present and Other Blogs
Here is a roundup of a few blogs that have recently mentioned Past is Present. One of our recent posts -- "City Living" was referenced a couple of times. Two Nerdy History Girls had a post "Big Bad City Tempts Young Men, 1849" in which Susan provides a wonderful set-up to introduce our earlier post: "Just ...
This Week in the Civil War, Illustrated: “Cash or curses” as payment for foraged food
There has been much interest in the Civil War of late. The increased coverage makes sense given that next few years mark 150 years since the conflict that divided our United States. Here at Past is Present, we would like to highlight another side of the war years. Rather than focusing on the battles or ...
City Living, or “One Vast Masquerade Entertainment”
It must have been personal interest that drew my eye to this one item on the shelf, "The Temptations of City Life: A Voice to Young Men Seeking a Home and Fortune, in Large Towns and Cities," Tracts for the Cities -- No. 3 (New York, 1849) [AAS online catalog record]. While I am not ...
Jesus Wants You to Send This to 20 People
Dear Past is Present readers, Anyone who has an email account is by now all too familiar with the forwarded email, as well as the accompanying guilt-laden demands to keep forwarding it. The promise: just forward this email to 20 of your closest friends and you will be happy, or rich, or blessed. The threat: vague but ominous ...
Adopt-a-Book Tomorrow!: Extra Special Treats
Tomorrow night, Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6 pm, the American Antiquarian Society’s long anticipated Adopt-a-Book event will be held at Antiquarian Hall (185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA). While we hope you have enjoyed our recent series of posts previewing some of the items available for adoption, the actual event will be full of extra ...
Fraud Week, Part 2: Will the Real George Washington Please Sign Here?
We are kicking off Fraud Week on Past is Present with a big one: forgeries of George Washington's handwriting. The choice of subject is particularly apropos since today is Washington's birthday and, not surprisingly, the American Antiquarian Society has many Washington-related items, including: over 2,600 books, pamphlets, periodicals, and graphics related to George Washington listed in ...
Fraud Week (like Shark Week, but in the archives)
Discovery Channel may have cornered the market on Shark Week, but here at Past is Present we are instituting our own Fraud Week to explore the seamier underside of the archive. Or perhaps we will discover that there is another side to fakes, forgeries, and frauds, in a similar manner to how Shark Week ...
Finding Abraham Lincoln at AAS
Abraham Lincoln is a hot topic these days. From renowned historians to local students, everyone is interested in learning more about the man who once declared: “I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life.” While Lincoln has been a perennial favorite for researchers at AAS, recently interest in ...
Portraits — Online and On The Acquisitions Table
Here is a fun anecdote from Graphic Arts curator Lauren Hewes that highlights both the value of AAS's online illustrated inventories and how our online resources can help to put new items on The Acquisitions Table: One day this past year a dentist in Alabama was on Google searching for more information about a pastel he ...
Paper Rituals
It is perhaps not surprising that we can be a little obsessive about our paper here at AAS. However, a recent influx of interns reminded me how strange all the paper shuffling that goes on at the desk can appear to an outsider. People new to doing research at AAS, upon being asked ...
Clerk and the City
We began the new year with a teaser post on "Love and the Library" that introduced our new line-a-day subject, Nathan Beekley. We are now proud to debut the site based on Beekley's diary for 1849, Clerk and the City . Beekley's daily blog posts will appear in the sidebar on Past is Present, but ...
A New Year’s Address
To mark the start of a new year, in the 18th and 19th centuries it was traditional for newspapers to issue new years' addresses, or carrier's addresses. (Click here to see AAS's online catalog records for over 1,300 of these addresses.) This extra supplement to the paper usually consisted of verses written in the ...