The Nation's First Monument and the Origins of the American Memorial Tradition

The Nation's First Monument and the Origins of the American Memorial Tradition

Author: Sally Webster

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1351542028

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The commemorative tradition in early American art is given sustained consideration for the first time in Sally Webster's study of public monuments and the construction of an American patronymic tradition. Until now, no attempt has been made to create a coherent early history of the carved symbolic language of American liberty and independence. Establishing as the basis of her discussion the fledgling nation's first monument, Jean-Jacques Caffi?'s Monument to General Richard Montgomery (commissioned in January of 1776), Webster builds on the themes of commemoration and national patrimony, ultimately positing that like its instruments of government, America drew from the Enlightenment and its reverence for the classical past. Webster's study is grounded in the political and social worlds of New York City, moving chronologically from the 1760s to the 1790s, with a concluding chapter considering the monument, which lies just east of Ground Zero, against the backdrop of 9/11. It is an original contribution to historical scholarship in fields ranging from early American art, sculpture, New York history, and the Revolutionary era. A chapter is devoted to the exceptional role of Benjamin Franklin in the commissioning and design of the monument. Webster's study provides a new focus on New York City as the 18th-century city in which the European tradition of public commemoration was reconstituted as monuments to liberty's heroes.


The Drama of Presidential Inaugurations and Inaugural Addresses from Washington through to Biden

The Drama of Presidential Inaugurations and Inaugural Addresses from Washington through to Biden

Author: John R. Vile

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2022-11-29

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1527591433

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Every four years, and on the death of presidents, individuals take the oath of office prescribed in the US Constitution. Formal inaugurations are accompanied by pomp that originated in ancient coronation ceremonies in a celebration that thousands of people attend in person and millions follow through electronic media. After describing what such occasions from the inauguration of President George Washington through to that of Joe Biden have in common and how they have changed, this book provides a chronologically arranged summary of each such inaugural ceremony and accompanying events, as well as an analysis of each speech. Although many are largely forgotten, several such orations, including those by Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, are rhetorical masterpieces. All addresses provide snapshots of American ideals that will interest citizens, historians, and political scientists, and be of service to reference librarians.


Craft and Heritage

Craft and Heritage

Author: Susan Surette

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-10-21

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1350067601

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This collection of 19 original essays argues for a critical and sustained engagement between the fields of craft and heritage. The book's interdisciplinary and international array of authors consider how heritage and craft institutions, policies, practices and audiences encounter the constraints and opportunities of production, recognition and exhibition. Case studies spanning 125 years raise and address questions concerning authenticity and commodification, innovation and improvisation, diasporas and decolonization, global economies and national and professional identities. Authors also analyse mechanisms through which craft mobilises and has been harnessed by heritage processes and designations. Examples range from an Irish village at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the role of chronopolitics in contemporary Vietnamese pottery, to the invisibility of crochet within Swedish heritagisation processes and the application of game theory in a ceramics museum. With section one considering citizenship and identity, section two sustainability and section three dynamic craft in cultural institutions, Craft and Heritage interrogates how craft objects, makers and processes intersect with current heritage concerns and practices.


Tours Inside the Snow Globe

Tours Inside the Snow Globe

Author: Tonya K. Davidson

Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

Published: 2024-05-16

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1771126043

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The toppling of monuments globally in the last few years has highlighted the potency of monuments as dynamic and affectively loaded participants in society. In the context of Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, monuments inspire colonial and imperial nostalgia, compelling visitors to consistently re-imagine Canada as a white, Anglophone nation, built through the labour of white men: politicians, soldiers, and businessmen. At the same time, Ottawa monuments allow for dominant affective relationships to the nation to be challenged, demonstrated through subtle and explicit forms of defacement and other interactions that compel us to remember colonial violence, pacifism, violence against women, racisms. Organized as a series of walking tours throughout Ottawa, the chapters in Tours Inside the Snow Globe demonstrate the affective capacities of monuments and highlight how these monuments have ongoing relationships with their sites, the city, other monuments, and local, deliberate, national, and casual communities of users. The tours focus on the lives of a monument to an unnamed Indigenous scout, the National War Memorial, Enclave: the Women’s Monument, and the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights. Two of the tours offer analyses of the ambivalent representations of women and Indigeneity in Ottawa’s statue landscape.


Democracy Has Prevailed

Democracy Has Prevailed

Author: Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-04-06

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 1510767592

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Celebrate democracy and the inauguration of America's 46th President, Joe Biden, by reliving his inaugural speech, along with an introductory speech by Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Inaugural Address of President Barack Obama, and the full text of both the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. January 20th, 2021 will be remembered by all Americans as the day of the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. His inauguration, and the powerful declaration in his speech—"Democracy Has Prevailed!"—marked the start of a new time of hope and potential change at the end of a dark four years marred by political unrest, economic and social turmoil, and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, readers can remember and relive this incredible day with Democracy Has Prevailed. Presenting the full text of President Biden's inaugural speech, as well as Senator Amy Klobuchar's introductory speech, the Inaugural Address of President Barack Obama, and the full text of both the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, this commemorative edition is perfect for Biden voters, history fans, and anyone with an interest in US politics and society.