This is the second edition, revised, of The Collections and Programs of the American Antiquarian Society - A 175th Anniversary Guide (1987). The American Antiquarian Society was founded in 1812 by the famed printer-patriot Isaiah Thomas. Today, its library houses the world's best and most accessible collections of material related to the history and culture of the United States to the year 1876.
Prior to the nineteenth century, few Americans knew anything more of Egyptian culture than what could be gained from studying the biblical Exodus. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt at the end of the eighteenth century, however, initiated a cultural breakthrough for Americans as representations of Egyptian culture flooded western museums and publications, sparking a growing interest in all things Egyptian that was coined Egyptomania. As Egyptomania swept over the West, a relatively young America began assimilating Egyptian culture into its own national identity, creating a hybrid national heritage that would vastly affect the memorial landscape of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Far more than a study of Egyptian revivalism, this book examines the Egyptian style of commemoration from the rural cemetery to national obelisks to the Sphinx at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Giguere argues that Americans adopted Egyptian forms of commemoration as readily as other neoclassical styles such as Greek revivalism, noting that the American landscape is littered with monuments that define the Egyptian style’s importance to American national identity. Of particular interest is perhaps America’s greatest commemorative obelisk: the Washington Monument. Standing at 555 feet high and constructed entirely of stone—making it the tallest obelisk in the world—the Washington Monument represents the pinnacle of Egyptian architecture’s influence on America’s desire to memorialize its national heroes by employing monumental forms associated with solidity and timelessness. Construction on the monument began in 1848, but controversy over its design, which at one point included a Greek colonnade surrounding the obelisk, and the American Civil War halted construction until 1877. Interestingly, Americans saw the completion of the Washington Monument after the Civil War as a mending of the nation itself, melding Egyptian commemoration with the reconstruction of America. As the twentieth century saw the rise of additional commemorative obelisks, the Egyptian Revival became ensconced in American national identity. Egyptian-style architecture has been used as a form of commemoration in memorials for World War I and II, the civil rights movement, and even as recently as the 9/11 remembrances. Giguere places the Egyptian style in a historical context that demonstrates how Americans actively sought to forge a national identity reminiscent of Egyptian culture that has endured to the present day.
"On January 6, 2021, Americans and the world witnessed a mob ransack the US Capitol, the "People's House," as the US Congress attempted to carry out a basic function of democracy, the certification of an election and the peaceful transfer of power. While this attack was unprecedented in its scale, threats to the Capitol are not new; and since the 1990s have included a crazed lone gunman, the attempted Al-Qaeda attack of 9/11, and bioterrorism in the form of anthrax. In addition, time and the weather have taken their toll on the building itself, as Congress chronically does not appropriate enough funds for the Capitol's preservation. The job of sustaining the Capitol building and grounds - as well as the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court - falls to the Architect of the Capitol, who also supervises the Capitol police with the sergeant at arms of the House and the Senate. As the steward of the People's House, the Architect must balance secuirty for the building and members with access by the public. As the 10th Architect of the Capitol, Alan Hantman oversaw the largest development of the Capitol in more than a century, the construction of the Capitol Visitor Center. This book describes the struggle to build the CVC, along with Hantman's negotiations with members of Congress for the funds to repair the Capitol dome and balance security with openness. Hantman was eye witness to some unforgettable scenes with new resonances after January 6th: Al Gore presiding over the certification of his own defeat in January 2001; the shooter who breached the Capitol in 1998 and murdered two police officers; and the evacuation of the Capitol on 9/11 as a hijacked plan approached. This book will be of interest to anyone who, after the tragic events of Jan 6, wants to know more about how the Capitol works a physical space; who runs it, how and why decisions are made about the security of the Capitol and the people who work there; and how politicians think about the Capitol Building"--
In The Paradox of Generosity, Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson offer vital insight into how American adults conceive of and demonstrate generosity. Focusing not only on financial giving but on the many diverse forms philanthropy can take, they show the impact--both positive and negative--that giving has on individuals.
This book represents a distinctive approach to cultural analysis, using multi-dimensional methods for addressing issues of public interest. The approach, which deploys Jim McGuigan’s original concept of the cultural public sphere, is demonstrated in several case studies, including: Celebrity death Festivals and urban regeneration Race and multicultural controversy Popular television (for instance, Little Britain and The Apprentice) Social significance of the all-purpose mobile communication device in a privatized and individualized way of life Riskiness and uncertainty at both the levels of environmental politics and working life in the creative and media industries
The definitive history of pawnbroking in the United States from the nation’s founding through the Great Depression, In Hock demonstrates that the pawnshop was essential to the rise of capitalism. The class of working poor created by this economic tide could make ends meet only, Wendy Woloson argues, by regularly pawning household objects to supplement inadequate wages. Nonetheless, businessmen, reformers, and cultural critics claimed that pawnshops promoted vice, and employed anti-Semitic stereotypes to cast their proprietors as greedy and cold-hearted. Using personal correspondence, business records, and other rich archival sources to uncover the truth behind the rhetoric, Woloson brings to life a diverse cast of characters and shows that pawnbrokers were in fact shrewd businessmen, often from humble origins, who possessed sophisticated knowledge of a wide range of goods in various resale markets. A much-needed new look at a misunderstood institution, In Hock is both a first-rate academic study of a largely ignored facet of the capitalist economy and a resonant portrait of the economic struggles of generations of Americans.
Dynamical Geology of Salt and Related Structures deals with many aspects of the dynamical evolution of salt bodies in sedimentary basins. This book consists of four major sections. Section A deals with salt dynamics and the motion of salt. The impact of a mobile salt mass on the structural development of the overlying formations is considered in Section B, while the development of caprock, which is commonly found overlying salt diapirs, is emphasized in Section C. The last section deliberates the interrelationships between fluid flow, salt dissolution, and heat flow in the vicinity of a salt diapir, including the connections with maturation of source rocks, migration, and trapping of hydrocarbons in salt-related structures. This publication is valuable to professional geoscientists interested in processes involved in salt dynamics.
