|
Underfoot by David Weitzman Guide to exploring the American Past Hard Cover
Underfoot by David Weitzman
An everyday guide to exploring the American Past
Hard Cover
192 pages
Copyright 1976
CONTENTS
Table of Illustrations
Chapter 1 : Historian Everyman13The spoken word has always been the medium of family history, but the historian's tape recorder brings a new dimension to the oral tradition.
Chapter 2 : Magic Boxes31Lured further and further by voices and lore into the realm of the past , we'll not be satisfied until we've looked into the faces of our ancestors.
Chapter 3: Strangers No More45Who were they, these ancestors of ours, from where did they come, and by what means did they reach the New World? So many questions-and where shall we look for the answers?
Chapter 4: Resting Places 67The tombstone's message in a nearby cemetery is for some an admonition, for others an assurance of ultimate peace, and for the local historian a most enduring record of all who have lived in this place before.
Chapter 5: Meetings with the Miller91That old mill down on the corner, behind its boarded-up windows and doors, has a story to tell of work in America long ago and remains both a symbol and a promise of self-sufficient communities.
Chapter 6: Others Too Tedious to Mention111Were any of your ancestors a maltster, a regalia manufacturer, or a slater? Suggested in this chapter are ways of finding out what they and other Americans did with skills acquired over a lifetime.
Chapter 7: Balsam, Bitters, and Borax127The next time you pass a refuse pit filled with half-buried bottles, take heed; much of American cultural history is written in the raised and incised lettering and green, blue, brown, and crystal hues of old bottle glass.
Chapter 8: Historical Buildings145Simply lifting our eyes from the modern faat street level to the still unchanged stories above could transport us back a century, perhaps two, into an architectural heritage embodying and reflecting American pluralism.
Chapter 9: Library Archaeology175A first visit to the local and state historical collection of a small community library could begin with a few moments of browsing and lead to a lifetime of reading and discovery.
Selected Bibliography188
Index189
Acknowledgements and Picture Credits192
TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chapter 1General Store, San Francisco, California, c. 188012Farm scene with steam tractor, c. 190015Parlor scene, Redondo, California, 189917
Chapter 2Kitty Kramer with a No. 2 Kodak camera, 189030Kodak No. 1 showing factory-loaded 100-exposure roll32Kodak No. 1 on a Sunday outing, 1889 34Studio photographs, early 1900s42
Chapter 3Faces from the old country44Dutch poster soliciting immigrants for the colony at Pella, Iowa, 184946Young girls with baby carriages, Zoar, Ohio, c. 190047Chinese immigrants, San Francisco and Grass Valley, California, c. 190050Sampler worked by Fanny Haigh, aged 12, dated 183858Census schedule for Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 187063-64
Chapter 4Cemetery, Round Valley, California66Gravestone, Old Burying Ground at Watertown, Massachusetts 69Old Swedes' Church (Gloria Dei), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, c. 170070Original plan for the Town of Wallingford, Connecticut, 167071Grave marker, cast metal, Round Valley, California72Monument carver's advertisement, Delphi, Indiana, 186073Children's gravestones, Round Valley and Mendocino, California77Gravestone rubbing, 176078Finnish gravestone inscription, Mendocino, California, 185480Funeral achievements, c. 180084Gravestones and wooden marker, Round Valley and Mendocino, California85Wooden marker, Round Valley, California86Gravestone rubbings (details), 17th and 18th centuries87-89
Chapter 5Round Valley Flour Mills, Covelo, California, 191490Blacksmith's shop, Westville, Georgia92Interior of the Schwamb Mill, Arlington, Massachusetts94Gristmill stone95Blacksmith's shop, Zoar, Ohio, 193696Blacksmith's tools, c. 1750105Sperry's Mills New Process Patent Flour advertisement, 1902108
Chapter 6Nathan's Ice Cream and Candies, Coffee and Lunch Parlor, Boyes Hot Springs, California, c. 1920110Bernardi Hotel (provenience unknown)112Trade advertisements, c. 1750118-119Boston Directory, title page and trade advertisements, 1882120-121Indiana State Gazetteer, advertisements, 1860122Boston Directory, trade advertisements, 1882123Connecticut peddler, woodcut124
Chapter 7Glassworks at South Lyndeboro, New Hampshire, c. 1870126Glassworks and glassblower's tools, c. 1860129Glass peddler130Bitters and olive bottles, used c. 187o130Glassblowers and tools, c. 1860131Wine bottles, evolutionary type-series, 1660 to 1850133-134Medicine, cologne, and liquor bottles, late 1900s138Miller's Crown Dressing bottle and historical flasks 141Old Cabin Whiskey bottle and historical flasks142
Chapter 8A house on a hill144Old Feather Store, North Street and Market Square, Boston, ,860146House on Milk Street, Boston (birthplace of Benjamin Franklin), c. 1680147Coffin house and Valentine Whitman House, Limerock, Rhode Island, c. 1694 148Lyles House, Prince George's County, Maryland; Sabage House, No. 30, Dock Square, Boston, 1706/7149Stratford Hall, Virginia; house at Germantown, Pennsylvania150McIntire Garrison House at Scotland, North Berwick vicinity, Maine, late 1700s; Federal Street Church, Boston, 1744; Barnaby House, Freetown, Massachusetts, c. 1740151Dickinson House, Alloway, New Jersey, 1754; Julien's Restorator, Milk and Congress Streets, Boston, c. 1760152Raising a steeple in early New England153Houses on Clinton Avenue, Kingston, New York, late 1880s155Birthplace of Walt Whitman, West Hills, New York, c. 1810; Deseret Telegraph and Post Office Building, Rockville, Utah, c. 1858; "The Hermitage," Savannah vicinity, Georgia, 1820156Heideman Mill, Addison vicinity, Illinois, 1867; Chretien Point Plantation, Sunset vicinity, Louisiana, 1831157John H. Smith's Row, Petersburg, Virginia, c. 1837158King's Palace, Zoar, Ohio, 1833; Walter S. Pierce Co., San Francisco, California, c. 1890159St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska, 1844; Allen & Hinesley Livery Stables, Indianapolis, Indiana, c. 1850 160 East Washington Street between Meridian and Hickory Alley, Indianapolis, Indiana, c. 1860 161 Cast iron Victorian storefronts on the Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 162 Walter Gresham House, Galveston, Texas, 1887-93; DeKoven House, Burnham and Root, Chicago, Illinois, 1889163Stock Exchange Building, Adler and Sullivan, Chicago, Illinois, 1894; ballroom of the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California164Atherton House, San Francisco, California, 1881165Isidore Heller House, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1897, and the Cable Building, Holabird and Roche, 1899, Chicago, Illinois167E. W. McCready House, Spencer and Powers, 1912, and the Frederick B. Carter, Jr., House, Walter Burley Griffin (north and west elevations), 1910, Chicago, Illinois168Chapin and Gore Building, R. E. Schmidt, 1904, and the Republic Building, Holabird and Roche, 1903-1909, Chicago, Illinois169Glossary of Architectural Details171-173
Chapter 9"Journal of Henry Edgar," 1863, Historical Society of Montana174
FOREWORDAmong the Cherokee, as among most families everywhere, the elders were by tradition the keepers of tribal history. But instead of beginning their tales "Once upon a time," as we might, they began their retelling of the past by saying, "This is what the old men told me when I was a boy. " For those of us seeking a reconciliation with the past, there is in this choice of a beginning a subtle distinction, a lesson, a reminder of what history once meant, indeed all that it has ever meant. Much of our history comes not from the distance of once upon a time but from the memories of those closest to us and with whom we have lived our lives. Beginning a tale of the ancestors as the old Cherokee storytellers did created from the very first words a comforting sense of continuity. Never is the listener allowed to forget that there have always been elders with lives rich in detail and experience, and that there will always be children to captivate and instruct with the images, the sounds, the textures, the tastes, and the smells of all that has gone before. Nor would the storyteller's opening words, repeated over a lifetime, ever let us forget from where and from whom we've come. For, if our search for roots seems of no avail, and if, despite our most fervent seeking, the answers still elude us, it's not because we are not wise enough, or that the paths to what used to be are such mysterious ones, but perhaps because we are looking in the wrong place. Search as we might in the history-book lives of others we don't know, and have never known, sooner or later we will return to find that the answers to who we are and where we've been are nearby, and many of them are underfoot.
D.W.
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
US Shipments: Ebay will add $1.25 each additional items, there are a few exceptions.
Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and forwarded to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. Refunds may be issued if you add multiple items to your cart and pay with one payment. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 7 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
|
