Nineteenth-century U.S. cultural history

Courtney Weikle-Mills’s Imaginary Citizens: Child Readers and the Limits of American Independence, 1640-1868 expands this reductive understanding of the evolution of U.S. citizenship by demonstrating the significance of the child and the child reader as a necessary component within democratic theory. Weikle-Mills’s compelling argument analyzes a wide array of early American texts up to and including the Fourteenth Amendment to show how literature enabled children to imagine and understand themselves as citizens, even though they existed in a nation that denied them a direct political voice. “Imaginary citizens,” then, were those individuals who lacked the right to exercise their civil rights but were nonetheless prominent figures within citizenship literature (6). While this lens of childhood was used to explain citizenship’s limits for non-rights-bearing members of society including women, minors, and slaves, Weikle-Mills argues that it moreover informed a powerful body of literature that caused “crises of legitimization” as it helped Americans confront, question, and challenge the rights and limits of what it meant to be “We the People” (25).

On 16 December 2016, I signed a contract to curate as a freelance researcher an exhibition on Shakers and women's suffrage with Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon NY.

Since I have a literary agent, I had her review the contract to ensure my rights. The contract in no way indicated that Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon would retain property rights to my work if the contract were cancelled. If it had, I would not have signed it.

In December, in advance of the contract, I had provided a blurb describing the exhibition as I imagined it. I provide that blurb below.

"For the common good: Shaker women, equality and suffrage"
When Mother Ann Lee outlined her theology for the community that would become known as the Shakers, she placed equality at its heart. As the nature of God was dual, both male and female, the children of God were to be companions, brothers and sisters, each representing a share of God's image. This fundamental precept shaped gender relations within the Shaker communities, leading to dual offices in which men and women worked in tandem. But it wasn't enough for the Shakers to enact gender equality in their own communities. Called to serve their fellow man, the Shakers took to heart the call for women's suffrage. The 1884 Shaker Manifesto (quoting the resolutions of the Annual Meeting of the New England Woman Suffrage Association) denounced 'the political aristocracy of sex as contrary to nature, reason, justice, expediency and common-sense." This exhibition traces the evolution of Shaker gender relations, from the earliest prophecies of Mother Lee to the struggles of Shakers in the fight for universal suffrage.

On March 17, I provided a long description of the exhibition to be presented to the board meeting. That description is at the end of this note. I received no feedback positive or negative to that description.

On Friday, March 24, according to the contract deadlines, I submitted a completed script with item and wall labels. The contract allowed for revisions to be submitted on March 31. I received no feedback on the script, positive or negative, though I requested it.

On Monday, March 27, Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon sent me a certified letter, rejecting the script, cancelling my contract, and retaining the final payment for my work.

Since Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon rejected the script, I sent them a certified letter in return, asserting my rights to use the rejected script as I pleased.

On May 13, Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon sent out to their subscribers and members an emailed newsletter, advertising the exhibition I scripted. That newsletter used verbatim and entire the brief description of the exhibition I had provided, the only exception being that it used the revised title we had agreed upon:  "Break Every Yoke: Shakers, gender equality, and women's suffrage."

As a result, I must assume that Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon is using my rejected script without appropriate payment or acknowledgement of my authorship.

With this upload I assert my intellectual property rights to the "rejected" script I wrote.

I am currently formatting my "rejected" script for easy reading (I am making no changes to the content--just the format). I will upload it here in advance of the opening of the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon exhibition, in order to make clear what my intellectual property is.

Ann


Exhibition Description provided for Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon board meeting:

"Here's an overview of the exhibit as it stands:

The story of Shaker engagement with women's suffrage arcs through four chapters. Each section includes vignettes highlighting specific significant women and their place in the life of the community. Whenever possible, these vignettes include an image of the Shaker sister in order to give a face to these women and their engagement.

The first section focuses on Ann Lee, her role as the female Christ, and the theological status that gave Shaker women after her. This section notices work of Lucy Wright in guiding the community. Items include a document (a galley proof) of recollections of Mother Lee, in which the recollections come largely from women believers.

The second section underscores how these theological ideas were worked out in the practical life of the community. Here we see women gaining authority through the dual structure that allowed them to manage and oversee their own enterprises, as well as in religious experiences which allow them to articulate received spiritual truths (Mother Ann's manifestations). We see women in a variety of roles, not all domestic, such as Emma Neale (an elder and trustee of the community) who manages the cloak business, or Mary Hazzard or Hannah Cahoon who receives spirit messages (and through them spiritual authority). Documents include the trust that shows women as equal owners in the land; an end of the year financial accounting that shows women (but not men) earning money for the community;  a series of engravings of women working in the elixir business; a cauldron for mixing elixirs that appears in one of the engravings; a spirit drawing by Mary Hazzard or Polly Cahoon conveying a message to the spiritual leaders of the community; a hymn by Patsy Roberts Williamson and/or Charlotte Tann; poetry by Cecelia DeVere, etc. All of the documents in this section show women being embued with communal equality. Other women noted are Polly Landon, Asenath Clark, Betsey Bates, and Polly Reed.

The third section outlines how Shaker theology and practice lead to progressive political engagement, particularly in the causes of peace, abolition, temperance, and suffrage. It's important to note that Shakerengagement in suffrage is intimately, and inextricably, tied to the other ethical issues. For one to be in harmony with one's neighbor and one's god, one must set aside dominance and power in favor of equality and simplicity. And those who are in bondage, whether women, or slaves, or the poor ("wage slavery"), must be freed to become perfect representatives of god's people. One part of this notes the Shaker's outreach to the world's people through their publication program, including their monthly magazine (for which women set the type), and their participation in public meetings, particularly as lecturers. Documents include an engraving of the Shaker meeting at Steinway Hall and the broadside listing the topics discussed in that meeting (which include suffrage); Polly Reed's account of meeting Sojourner Truth, the former slave, abolitionist and suffragist; the image of the Shaker circle dance that depicts African-American members. Other women noted include Martha Jane Anderson (vegetarianism) and Rebecca Jackson Cox.

The fourth section narrows to examine Shaker statements on equality (which are almost exclusively theological) and evidence of Shaker engagement in suffrage movements or education. Documents  include Shaker teacher Amelia Calver's textbook Every Day Biography which includes biographical notices of reformers, including suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott; Antoinette Doolittle's speech at Steinway Hall (printed in Shaker and Shakeress); Harriet Bullard's statement on suffrage; Henry Evans' statement on women's equality, etc. Other women noted include Anna White, Leila Taylor,Annie Case, Ruth Webster.

Two sidebars accompany the exhibition:
1. The sorts of occupations a Shaker sister might engage in, shown in 2 items: a listing the occupations of a single woman (Elizabeth Longrove) over 2 years; and a page from Joseph Isaacs' list of the occupations of the Shakers, showing a swath of people engaged in a wide variety of work

2. a statement of the legal status of women outside the Shaker community
including the wording of the NY Married Women's Property Act."

Abstract The literary relation between Parvin E'tesami and Walt Whitman remains a largely unexplored field. This article analyzes the connection between “God’s Weaver” and “A Noiseless Patient Spider” to shed light on Parvin’s creative reception of Whitman. Creating a mixed-breed spider, combining characteristics from both Whitman’s insect and the Persian spider, and letting it contribute to the debate with the patriarchal system all demonstrate Parvin’s successful poetic inventiveness. The interaction between many forces—including Persian traditions of monazereh and mystical poetry, Parvin’s poetic genius, her personal situation as a female poet in a patriarchal society, and the unique characteristics of the American spider—led to Parvin’s creative reception of Whitman.

The full text is available here, http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2290&context=wwqr

Recommended Citation
Fomeshi, Behnam M. "“Till the Gossamer Thread You Fling Catch Somewhere”: Parvin E’tesami’s Creative Reception of Walt Whitman." Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 35 (2018), 267-275. https://doi.org/10.13008/0737-0679.2290

D. Maria Constança da Câmara (1801-1860), 7th marchioness of Fronteira by marriage, was a Portuguese aristocrat. Her father’s family was descendant of the navigator João Gonçalves Zarco (c. 1390-1471) and her mother was paternal granddaughter of the Marquises of Marialva and maternal granddaughter of the Counts of Arcos.
Little is known about her childhood. She was born in the palace of her parents in Lisbon. She had several siblings. The eldest was her godfather and received the title of Count of Taipa. Once he died without descendants, the title passed to two of his brothers.
In 1818 she met her future husband, but they married only in 1821. D. José Trasimundo Mascarenhas Barreto (1802- 1881) was the 7th marquis of Fronteira, 8th Count of Torre and Coculim, 10th Count of Assumar and representative of the title of Marquis of Alorna. He was a military man and participated actively in the civil war alongside the liberals – the defenders of a constitutional monarchy.
After the liberal victory, he undertook his political career, both as a deputy and as a Peer. He was also Civil Governor of the district of Lisbon, as well as President of the Council of Ministers. He also performed the office of Lord Steward to the Queen Stephanie (1837-1859).
In 1822 was born the only child of the couple, D. Maria Mascarenhas (1822-1914). Two years later, the marquises left Portugal to start a trip through Europe. D. José was 22 years old and D. Maria Constança 24 and they left their two- year-old daughter in Lisbon.
In 1826 September they went to London. It is precisely at this point that D. Maria Constança begins her diary with 25 years of age. For the next twelve years, she would write her journal daily, although with some irregularity. The most prolific writing period corresponds to the years of 1826 and between 1829 and 1833, when she was traveling through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany. The political situation whose kingdom of Portugal crossed served as a backdrop to the daily narrative of D. Maria Constança, especially her status as a political emigrant and because her direct relatives were directly involved in the war.
In this travelogue, the Marchioness of Fronteira describes the people she met, especially the European aristocracy and some members of European royal families. She was given the opportunity to watch the performances of the leading artists of that time, internationally acclaimed, especially lyric singers. Her musical taste is also described, as well as the cultural consumption of the time, namely opera and theater.
The art galleries, with their works of renowned painters; the interiors and gardens of different palaces; the churches and their architectural and artistic treasures are just some of the many places she visited and appreciated, describing them in detail. Besides the reading of the Portuguese and foreign periodical press, the literary choices of the Marchioness of Fronteira are also reported throughout the pages of her
journals, not only those she made at that time, as well as frequently references to various authors that she already read.
Although there are published memories of Portuguese female authorship, no diaries written by Portuguese women are known. In this sense and because the diary, whose publication we are preparing, reflects the contact with the European culture and society of the first half of the nineteenth century, it is best to know the life and work of this
woman, so far unknown.

The cliché of the Ugly American—loud, vulgar, materialistic, chauvinistic—still expresses what people around the world dislike about their Yankee counterparts. Carrie Tirado Bramen recovers the history of a very different national archetype—the nice American—which has been central to ideas of U.S. identity since the nineteenth century.

Niceness is often assumed to be a superficial concept unworthy of serious analysis. Yet the distinctiveness of Americans has been shaped by values of sociality and likability for which the adjective “nice” became a catchall. In America’s fledgling democracy, niceness was understood to be the indispensable trait of a people who were refreshingly free of Old World snobbery. Bramen elucidates the role niceness plays in a particular fantasy of American exceptionalism, one based not on military and economic might but on friendliness and openness. Niceness defined the attitudes of a plucky (and white) settler nation, commonly expressed through an affect that Bramen calls “manifest cheerfulness.”

To reveal its contested inflections, Bramen shows how American niceness intersects with ideas of femininity, Native American hospitality, and black amiability. Who claimed niceness and why? Despite evidence to the contrary, Americans have largely considered themselves to be a fundamentally nice and decent people, from the supposedly amicable meeting of Puritans and Native Americans at Plymouth Rock to the early days of American imperialism when the mythology of Plymouth Rock became a portable emblem of goodwill for U.S. occupation forces in the Philippines.

An examination of the roots and continuity of American Anti-Catholic and nativist sentiments in the first half of the 19th Century as evidenced in Protestant sermons and historical political events both in America and abroad. Special attention is given to Billington's concept of the period of domestic tolerance towards Catholics in America. Two sermons are examined and reveal that American Anti-Catholicism was possibly turned to Napoleonic War torn Europe, and Anti-Catholicism, if these sermons by Parish and Strong are representitive, simply took on a non-traditional form in calling for ceasing relations with France  or a call to holiness for salvation from the same judgement that was placed on Europe,  which would have coordinated with the revivalist messages during the Second Great Awakening in America that occurred concurrently with the Napoleonic Wars.

This article reassesses the career at Freedom's Journal of John B. Russwurm, co-founder of America's first black newspaper in New York City. Rather than being a convert to emigrationism, he counted among his long-term associates several who were actively engaged in promoting colonization of blacks outside the United States, mainly in Freetown (West Africa) and Haiti. In contrast to the established literature, in which colonization is presented as antithetical to a civil rights commitment, Russwurm justified his decision to emigrate to Liberia precisely on the basis of a desire for civil liberties and citizenship. Perhaps his most original and lasting contribution was facilitating the emergence of a sense among African-Americans of a historical and spiritual connection to ancient Egypt.

An examination of Antebellum American home libraries, as portrayed in contemporary popular literature, reveals an underexplored characteristic of the book’s life cycle. The text on the spine of books, which was the only visible part presented in middle-class home libraries, created feedback between viewer and object. This relatively new dynamic of displayed spine text communicated notions of class inclusion or exclusion to the viewer. The middle classes created social capital by exhibiting these texts to help distinguish themselves from the lower classes. Mid-nineteenth-century approaches to spine text display also suggest social and cultural cleavages within the developing middle classes’ social strata. This tension is evident in The Potiphar Papers, an 1853 satire of New York society by George William Curtis, serialized in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine. The Potiphar Papers illustrates the changing antebellum relationship to book display. These developments suggest an expanded communication circuit and life cycle relative to the home library. This article attempts to illustrate that moment.

in Emily Dickinson in Context, edited by Eliza Richards, Cambridge University Press: 139-168. On Emily Dickinson's reading of periodicals 'that brought to her "the living language of nineteenth century America" and "contributed to the variegated array of subjects and ideas that she could treat knowledgeably in letters and poems (Capps, 43).

HOW DOES THE DOMINANT LITERARY DISCOURSE OF 21ST CENTURY IRAN TRANSLATE THE AMERICAN POET’S IMAGE?

I am going to present my work at the American Comparative Literature Association's 2017 Annual Meeting (Utrecht University, July 6-9) as a contribution to the seminar #C52 – Translation Networks II: Poetry and Cultural Transference – a double seminar sponsored by the ICLA Committee on Translation.

Date: Friday, July 7, 2017
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Place: Janskerkhof 15A, RM106

Reception of Whitman’s post-Civil War Poems in Iran
Behnam Mirzababazadeh Fomeshi (TU Dortmund University)
There are some studies on the similarity between Whitman and Persian literature and the reception of the latter by the former, but nobody has as yet explored Whitman’s reception in Iran. My project will fill this significant gap by examining different Persian translations which are central to Whitman’s reception there. The history of Whitman’s reception in Iran can be divided into three periods. The earliest period starts with the first translation of Whitman into Persian in Iran in 1922 and lasts until to the mid-1940s. The next period, from the early 1940s up to the 1979 revolution, was more welcoming; it saw first book-length translation of Whitman and translations in different periodicals – from the leftist ones to those with anti-leftist inclinations. Politically, this was the period of 1953 Iranian coup d'état arranged by the United States and the consequent American influence in Iran. The third period covers the post-revolutionary period.
This paper will focus on the first-book length translation which was published in the post-coup period in 1960. It was a bilingual edition which included thirty-four poems, including several poems first published in the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877). My paper will focuses on the Persian translations of Reconstruction poems: “One's-Self I Sing” (1867), “Tears” (1867), “Outlines for a Tomb” (1870), “On the Beach at Night” (1871) and “Gods” (1871) to investigate the reception of Whitman’s post-Civil War poems in modern Iran.

In honor of the 100 th anniversary of Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the NCSA committee invites proposals that explore the notion of the vista in the nineteenth century. From personal gardens to public parks, from the street level to the top of a skyscraper, or from the microscope to the panoramic photograph, the nineteenth century was a moment when the idea of the vista changed from a narrow sightline to a sweeping, expansive view. How did theorists alter our historical perspective, broadening our notion of the world through science or religion? In what ways did power systems affect urban vantage points? How did man-made vistas reflect socio-cultural ideals? How did domestic spaces or nightlife transform with the widespread use of gas or electric lighting? How does the conceptual vista operate metaphorically? Topics might include horticulture, landscapes and seascapes, new technology, photography, sightseeing, film and the theater, urban planning, visions and dreamscapes, shifting perceptions of the gaze, or literary or artistic descriptions or depictions of viewpoints. In contrast, papers may consider the absence of vistas, such as mental or physical confinement or elements that obfuscate a view. Please send 250-word abstracts with one-page CVs to ncsaphila2018@gmail.com by September 30th , 2017. Abstracts should include the author's name, institutional affiliation, and paper title in the heading. We welcome individual proposals and panel proposals with four presenters and a moderator. Note that submission of a proposal constitutes a commitment to attend if accepted. Presenters will be notified in November 2017. We encourage submissions from graduate students, and those whose proposals have been accepted may submit complete papers to apply for a travel grant to help cover transportation and lodging expenses. Scholars who reside outside of North America and whose proposals have been accepted may submit a full paper to be considered for the International Scholar Travel Grant (see the NCSA website for additional requirements: http://www.ncsaweb.net).