[Detail] The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.
Historical Research Capabilities: Social History
This collection contains a wide variety of resources with which to investigate the social history of the nineteenth century. A search on the term, temperance, yields cautionary tales such as Ruined by Rum (1877) as well as guides such as The Bases of the Temperance Reform (1873) and the Text-book of Temperance (1869). The latter book was designed “for the use of young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty, as a means of teaching them the great facts and principles which lay beneath the Temperance Reformation,” (page 3).
A search on the term, phrenology, shifts the focus from temperance to temperament. Guides such as The Scientific Basis of Education, Demonstrated by an Analysis of the Temperaments and of Phrenological Facts… (1868) and The Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology (1889) explained how the study of the shape of a person’s skull was thought to reveal certain character traits.
The shape of one’s skull, however, did not predetermine some social skills. A search on the term, etiquette, yields a number of books guaranteeing that almost every necessary social grace could be learned from the likes of The American Gentleman’s Guide to Politeness and Fashion (1860) and The Bazar Book of Decorum (1873).
- Who is the intended audience of these sets of books?
- What do you think that these various guides reveal about the interests and ideas of people living during the nineteenth century?
- Do you think that contemporary society has any similar types of interests or ideas? If so, how do these guides compare to contemporary discussions?
- How do you think that our cultural interests might appear to people living in the next century?
