http://infoweb.newsbank.com.ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/iw-search/we/Evans/?p_product=EAIX&p_theme=eai&p_nbid=F63Q55YLMTMxNjgwOTE1OS4yOTM2NzM6MToxNDoxMzIuMTcwLjIxNy4xMg&p_action=doc&p_docnum=6&p_queryname=2&p_docref=v2:0F2B1FCB879B099B@EAIX-0F3018F225ED51F0@26201-@1
I chose this sermon because I was interested in finding representations of women in early American architecture. Unfortunately, all the other publications I could locate on this subject were technical manuals without commentary beyond technique and measurement. Internationally, architects have often expounded on the philosophies behind their understanding of space, but it seems early American architects were pragmatically focused when it came to writing about their work, leaving the implications of that work to the church.
Below are some questions, answers, and speculations that rise out of the sermon itself in its original form.
Inventory question | Answer | Speculation: What might this information suggest about this text and its context? For example, what does the name and location of the printer tell you? What other kinds of texts did this printer publish? |
1. When, where, and by whom was your artifact first printed? | 1793, New York, T. and J. Swords, Williamstreet Sacred Architecture was published at the request of the Society of House Carpenters. | Please see #3. |
2. Did your artifact appear in print at any time in the 18th or 19th centuries? (Hint: Use WorldCat and list all of the reprints. Do not confuse dates of publisher’s/printer’s birth and death with reprint dates.) | The only printing was the first printing in 1793, so yes, but only once. | Please see #3. |
3. What was the actual size of your artifact in inches or centimeters? What information can you find about its physical presence, binding, etc.? Do you think it was expensive or inexpensive? Is it a folio, quarto, or octavo? Can you see a price? If you are using a magazine, find the editor’s preface to its inaugural issue and note the intended audience and keywords used to appeal to that audience. | Size: unknown. The book appears to have been leather bound with gold line work but no other decorative elements on the cover. This is based on one exterior image provided by books.google.com in a reference to the Library of Congress holding. | Because the book appeared only once and so soon after the sermon was delivered on 11/29/1792, I think this was likely a limited souvenir-style printing meant for members of the SHC and not the general public. The quality of the binding also speaks to the likelihood of this. |
4. View the original title page using the digital database or microfilm. What is included there?[1] Transcribe the exact words of all of the information listed on the title page. Or, make a PDF of this page if possible. | I am still learning how to attach documents in a blog, so the PDF is forthcoming. | The relative simplicity of the title page indicates an eye to the economics of printing and a very limited audience. A larger audience at this time would have necessitated more acknowledgements of powerful figures. |
5. If there is more than one edition, compare the title pages. Note any differences here and keep PDFs of these pages, if possible. | There is only one edition. | See #3. |
6. What miscellaneous front matter exists? Describe it:
Keep PDFs of these pages. | There is very little front matter. There is no illustrated frontispiece, engraving, or dedication. There is a brief thanks to Rev. John Stanford for providing the copy for publication at the unanimous request of the members of the SHC. There is one page before the title page that includes the title of the sermon and designates it a sermon. | It is interesting that a book for members of a material trade has no visual imagery. I think this and the lack of other front matter strengthens the possibility that this was meant a as a commemorative memento, and these items, which were typical of the time, were left out in favor of a quality binding that would last. In other words, I think there was a prioritizing of opportunity costs. |
7. How long is your text? How is it subdivided (chapters? Volumes?) Is the print large and easy to read or dense, with many words on each page and lines close together? | The text includes 32 pages of large, well-spaced type with occasional references to other sources for prayers. Two of the pages are front matter, one is back matter. The rest is the sermon. | |
8. What back matter exists (following the end of a text, usually signified by the word “finis”)? Sometimes lists of subscribers or other works from this printer or bookseller are mentioned here. Keep PDFs of these pages. | The back matter is one page including brief statistics on the inauguration, membership, and relief efforts for sick members of the SHC. | |
9. Are there other texts like yours, and how can you tell? | From the document itself, I cannot tell. No other texts in EDD with reference to architecture included sermons. Rather, they were technical manuals. | A search for sermons to trade guilds might shed light on this matter. |
10. What is the relationship between your artifact and structures of power in early American culture (and how can you tell)? | There are no acknowledgements of political or religious figures other than Rev. John Stanford, who gave the sermon. The back matter records that there were 214 members of the SHC at the time of printing. | The lack of acknowledgements indicates further that this is meant for private use among the inaugural members of the SHC. The celebration of the society, the remarkably high membership for a time when many towns had fewer people than 214, and the record of pounds spent on members who were ill in the last year, indicates the importance of labor unions. It indicates that perhaps there was not satisfactory support for laborers from other sources, government or religious. |
11. Given all of the above, what might you wish to include as you think about creating a virtual/physical site for your project (your blog)? Use Blogger or Wordpress to create your blog, and invite me to join at | The beginning of the sermon indicates (paradoxically) that architecture became necessary because of the introduction of sin, and that it is the most useful and ornamental of the mechanical arts. It also associates sin with femininity through connotative language. | Were there any women carpenters, or consultants to carpenters, since women were largely responsible for running the home? How were women represented to a mostly or all male audience? In what ways, if any, was architecture or the home genderized? What parallels were drawn between worshipful spaces and home spaces? How did that affect the way women functioned in those spaces? |
