8. “Yale College,” tinted lithograph. The creation of “cabinets” of material culture and natural history “specimens” gained momentum in New England in the late eighteenth and especially early nineteenth centuries. In addition to semi-private cabinets like the one at AAS, colleges and universities also developed such spaces, frequently populated by objects donated by students, faculty, alumni, or prominent individuals linked to these institutions. One such cabinet took form at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut (shown in the left side column at bottom). Its early formation included extensive holdings of Indigenous items, collected under the purview of college president Ezra Stiles as well as his successor Timothy Dwight. Its later iterations focused more on natural history and especially mineralogical holdings. By and large these spaces were used by Euro-American elites, though periodically Indigenous visitors and delegations toured their exhibition galleries. Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Welcome to Commonplace, a destination for exploring and exchanging ideas about early American history and culture. A bit less formal than a scholarly journal, a bit more scholarly than a popular magazine, Commonplace speaks—and listens—to scholars, museum curators, teachers, hobbyists, and just about anyone interested in American history before 1900. It is for all sorts of people to read about all sorts of things relating to early American life—from architecture to literature, from politics to parlor manners. It’s a place to find insightful analysis of early American history as it is discussed in scholarly literature, as it manifests on the evening news, as it is curated in museums, big and small; as it is performed in documentary and dramatic films and as it shows up in everyday life.
In addition to critical evaluations of books and websites (Reviews) and poetic research and fiction (Creative Writing), our articles explore material and visual culture (Objects); pedagogy, the writing of literary scholarship, and the historian’s craft (Teach); and diverse aspects of America’s past and its many peoples (Learn). For more great content, check out our other projects, (Just Teach One) and (Just Teach One African American Print).
How to cite Commonplace articles:
Author, “Title of Article,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, date accessed, URL.
Sophie White, “Trading Looks Race, Religion and Dress in French America,” Commonplace: the journal of early American life, accessed September 30, 2019, https://commonplace.online/article/trading-looks-race-religion-dress-french-america/
Joshua R. Greenberg, editor
If you are looking for a specific Commonplace article from the back catalog and do not see it, or if have any other questions, please contact us directly. Please follow us on Twitter @Commonplacejrnl or Facebook @commonplacejournal and thank you for your support.
