Our American Studies Projects

Hello Co-investigators: Our First American Studies Page should include the following:

1. One Gravestone from the 1700s or early 1800s; have text explaining the iconography of the parts of your gravestone (see web page below to help you understand the parts); click here for my example of Sam Kent, Esq. gravestone.
2. Become an expert about a local artifact, a building or historic house, an aspect of architecture (roof(s), doorway; you can focus on a specific feature of the Phelps-Hatheway House. Before I list specific examples, let me explain how we can try to come to terms with the artifact or object. First explain and identify your object; then write about what interests you in this artifact or topic. Next try to explain how your object relates to a period in your history class as well as a character, plot, or literary situation from our class.

Here are some potential topics and artifacts: Asher Benjamin, the architect; the beautiful large beech tree; such as.

• First find a grave stone image that you like and put it into your I-Photo library. Then make three copies of the photo. You will then crop two; one crop will focus on the text of the gravestone; the other cropped photo will show the main icon(s) or symbols.
• Now put copies of all three images on your desktop and label them "main.grave.JPG" for the main photograph of the whole head stone; "text.grave.JPG" for the text part, "icon.grave.JPG" for the icon or symbol.
• Now open your sites folder in your server files and place the JPGs there.
• Begin a new ".html" document by following the previous steps for that; when it comes time to insert your images, be sure that you are checking the root folder and you are selecting them from your sites folder on the server.

Web pages to help you understand and interpret your iconography:

• First, to capture the spirit of our project, let's read Nathanial Hawthorne's reflections from 1838 when he wrote about spending time in his village's grave yard looking at his family's graves (remember from our work with Young Goodman Brown that his grandfather was a judge at the Salem Witch Trials.
• An interesting group called Saving Graves has an interesting of symbols and with interpretations: http://www.savinggraves.com/education/bookshelf/carvings.htm
• This page will help you identify the parts of your gravestone: http://www.primaryresearch.org/PRTHB/gravestones/index.php
• City of Boston; an informative site and authoratative because my college roommate works in the office knows the author personally; http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/hbgi/iconography.asp
• Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2003/2/03.02.01.x.html#g
• The Association for Gravestone Studies: http://www.gravestonestudies.org/
• http://www.ctgravestones.com/aboutCGN.htmThis site has some explanations of symbols; it also explains how scholars disagree with each other's interpretations. http://www.gravestonestudies.org/faq.htm#Symbolism%20on%20Gravestones
• This site will help us for gravestones and other web sites for our primary research: http://www.primaryresearch.org/PRTHB/weblinks.php

My Gravestone; Sam Kent Esq.

The Lunette and Finials; Lunette hosts a cherub which had taken the place of death's head figure. Many scholars suggests that this symbol represents the soul's flight to heaven. The finial resembles the "Whorl" and "Pie" shape designs. Note also the border, signifying stability and order.

Inscription reads: In Memory of Sam Kent Esqr. who died 28th of Octr, 1772, in the 74 Years of his Age.