Yours with every sentiment of duty and affection: an analysis of early nineteenth century correspondence.
Poster Number
16
Format
Poster Presentation
Abstract/Artist Statement
This project is an edition of eight unpublished letters written among members of a single fumily living along the Georgia/Florida border between 1810 and 1816. I provide a diplomatic transcription of each letter with explanatory notes and a high-resolution color scan of the original. I analyze the letters for nonstandard spellings, grammatical anomalies, and evidence of possible area-specific pronunciations; I compare my findings with an analysis of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery journals. Forms which differ consistently from those in the Lewis and Clark materials are probably due to area-specific language features, since the writers of these letters were raised and educated in the same area and social circumstances. I provide a genealogy of the families of the writers and a map showing their distribution. I explain the part they played in a little-known confrontation between the United States and Spain on the Georgia/Florida border during this period while attention focused further north on the war brewing between the United States and England. This confrontation raised political difficulties for the president and his secretary of state, who attempted to sweep it under the carpet. Nonetheless, it had a major impact on the lives of the families of the letter writers and is important for understanding the social and economic circumstances of people living along the Georgia/Florida border at this time. I conclude the edition with a physical analysis of each of the letters with notes on the methods and fibers used to manufacture the different papers on which the letters were written.
Location
DeRosa University Center
Start Date
1-5-2001 9:00 AM
End Date
1-5-2001 5:00 PM
Yours with every sentiment of duty and affection: an analysis of early nineteenth century correspondence.
DeRosa University Center
This project is an edition of eight unpublished letters written among members of a single fumily living along the Georgia/Florida border between 1810 and 1816. I provide a diplomatic transcription of each letter with explanatory notes and a high-resolution color scan of the original. I analyze the letters for nonstandard spellings, grammatical anomalies, and evidence of possible area-specific pronunciations; I compare my findings with an analysis of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery journals. Forms which differ consistently from those in the Lewis and Clark materials are probably due to area-specific language features, since the writers of these letters were raised and educated in the same area and social circumstances. I provide a genealogy of the families of the writers and a map showing their distribution. I explain the part they played in a little-known confrontation between the United States and Spain on the Georgia/Florida border during this period while attention focused further north on the war brewing between the United States and England. This confrontation raised political difficulties for the president and his secretary of state, who attempted to sweep it under the carpet. Nonetheless, it had a major impact on the lives of the families of the letter writers and is important for understanding the social and economic circumstances of people living along the Georgia/Florida border at this time. I conclude the edition with a physical analysis of each of the letters with notes on the methods and fibers used to manufacture the different papers on which the letters were written.