Exhibition. Our program this evening is very seasonal. It is a book get summaries. Were joined by professor who will be speaking and republication. Shes a professor in the department of english. She was an undergraduate degree and her masters and phd from university. As a former magazine writer and editor she research interests, womens magazines. In the radical for alternative press. I would like to special welcome who will be joining this program for the first time. From the historical side, where the first Historical Society in america, and have been preserving the publishing and histories since 1791. We hold amazing collection. Including papers of the first three president s of the united states. We are continuing to collect. And if you are interested, we are personally material related to the covid19 experience. Have a special initiative designed to report peoples experiences during this unusual time, and preservatives. A sampling of the first accounts for future generations. And in the days of social distancing, we are taken to hosting virtual programs and online plans every week from now until the end of july. And even into the beginning of august. Next we come or hosting a talk by, and you can find more information on our website. Before we begin, we have a few quick housekeeping things. So first of all, if you have a question, comment or concern about the program or programs, you can contact me or sarah. Our coordinator. An email programs or you can reach us through our website. As i mentioned, were producing polymer programs for free during this covid19 express but of course we are a nonprofit. So if you have the capability to support, we would encourage you to do so. And you can do that by visiting our website. Over the details of how we use zoom. You will have a presentation and then a questionandanswer period and their arcuate where you can ask questions. The first is the q a function. If youre using a computer, at the bottom of your screen, on your tablet or cell phone, it could be at the top of the screen. But essentially, theres a function for that and you can click on that and begin your question. And we will read the questions to our speaker. And that she will answer them. Then we can do it is to use a raise hand function. This will allow you to indicate if you want to ask a question. And then we will unmute people if we have time. The one thing on the unmute function is you will most likely need to unmute yourself as well. Keep that in mind. Without further ado, im going to introduce a speaker. We will be hearing from donna harrington. And donna, he would like to turn on your camera and unmute yourself. Its great to see you. And i know going to headed over to you. Donna thank you so much. Thank you all for coming. Thank you to gavin for making this possible. Now before we begin, i want to acknowledge these are such difficult times. So much is on our minds. As i have worked on this, this lecture, in the last week i must admit i did find myself thinking is this really the time to be talking about summer leisure. Or even about the 19th century publishing. The less corner of the 19th century, the period that i focus on in my study, it wasnt without its challenges. At the beginning of the period, in 1977, federal troops rescinded to quell, against the railroad. It was very bloodied. It began and found himself in the war ended between the country struggled with the failure of reconstruction. In a period of rapid industrialization brightest of the. Is not without economic, social and public of people. So with those challenges, in mind, i would like to talk about the most prominent arguments of the period. And i would extend that to summer training. And that is in a short period of time away from the pressures of the 19th century like they gave people the wherewithal to engage with the world once again on a return. I hope to nice talk might work in the same way. Lets just jump in. I talk about the rise of some reading. And could really begin anywhere in the 19th century. But i would like to start todays, and more specifically in dorchester. With alan stone black cloak of the daughter lucy stone and henry brown blackwell. The prominent 19th century abolitionists and womens rights activist kids free deviancy kind of a family portrait. Family fun over there on the left. Almost three of them. In the early 1870s, she was a teenager and a voracious reader. Especially in the summertime. When youre reading turn very dramatically to stories of adventure. And temptation. So if you read some of the journals over this period, her journals are filled with entries of accounts of writing to boston by streetcar. You could pick up the latest issue of the popular ledger and popular weekly story paper printer she talks about stopping at the boston public library. In her stacks of books that she devours one week and then returns the next. I will hear from her journals. Change my books and not on the time for dinner she writes in july of 1872. I have a very good set of books this time. Though ive read them all the before. And among the titles machine mentioned in this journal, she mentions the gothic mystery called the thief in the night. She admits readily of southerners. And also tom brown at oxford. She describes as a favorite. But alice took part in a quite different type of some reading is all in this with the picture on the right is going to come in. As the family so on oak help in dorchester. During the summer, the stone blackwell household engaged in shared family grading. This was a very common practice in the 19th century. In the summer, they did so on the witness box. You can see it there. To take advantage of the cool breezes from the nearby bay. And there alice read books and her family read books. Sir Walter Scotts and vanity fair. And as the red long, over the course of many of summer evening. Energy light in this shared rating was absolutely apparent. Is another quote from her journal. It was read up on the roof she wrote in july of 1872. And i chased papa about to tickle his toes. Im an informal given action and adventure. Analysis Summer Reading choices and practices, i think shall resonate with us today. Every year were familiar with this. Every year, and for the memorial day weekend, the Summer Reading season begins. She has a place for the best Summer Reading but so does the New York Times, National Public radio. The wall street journal, and a host of other media outlets. Summer is a time when we turn to lightweight paperbacks that we can stuff into her beach bag read without worry by the poolside. It is a time we are told to reach for the light popular novel for the actionpacked bestseller. And as clyde a critic for the New York Times wrote, the hot summer but issue from 1968, he said the Summer Reading the statute of liberty and motherhood, is always with us. And that is still true today. The list of best summaries continues in this very broad season. Have taken some, the first one to three of them, came from the weekend of the memorial day weekend. The one on the bottom, which is from today. So we see here, top one is from the New York Times. The beach may be closed but these folks are worth opening. The next one down, refinery of a fight for millennial young women. The 25 books you would want to read the summer. On the left is from opera, 28 of the best beach rates of the summer of 2020. And then yet another list. This one came from today this afternoon boston globe online. The best books to read, the summer and i might note that the boston globe, quickly go through it and see what they were recommending. And i was really struck and at one point the New York Times criticized for its book list that included the authors. One season they are accused of having reached peak capacity with the choices predict and books read the summer in the boston globe are incredibly varied and diverse. So where does this idea of summary come from. Some reading is a specific practice. How did it come to be an established part not only of literary commerce up but of American Culture as well. Those are some of the questions i began to explore. So i am of a historian. So i practice in the field that looks at the intersection of authorship, reading and publishing. History is a field that concerns itself with material objects. But also with the Cultural Practices that surround books. How books are produced. How they are circulated. How they are received. In one summer, when jim was returning from a conference in halifax nova scotia. As in the bookstore looking for something to read in the flight home and i came across this glossy book that was announcing the best summaries for the season. And if i myself as a result kind of thinking about my own Summer Reading ritual. On the ways in which the Publishing Industry have shaped and sustained those. So that led me to the library at brown university. Brian worked with a magazine called the fire. His amazing from charles, this stories in the new york publisher. No talk about him a little bit later in this talk is well. The very rich text for live advertisements from other publishers, talk about the with people were reading. And from there i moved on. Move afterward. Tonight of the 19th century magazines and newspapers from across the united states. Wanted leave just a new england. I went to the African Americans and other alternative preferences print after that, went on to publishing archives at harvard and princeton in columbia. On two letters and journals and to and long long list of novels set at summer results rated many of them written by some of the periods absolute most famous authors. Stephen crane, william powell, louisa may, sarah jewett. Theyll practice and a tradition of the summer novel at some point in their career. When it counted as a result of this, no not so vital. What event was very interesting chapter in the history of publishing. Some readings in the 19th century was very much a commercial construction. The idea of Summer Reading as a product was part of the Publishing Industries concerted efforts to redefine a four season. To capitalize on the really dramatic rise of travel, tourism and summaries are in the victorian american in the gilded age. But the 19th century summary involved more than just commerce as well. In the last quarter of the 19th century, and also became a wellestablished cultural back into practice of performance. Many of those characteristics you name with us toda remain wi. Interesting chapter both in the history of the book and history of summer leisure. My book has covered a lot of ground. I just briefly read produce the table of contents today. To give you a little bit of a flavor of the larger argument as well. I loo travel. And its changing from an elite Cultural Practice to one that is embraced the middleclass and increasingly used as a marker of gentility. And it would be reminiscent enough to nothing here that the professional authors of the period all indulgent summer leisure. I also look at a variety of books that were advertised as best summaries and look especially at the development of what i call an american summer novel. The novel that was specifically set at a summer resort. And finally, i looked at the ways in which authorship intersected with a kind of exploited this new genre. And at the ways in which physical basis shaped Summer Reading practices. I looked at everything from resource libraries, Saratoga Springs and that were advertised quartzite meeting the vent jobs that were builtin to the very white arms. Today the want to focus on one part of the books argument. That is the role of the 19th century magazine culture plate. And reframing Summer Reading into a genteel practice. Im especially interested in the socalled peacemaking publications. Larry produced some covers of these here for the use of the three most prominence. The Atlantic Monthly print publishing boston. Harvards new monthly magazine arrival in new york city in the century history. Their role is going to be very significant. These were publications that had significant degree of cultural authority. Every sedgwick had described the atlantic for example is an exempt of yankee humanism. The photocopy that it featured. In this age of the magazine, these publications and others become the primary vehicle for what James Hopkins called the machinery of publishing and reviewing. It is a machinery the prevents of readers in a certain way. It explains the tax and establishes a context for and prepares us as readers to read it in certain way and with a certain framework in mind. So these other publications and other magazines of this. Shaped discourse on Summer Reading through the visuals. Thats what i would like to explore. The me just say give you an idea of where i want to go with this. Its kind of three parts. On a look at early in the center. The very beginning of a discourse on Summer Reading. Another one of moveon to the complete destruction of she fiction the developed and the. And finally, one look at the publishers efforts to reframe and reclaim Summer Reading. That was something and we will see how that develops. So the first part. The very early discourse on some reading. This is go back a bit. And i have images here, paintings from the. In taking its name from england and europe, Domestic Tourism in the united states, developed in the way the 1700 around places like niagara falls. The hudson river and over here on the left. And tourism develops around there. By the 1830s, wealthy travelers were visiting the White Mountains. You can see that in the bottom image on the right. Theres this painting and writings. They were in Mount Desert Island in maine. Mineral springs in the south. A host of other sites. Excuse me, it is allergy season. If you can bear with me. Rhode island begins taking shape your as well. As a respite from the heat of the summer. I will look at two magazines here. To give you the tenor of how the discourse begins. On the left, 1835, new england magazine. You can see here the opening story is on goodman brown. 1835, the magazine had an article red summer philosophy. Begin by political philosopher and his advice to live life like the theme of this article. Summer philosophy advises younger less experienced travelers with ways to use the time. Any advice of the need to use their time to cultivate this. Heres a quote rated walk slow, talk slow, think so, read, write and eat and dress and undress and shortlived, was studied and exquisite deliberation. In a deliberation needed to extend to whatever reading traveler chose. The summer traveler for example, was to avoid reading anything having to deal with politics. As well as anything that had swaddled and egotism. The best authors were Charles Lambright especially lambs as they spread heres another quote. The reviewer wrote, lambs a safe work to the class of home and the customary with visions in the garden. Dewey jasmine. And with girls. The young man who followed this advice in the article was very specific about the gender and some reader would cultivate these sweet serenity that would last until october. Over here and write. And in the 1860s, and similarly a dignified approach. In 1963, but months view of a new poetry collection, a book for the seaside. From the boston firm of collection of poetry. Featuring the works of shelley, longfellow and others. Pinups was very keen on it braden said it was going to be much is a good summary but a corruption of permanent value. Later in 1850 he would also recommend the work of Washington Irving for Summer Reading. As a described irving who just happen to be one of his authors. As a quote genial and beautiful genius. It also noted that irvings work was part of the convenient and a classic series that would be delightful for Summer Reading soap heres a kind of firm first glimpse of a discourse taking shape. His famed as mescaline, deliverance, and adds very distinctive and what it was designed to accomplish. By mid century, then changed. The discourse is gone. The discourse changes and it does so, because really Interesting Development in the literary field was the way of the cheap be perfect fiction that flooded the literary marketplace after the civil war. This was really an unprecedented expansion of the american popular culture. The significant challenge the mainstream publisher. That challenge took a variety of forms. I will go here to this cheap fiction. First, in this period, this was before the passage of International Copyright act. This wave of cheap fiction had british and european fiction. So George Eliots and alice in wonderland, Sir Walter Scott and charles dickens, all of these work were not protected by copyright. And they quickly picked them up and publish them in a very cheap paper cover edition. Often in libraries sometimes multiple rate releasing multifile times a week. And because about ten to 20 cents per volume. No readers probably wouldnt find the in bookstores, and said they would find them at newsstands, railway kiosks, and even onboard trains. They would go up and down selling snacks but also paper bounce books. In the remark that by the 1870s, virtually everyone who took a train for a journey of any length at all, wouldve encountered a book from one of the popular cheap libraries. She fiction took another form as well. In stories such as that fiction factors. These were stories of our quickly produced, of questionable quality and they were about murders, and rescue and melodrama. They were heavily formulated, a real industrial commodity that loaded the markets. One of the part of this mix of cheap fiction. Needs to be mentioned. The questionable and perceived to be very immo