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Category Archives: artifacts

Cynthia’s sampler

Sunday, July 22, 2007

I was at the office of the fabric conservator at RISD when we pulled apart the frame. She was doubtful, since she had seen many of these things simply glued to some sort of acidic backing. But no, this one was actually just stitched to a piece of cardboard and was remarkably supple and stable […]

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The Lembke Tintype

Friday, June 29, 2007

Years ago my grandmother had this in her room. Written over its oval paper mat were (left, middle, right): “Mamie; Uncle Johnny; Mother.” Her mother, Martha Sophie Lembke, was born in October of 1868. Aunt Mamie was not born until 1878. Uncle Johnny, the oldest, was born back in 1864. The problem is that everybody […]

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Samuel Harmon’s commission

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Just yesterday I got back from conservation and framing a commission in a colonial militia given to one of my wife’s ancestors at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The commission is typeset with blanks filled in by hand. I give the whole text here [filled-in portions, as opposed to typeset boilerplate, are in […]

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Facing our Ancestors (in old photographs)

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Three Daguerreotypes sat in the box with a make-up compact, a pill box, and little cut-glass dish, and two sandwich bags filled mostly with coins from Vichy France. The box was addressed to ‘Nathaniel Taylor, Historian’, and sent by my wife’s aunt. I had never looked seriously into old cased photographs, though in my own […]

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