Out from Behind this Mask

Those of you who have worked a bit on the Five Points neighborhood in New York might be interested in the following lecture at the CUNY Graduate Center by some well-known journalists and historians:

Irish New York: A New Look at Tammany Hall and Its Legacy

Tammany Hall has long been a synonym for corruption. But was there more than mere venality to one of the most long-running and successful urban political organizations in the history of the United States? Did it also play a formative role in educating the masses in the constructive uses of politics and help turn the agenda of economic and social reform from wish list into law? A panel made up of Pete Hamill, Terry Golway and Peter Quinn will discuss this and other aspects of Tammany-style politics with Richard Welch, author of King of the Bowery: big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall, and New York City from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era.

Click here to register.

Presentation

Blog posts — please add context to your posts — include an introduction that introduces readers to the subject of your post

— Image citations:  at bottom of post, include a line that says (Image credit:  Site Name) — a nd make “Site Name” a link to the webpage on which you found the image

— Insiders and Outsiders NYC

Insiders
Philip Hone — describing the Great Fire of 1835 — burned down printing houses — forced WW to move back to L.I. and begin short-lived teaching career.

Hone’s son — NYC commerce

Outsiders

Charles Dickens

Dickens visits 1842

— compares NYC to Boston — faded town.  p. 51
— Tombs — surprised by condition of the prisoners.  Suicides.  lack of exercise.  dark.
— pigs — comparing the pigs to people —

“He is in every respect a republican pig, going wherever he pleases, and mingling with the best society, on an equal, if not superior footing, for everyone makes way when he appears, and the haughtiest give him the wall, if he prefer it. He is a great philosopher, and seldom moved, unless by the dogs before mentioned. Sometimes, indeed, you may see his small eye twinkling on a slaughtered friend, whose carcass garnishes a butcher’s door-post, but he grunts out “Such is life: all flesh is pork!” buries his nose in the mire again, and waddles down the gutter: comforting himself with the reflection that there is one snout the less to anticipate stray cabbage stalks, at any rate.”

— America as dirty, uncivilized

Who is Dickens’ audience for this travelogue?  How these passages about the Tombs and pigs compare to his descriptions of colorful clothing and bright colors on Broadway

Dickens’s tone — condescending — interview with Tombs guard

How did Whitman deal with the pigs?

— pp. 92-3 —

“Why what have you thought of yourself?

Is it you then that thought yourself less?

Is it you that thought the President greater than you? or the rich better off than you? or the educated wiser than you?

Because you are greasy or pimpled—or that you was once drunk, or a thief, or
diseased, or rheumatic, or a prostitute—or are so now—or from frivolity or
impotence—or that you are no scholar, and never saw your name in print . . . .
do you give in that you are any less immortal?”
— Weren’t there slums in England?  Why would Dickens be so harsh about NYC slums when London had similar slums?

Fanny Kemble

Edgar Allan Poe

Frances Trollope

Close Reading
— focus closely on the language of the text

— typical question: how would this text change if a different word were used in a particular place?  how does the particular meaning of the text depend upon the exact language used here?

ex. runaway slave passage — how would it be different if WW used “fugitive” instead of “runaway”?

— WW editing own work:  Library of Congress manuscript page

— tie your observations/analysis of WW’s work to quotations from the text — add details and avoid generalities

Statement 1:  Whitman seems like he loves everybody

Statement 2:  Whitman says that “what is commonest and cheapest and nearest and easiest is Me,” including professional workers like butcher boys, blacksmiths, and farmers.

— Introduce claim — provide example/support — analyze example
Quoting poetry

When quoting three or more lines, use the blockquote tag (icon button shows quotation mark).

ex.

Trippers and askers surround me,
People I meet… The effect upon me of my early life… Of the ward and city I live in… Of the nation,
The latest news… Discoveries, inventions, societies… Authors old and new,
My dinner, dress. Associates, looks, business, compliments, dues,
The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love,
The sickness of one of my folks – or of myself… Or ill-doing… Or loss or lack of money… Or depression or exaltation,
They come to me days and nights and go from me again,
But they are not the Me myself.

— Literal vs. figurative meaning

— ex. what does water symbolize in the twenty-eight young men passage?

— why 28 young men?  why 28?  look in endnotes.  but is that the final answer? no.  do research in criticism.

— Poems are like puzzles

— Intentional fallacy

— Poetic Form

Longfellow — “Song of Hiawatha” — lines are regular. end rhymes . regular rhythm.

Whitman – Free verse — irregular line lengths.  No rhyme.  irregular punctuation

—

Professor Maura Smale’s presentation on web-based research techniques

— Research as a game — trying to explore, find specific resources related to a topic

— Primary sources — photographs, manuscripts, letters, documents

— Secondary sources — critical, interpretative texts

— Better google searching

— How does google rank searches?  page rank system — popularity.  and relevance to search terms.  search engines.  scholarly info mixed in with wider public info

— make it easier to find scholarly materials using advanced google searching

— go to basic google search screen, click advanced tab
– searching by domain.   .com vs. .org .gov .edu
– library of congress

searching — best way to search is with keywords.  pull out critical words
— digital archives, collections
— add “archive” “digital” “collection” to searches
sample search 1:  “archive digital walt whitman”
sample search 2:  advanced search, restricted by .gov domains
— narrow down search by using more search terms
sample search 3:  19th century brooklyn digital archive site:edu

Don’t just stay on first page of google search results

Can also use google advanced search when looking for images
— click “images” and then “advanced image search” — can filter by type of website
— sample search 4: image search

— research — exploration — keep trying different strategies if things don’t work out at once.  Internet good at helping you find quick info — movie times, weather — but may require more time to find more advanced resources.

Some websites useful for this class:

Two resources from City Tech library
Library databases – historic datases
— click “find articles” – click “Databases A to Z”
— look for “New York Times, Historical (ProQuest)” — full text with images and page images of all NYT from 1851 onward
— on search page, look for “more search options” — look for document type — many different types of sources
– sample search: “walt whitman” in document type articles and date range 1851-1870
[putting quotation marks around search terms enables you to search terms together]
— look at “page map”
— printing from NYT Historical can be a little dicey
— can use this database from home if you get to it from Library home page — but you need to have your activated ID — visit library to have your ID activated — has to be activated every semester.  Number starts with 22

Trial Database:  Slavery and Anti-Slavery, a Transnational Archive
— contains info from pamphlets, newspapers, and manuscripts– from broad spectrum of 19th-century
— * has to be used on campus *
— Library homepage — go to “Databases under consideration”  need password

Open Websites, can be accessed from home

Course website – look at resources page on our course site

ex. Walt Whitman Archive

Whitman’s Notebooks at Library of Congress

when you find an archive or collection that has info that you want, understand that it is often part of a larger project.  Example: whitman notebooks at LOC part of American Memory site

— so, go up a couple of levels and see what else you can find that might be relevant to work you’re doing.

New York Public Library

Brooklyn Public Library – great place to go for historic Brooklyn photographs — at Grand Army plaza — can go and look at old images.  but many scanned too — look for “Brooklyn Collection” in lefthand sidebar
— can search for photos of streets, intersections
— Full Brooklyn Daily Eagle — whole run — available online
— can always email or call librarians at BPL if you can’t find what you’re looking for

New York Public Library — look for digital collections
— look in images and digital text
— manuscripts under image collections
— Walt Whitman Manuscripts

Citation

— when posting things on blog, need to cite sources
— even with images
— help other researchers find what you found.  Knowledge builds on knowledge.  Need to leave a trail for people who will follow you.
— Images:
— give author/where it came from.  + link to where it came from.  Make URL active link so that others can follow