THE LUSTROUS STONE

404 Pages·2015·1.38 MB·English

THE LUSTROUS STONE:
WHITE MARBLE IN AMERICA, 1780-1860

by

Elise Madeleine Ciregna

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History

Summer 2015

© 2015 Elise Madeleine Ciregna
All Rights Reserved
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THE LUSTROUS STONE:
WHITE MARBLE IN AMERICA, 1780-1860

by

Elise Madeleine Ciregna

Approved: __________________________________________________________
Arwen P. Mohun, Ph.D.
Chair of the Department of History

Approved: __________________________________________________________
George H. Watson, Ph.D.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Approved: __________________________________________________________
James G. Richards, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education
I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets
the academic and professional standard required by the University as a
dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Signed: __________________________________________________________
J. Ritchie Garrison, Ph.D.
Professor in charge of dissertation

I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets
the academic and professional standard required by the University as a
dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Signed: __________________________________________________________
Katherine C. Grier, Ph.D.
Member of dissertation committee

I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets
the academic and professional standard required by the University as a
dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Signed: __________________________________________________________
Christine L. Heyrman, Ph.D.
Member of dissertation committee

I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets
the academic and professional standard required by the University as a
dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Signed: __________________________________________________________
Wendy A. Bellion, Ph.D.
Member of dissertation committee
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I was fortunate indeed to have landed at the University of Delaware in the
History of American Civilization program for my doctoral studies. At UD I found a
welcoming and broadly interdisciplinary scholarly community, crucial to the
development of a material culture scholar. The opportunity to study at the Henry
France du Pont Winterthur Museum was the perfect entrée into the material world of
everyday life in America.
My greatest debts are first to those who mentored me during my years at the
University of Delaware. J. Ritchie Garrison was my first contact at the University,
convinced me to come to Delaware to study, and quickly became my mentor. His
prodigious knowledge and insights into the histories of landscapes and particularly of
craft were deeply influential to my own work. (Although I still think Ritchie’s
comments on my wooden candle box made in class under his supervision a bit unfair.
His assessment began “Elise Ciregna + hand tools = recipe for disaster” and ended
with the comment that “no personal injury lawsuits were filed as a result of this
project.” I do acknowledge, however, that this experience made it abundantly clear
that I was better suited to the study of stone craft than being an actual practitioner.) I
could not have worked with anyone who better understands the realities and
challenges urban craftsmen in early America faced, and who cares about them as
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much as I do. Ritchie pushed me in scholarly inquiry directions I had not conceived
of, and for that I am deeply grateful.
Kasey Grier was one of my earliest scholarly influences. Her book Culture
and Comfort, based on her own dissertation at the University of Delaware, was my
bible in my work in the 1990s as Projects Manager of the Conservation Center of the
Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, which had one of the very
few upholstery conservation labs in the country. I spent many happy hours, weeks,
even months thumbing through my copy of the original color edition of her book as
the upholstery conservator and I sourced historically appropriate velvets, damasks,
trims and passementerie for the nineteenth-century chairs, sofas, and ottomans that
came into the lab. Although I had completed my coursework when Kasey first came
back to Delaware, she was an obvious choice for my dissertation committee. I have
very much appreciated her willingness to read through drafts of this work in progress.
Her cheerful encouragement, keen scholarly insights, and humor have been invaluable
throughout this process. Christine Heyrman was a mentor in the craft of writing, and
writing history. It was Christine’s “piquantly named Baptist preacher” Loveless
Savidge in her book Southern Cross: the Beginnings of the Bible Belt that first alerted
me to the possibilities of humor, empathy and humanity in academic writing. Our
conversations in class and privately about the craft of writing have stayed with me; I
still maintain a commonplace book because of her suggestion. Christine’s fluid and
graceful writing style is one of my most important influences, and a model I have kept
front and center—though any infelicities of style, grammar and punctuation are, of
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course, my own. I also wish to thank Wendy Bellion in the University of Delaware’s
Art History department, who first connected with my dissertation project by agreeing
to provide the faculty remarks at my DIPSOP (Dissertation in Progress and Occasional
Papers) meeting, and who presented thoughtful and engaging commentary at that time,
remarks that I have kept in mind.
Although I was employed during most of the years I worked on this project, I
was fortunate to receive financial support so that I could occasionally free myself to
think, research, and write. In particular, a New England Regional Consortium grant
early in the project allowed me to spend a significant amount of research time at a
number of New England archives, including the Massachusetts Historical Society, the
Boston Athenæum, the Baker Library at the Harvard Business School, the New
England Historical Genealogical Society, the Rhode Island Historical Society Library,
the Connecticut Historical Society and the Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut. I
thank all of the staff members of these various institutions, who were endlessly
generous with their time and enthusiastic about my project. I am also grateful to the
Henry France du Pont Winterthur Museum for a short-term fellowship, which allowed
me a blissful month free of all professional distractions to focus on all things marble,
and to make significant writing progress. Many thanks are due to the staff of the
museum and library, including curator Linda Eaton, Greg Landrey, Rich McKinstry,
Cate Cooney, Emily Guthrie, and Laura Parrish. I wish to particularly thank Jeanne
Solensky of the Josephs Downs Collection of Ephemera in the Winterthur Library, for
her extraordinary and on-going efforts to connect me to sources and other scholars,
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even in a relatively rarefied area of research. Ms. Solensky was also instrumental in
allowing me to curate a short-term exhibit at the Downs Collection entitled the “The
Lustrous Stone” and featuring Downs Collection items.
During the course of this project I was able to present my work at various
conferences, including the inaugural James and Shirley Draper conference at the
University of Connecticut; the Organization of American Historians’ annual
conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the WAPACC conference in Woodcliff, New
Jersey; and various iterations of the annual American Culture Association (ACA) and
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) conferences in
Philadelphia, Boston, and Wilmington, Delaware. Travel funding assistance from the
University of Delaware was also enormously beneficial as I had the opportunity to
present my work at conferences in Bath, England, Glasgow, Scotland, and Florence,
Italy, and to meet scholars from many different countries doing interesting and
provocative work.
A scholar is drifting without oars at sea if she doesn’t have friends and
colleagues who will support and encourage her in the right direction, but who will also
challenge her arguments, call her on her mistakes and false assumptions, and comment
on her ideas and writing. I am lucky to have such a wonderful corps of such friends
and colleagues. Classmates at the University of Delaware included Dan Claro, Hillary
Murtha, Michelle Mormul, Laura Johnson, and many others. Our “Dissie Chicks”
group of dissertating women included Pat Keller, Frances Davey, Zara Anishanslin,
Bryn Varley Hollenbeck, Rebecca Sheppard, Heather Boyd, and Amy Henderson.
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“Head chick” Pat Keller transcribed an entire inventory of a stonecutter’s tools at an
archive, just because she thought I might find it interesting. (I did; I followed up with
the Chester County Archives and include it here as Appendix Two.) Aaron Wunsch,
who was at the Winterthur Library on a fellowship, and I bonded over our overlapping
dissertation topics; we shared many conversations about the “business” of cemeteries
and monuments.
Classmates and fellow AmCivvies commented on various drafts of this work
over the years, but I want to especially thank Frances Davey for reading (and re-
reading) many drafts over the course of this project, and for happily accompanying me
on numerous cemetery visits. Frances has been a much-needed beacon and voice of
reason more times than I can count, and for that she deserves a lifetime supply of
chocolate.
Working in the historic cemetery field for numerous years, as a curator,
educator, and preservation specialist, I have also incurred professional and personal
debts along the way with a band of like-minded scholars and preservationists. My
colleagues at Mount Auburn Cemetery, most notably Meg Winslow, and at Forest
Hills Cemetery have all generously provided their expertise and assistance whenever
and however I needed it. My colleagues in cemetery studies as well as fellow board
members at the Association for Gravestone Studies, where I am editor of its scholarly
journal Markers, are also due many grateful thanks. Most notable among these (in no
particular order) are Laurel Gabel, June Hadden Hobbs, Deborah Trask, Mark
Nonestied, and Dennis Montagna. Dennis, a fellow UD graduate and John Frazee
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scholar, has been a steady supporter and provided me with photographs from his
collection. Mark generously gave me a copy of his as-yet unpublished paper on John
Frazee to read as well as photographs to use. Eva Bowerman read drafts of this work
and provided valuable editorial comments. James Blachowicz has been a generous
source of information over the years (especially of sightings of Alpheus Cary
gravestones), and also gave me permission to use several of his photographs.
Elizabeth Roark and I have shared many conversations over the years about
cemeteries and sculpture, and she has shared her insights with me. Although he has
passed on, Gary Collison, formerly the editor of Markers and the coordinator of
various conference panels, was a big influence in the early phase of this project. Joe
Edgette and Rich Sauers have taken over Gary’s duties at the ACA/MAPACA and
have filled his shoes admirably. I also owe an enormous intellectual debt to a giant in
the field of cemetery studies, Blanche Linden, who died in 2014.
An acquaintance, William H. Pear II, from the New England Chapter board of
the Victorian Society in America, was surprised to hear one day of my interest in
Alpheus Cary. He is a descendant of Alpheus Cary’s brother Isaac and the family
“keeper” of Cary’s surviving papers and artifacts. Bill has loaned me stacks of
materials over the years with no conditions or restrictions, and without a due date for
their return. I thank him for his extraordinary, and extraordinarily informal,
generosity.
Nancy Packer. My whip smart, funny colleague, classmate, exceptional
curator, and fellow Dissie Chick. Nancy was the student commentator at my DIPSOP
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