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First in the Homes of his Countrymen : George Washington's Mount Vernon in the American Imagination / Lydia Mattice Brandt.
Author
Brandt, Lydia Mattice
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2016.
Description
xi, 284 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm
Availability
Available Online
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Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
E312.5 .B76 2016
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Details
Subject(s)
Nationalism and collective memory
—
United States
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Nationalism and architecture
—
United States
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National monuments
—
Social aspects
—
United States
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Mount Vernon (Va. : Estate)
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Summary note
"Over the past two hundred years, Americans have reproduced George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation house more often, and in a greater variety of media, than any of their country's other historic buildings. In this highly original new book, Lydia Mattice Brandt chronicles America's obsession with the first president's iconic home through advertising, prints, paintings, popular literature, and the full-scale replication of its architecture. Even before Washington's death in 1799, his house was an important symbol for the new nation. His countrymen used it to idealize the past as well as to evoke contemporary--and even divisive--political and social ideals. In the wake of the mid-nineteenth century's revival craze, Mount Vernon became an obvious choice for architects and patrons looking to reference the past through buildings in residential neighborhoods, at world's fairs, and along the commercial strip. The singularity of the building's trademark piazza and its connection to Washington made it immediately recognizable and easy to replicate. As a myriad of Americans imitated the building's architecture, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association carefully interpreted and preserved its fabric. Purchasing the house in 1859 amid intense scrutiny, the organization safeguarded Washington's home and ensured its accessibility as the nation's leading historic house museum. Tension between popular images of Mount Vernon and the organization's "official" narrative for the house over the past 150 years demonstrates the close and ever-shifting relationship between historic preservation and popular architecture.In existence for roughly as long as the United States itself, Mount Vernon's image has remained strikingly relevant to many competing conceptions of our country's historical and architectural identity."-- Publisher's website.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-268) and index.
Contents
Prints and pilgrimage: 1790s-1850s
"Keep it the home of Washington!": the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 1854-1890
Replicas, replicas, replicas: 1890s-1920s
Battles of "authenticity": replicas and research in the 1930s
"In this changing and troubled world": social history and the American roadside, 1950s-1980s.
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ISBN
9780813939254 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
0813939259 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
LCCN
2016023613
OCLC
950449261
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
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First in the homes of his countrymen : George Washington's Mount Vernon in the American imagination / Lydia Mattice Brandt.
id
99100087543506421
First in the homes of his countrymen : George Washington's Mount Vernon in the American imagination / Lydia Mattice Brandt.
id
SCSB-5875767