Material Culture and Domestic Texts: Textiles in the Texts of Warner, Adams, Wilson, Sadlier, Stoddard, and Phelps Laura Smith University of New Hampshire, Durham
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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2007 Material culture and domestic texts: Textiles in the texts of Warner, Adams, Wilson, Sadlier, Stoddard, and Phelps Laura Smith University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Smith, Laura, "Material culture and domestic texts: Textiles in the texts of Warner, Adams, Wilson, Sadlier, Stoddard, and Phelps" (2007). Doctoral Dissertations. 384. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/384 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MATERIAL CULTURE AND DOMESTIC TEXTS: TEXTILES IN THE TEXTS OF WARNER, ADAMS, WILSON, SADLIER, STODDARD, AND PHELPS BY LAURA SMITH B.A., Grove City College, 1992 M.S.T., University of New Hampshire, 2001 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Poctor of Philosophy in English May, 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3260607 Copyright 2007 by Smith, Laura All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3260607 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2007 Laura Smith Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation Dir^tor, Brigitte Bailed, Associate Professor of English ^ ^ _________________________________ John Ernest, Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of American Literature, West Virginia University Sarah W. Sherman, Associate Professor of English David Watters, Professor of English Barbara White, Emeritus Professor of Women’s Studies 9 t4prit 0? Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Cassandra Morgeson claimed that she had no “remnant of brocade” left from her ancestors, but I have been more fortunate in my textile inheritance. I have my female relatives to thank for the trunks whose lids won’t quite shut over the collection of quilts, afghans, tablecloths, and hankies. Their associations may have prompted my research interests, which, in turn, led me to several libraries and museums in the northeast. I am especially grateful to the librarians and archivists who cheerfully lugged out box after box for my research and who answered questions and anticipated needs before I knew them myself. In particular, I’d like to thank William Ross and the staff at the Milne Special Collections and Archives Department, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, New Hampshire, for access to Shaker and temperance materials. I also appreciate the vast resources and helpful staff of the Dimond Library Reference Department at the University of New Hampshire— particularly Louise Buckley and Deanna Wood who tracked down publications and sheep histories. I am also grateful for the opportunity to work with archivist Renee Fox and curator Jenna Carroll-Plante at Canterbury Shaker Village. There in the cool ground floor of Enfield House we examined Shaker dresses and textiles, pored over journals and poems and cards, and wished wistfully that we could have met some of those amazing Shaker women. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Thanks also to Tina Agren and the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community who have been so prompt and generous in locating materials and promoting Shaker research. The Hester Ann Adams gift image as well as other Sabbathday Lake materials are shared with the permission of the Collection of the United Society of Shakers, Sabbathday Lake, Maine. I spent several delightful summer days at the United States Military Academy Library and the Constitution Island Association archive. I’d like to thank Susan Lintelmann and the staff at the Library as well as the Association’s Mrs. Faith Herbert, whose knowledge of the Warner family and its archival and artifactual collections is truly stunning. I am also indebted to the Trustees of the Boston Public Library for access to their Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts. My work also benefited from my visits to the American Textile History Museum and the Lowell National Historical Park. I would like to express my gratitude to the University of New Hampshire’s English Department, Graduate School, and Center for New England Culture whose Summer Teaching Assistant Fellowships, Dissertation Year Fellowship, and Elder Henry C. Blinn Research Fellowship supported my work. At the University of New Hampshire, I have been fortunate to work with thoughtful and hard-working fellow graduate students such as Keith Botelho, Freda Hauser, Emily Hinnov, Sally Hirsh-Dickinson, Sharon Kehl-Califano, Abby Knoblauch, Drew Lopenzina, and Jason Williams. Especial thanks to Amy Manning, a great friend and editor! Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. My dissertation committee, including Brigitte Bailey, John Ernest, Sarah Sherman, David Watters, and Barbara White, provided their enthusiasm, criticism, and advice. Professor Bailey has spent hours and days responding to and discussing my work, and she has been a tremendous mentor to me. And thanks to Professor Carol Farley Kessler who has shown such an interest in me and my work, going so far as to respond to my draft. My friends Lara Casteel, Amy Manning, Debbie McCrery, and Shannon Newman all took wonderful care of me during the process. When my work was sluggish, some sort of encouraging note or package usually arrived to spur my endeavor. My furry assistants, Maddie, Harry, Hermione, Winston, and Scooter made sure that I never had to work alone, even if I had wanted to. My parents, Dick and Aina Stevens, have always provided loving support to me and my work, most recently in the forms of “catered” dinners and dogged proof reading. And thanks to my husband Lee who always nods intelligently and encouragingly at my verbal brainstorming, who tolerates (almost without a murmur) unstable towers of books around the house, who has supported my graduate work, and who has loved me all the time. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv LIST OF FIGURES x ABSTRACT xi INTRODUCTION 1 Textiles and the Ideology of Domesticity 4 Textiles and Northeastern Texts 12 Theoretical Approaches to Textiles 14 1. MIDDLE-CLASS TEXTILE REFINEMENT IN THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD 21 Introduction 21 Biographical Overview 26 Replicating Textile Domesticity in The Wide, Wide World 31 Consuming Goods and Guiding Domestic Practice 42 Defining a Continuum of Textile Refinement 50 Critiquing Miss Fortune’s Spartan Domesticity 56 Practicing Textile Domesticity 64 Exploring Other Sites of Domestic Practice 76 Conclusion 81 2. THE FABRIC OF SHAKER WOMEN’S LIVES: HESTER ANN ADAMS AND SHAKER DOMESTICITY 86 Introduction 86 Identifying the Shakers 89 Relating to the World 92 Promoting Domesticity via the Shaker Home 99 Fostering Spirituality through Textile-Inspired Texts 107 Promoting a Revised (Shaker) Domesticity 117 Mothering (and Defending) a Shaker Family 123 Weaving Textile Work and Shaker Domesticity 131 Conclusion 136 3. TEXTILE OPPRESSION AND LIBERATION IN HARRIET WILSON’S OUR NIG 139 Introduction 139 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. v iii Wilson in Critical Context 143 Race in Our Nig 148 The Two-Story White House 151 Textile Oppression through Difference 155 Textile Oppression through Deprivation 161 Implication of the Wool Industry 166 Textile Liberation 169 Textiles and African-American Domesticity 173 4. IRISH-CATHOLIC DOMESTICITY AND THE PROBLEM OF TEXTILE INTEMPERANCE IN SADLIER’S BESSY CONWAY 179 Introduction 179 Entering the Irish-Catholic Literary Milieu 183 Framing a Conduct Novel: Bessy Conway, Proverbs, and Guide for Catholic Young Women 190 Instructing Against Textile Idolatry, the Root of Many Evils 196 Reading the Discourse of Intemperance in Bessy Conway 205 Disputing “Sincerity” and Station through Textile Consumption 209 Crusading for Home Preservation through Textile Temperance 220 Confronting Textile Infection: The Urban Environment 224