DOCSLIB.ORG

Information to Users

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Information to Users INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. 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 bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI 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. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back o f the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. WILLIAM C. HUNNEMAN (1769-1856): BOSTON COPPERSMITH, BRASS FOUNDER, AND ENTREPRENEUR by Lindsley Elisa Hand A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Early American Culture Spring 1998 Copyright 1998 Lindsley Elisa Hand All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1389579 Copyright 1998 by Hand, Lindsley Elisa All rights reserved. UMI Microform 1389579 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. WILLIAM C. HUNNEMAN (1769-1856): BOSTON COPPERSMITH, BRASS FOUNDER, AND ENTREPRENEUR Lindsley Elisa Hand Approved: Charles F. Hummel, M.A .1 / Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of me Advisory Committee Approved: es C. Curtis, Ph.D. r of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture Approved: . Cavanaugh, Ph.D. rovost for Academic Progra and Planning Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Frontispiece. Miniature Portrait of William Cooper Hunneman (1769-1856). Watercolor on ivory. H: 2 3/4", W: 2 1/4" (Courtesy, J. R. Hunneman, Jr., Sedgewick, Maine) iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been fortunate in receiving the help of many people in researching and writing this thesis. I am happy to have the chance to thank publicly my advisor, Charles Hummel, for his generous advice, criticism, patience, and encouragement. To Donald L. Fennimore I am very grateful for the original suggestion of William C. Hunneman as a fruitful topic of research and for sharing his knowledge of and enthusiasm for early American metals in and out of class. The curatorial staff at the USS Constitution Museum and the staff of the Massachusetts Historical Society together made it possible for me to spend many hours examining the extant Hunneman day books, as well as providing supporting documents and information. Special thanks are also due to Mr. John Richard Hunneman, Jr. of Sedgewick, Maine, for his boundless enthusiasm and generosity with both family information and photographs of many surviving Hunneman products. Thanks to Donna-Bell Garvin, Curator, and Hilary Anderson, Assistant Curator at New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire; Lana Lewis, Assistant Curator at Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts; Nancy S. Powell, Registrar and Fine Arts Specialist at CIGNA Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Frank White, Curator of Mechanical Arts at Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts; Philip Zea, Deputy Director and Curator, and Amanda E. Lange, Assistant Curator at Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts; Mark and Marjorie Allen; Dr. Melvyn Wolf; and everyone else who sent photographs or allowed me to study and photograph their collections of Hunneman objects. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I am grateful to David Wood, Curator at Concord Museum, Concord, Massachusetts, for his very helpful insights and suggestions regarding the Hunneman account books and the creation of a database. Thanks also to John Hamilton, Curator of Collections at Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Massachusetts; John Carl Thomas; Loma Condon, Archivist at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities; and Lynne Joshi, Reference Librarian, Imprints Department at Hagley Museum and Library for their help with research. Without the generosity of Mrs. Lois F. McNeil I would not have begun this project, nor had the opportunity to study at the H. F. du Pont Winterthur Museum. The excellent teachers, curators, and librarians at the museum receive my sincere gratitude for all their help and inspiration. Finally, thank you to all my family, and especially my parents, for their support, encouragement, and patience. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................vii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: WILLIAM C. HUNNEMAN AND HIS COMPANY.............................................................................................................. I NOTES: CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................... 12 2 ANALYSIS OF HUNNEMAN ACCOUNT BOOKS........................................ 16 NOTES: CHAPTER 2 ...........................................................................................32 3 HUNNEMAN’S BUSINESS OPERATION........................................................35 NOTES: CHAPTER 3 ...........................................................................................57 4 ANALYSIS OF SURVIVING PRODUCTS........................................................63 NOTES: CHAPTER 4 ........................................................................................... 86 5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................89 NOTES: CHAPTER 5 ...........................................................................................94 Appendix: FIGURES..........................................................................................................96 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................. 132 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This study of William C. Hunneman, a Boston coppersmith, brass founder, and entrepreneur working from c. 1793 to 1846, helps to fill a gap in the history of the early American craftsman. There have been few, if any, in-depth studies of the craftsmen who produced goods from copper and its alloys during this period. These products played an important role in the households, businesses, and manufactories of America, as well as being vital to the operation of the new United States Navy. Hunneman was involved in extensive business and social networks connecting his local communities with far flung cities and towns. As a producer of early patented fire engines, Hunneman also illuminates the business side of innovative technology. This thesis relies on evidence from two extant day books, one brief ledger, and a large number of surviving Hunneman products, in addition to other primary and secondary sources. The day books were entered into a database which enabled sorting and quantification of information by customer; date; credits and debits; form, quantity, description, and price. It also recorded all other information including weights, method of payment, and Hunneman’s miscellaneous notes. As many surviving objects as possible were located and examined in person. Almost as many more were identified and studied through published and unpublished photographs. These Hunneman products were compared to objects and photographs of objects in the Winterthur Museum, the Decorative Arts Photographic Collection at Winterthur, and many publications. Such comparisons reveal regional vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. characteristics and strengthen our understanding of business ties among craftsmen producing similar goods. William C. Hunneman was a skilled craftsman and a successful businessman. He produced and sold large numbers of household items
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Copeland's History of Murrayfield
    : A HISTORY TOWN OF MURRAYFIELD, EARLIER KNOWN AS TOWNSHIP NO. 9, AND COMPRISING THE PRESENT TOWNS OF CHESTER AND HUNTINGTON, THE NORTHERN PART OF MONTGOMERY, AND THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF MIDDLEFIELD. 1760 1783. Of SPRINQF^IELD, MASS, SPKINGFIELD, MASS. /6 3 ^^ CLARK W. BRYAN & COMPANY, PRINTERS. 1892. ^ It Copyright, 1892, by ALFRED M. COPELAKD. C/'. A^ontfomej^ ^s ^ "A/orr/L- ///ve of \ 4 <^ \ O^ [House >- ^. -^z % H ^«- ^-><. 'K ^-^. PRBFACE. About ten years ago I began gathering facts touching the history of the town of Murrayfield. I had had occasion frequently, during my residence in the town of Huntington, to consult the book of records of the original proprietors, and had traced a copy of the proprietors' plan of the town for my own use, as occasion might require in my professional work in the neighborhood; but it had never occurred to me to write a history of the town, nor to institute investigations in that direction. Some time after the organization of ''The Connecticut Valley Historical Society" I promised to write a sketch of the town of Murrayfield, in a single paper, to be read before the society; but several years transpired before I felt sure that I had found the start- ing point. The more I investigated, the richer the field proved. From the proprietors' records, from the registry of deeds, from the records of courts, from the records of the Colonial General Court, from original documents in the office of the Secretary of the Com- monwealth, from the records of the old town and of the old church, and from inscriptions upon headstones in the old cemetery, I gathered together a greater array of facts than had at first seemed possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Text of Lecture Re: Willard Museum 30 Anniversary ©
    Text of Lecture Re: Willard Museum 30 th Anniversary © Written from outline used for the lecture Introduction: I had the great honor to be asked to give an address at ceremonies recognizing the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of Willard House and Clock Museum. That was in June of 2001. In July of 2009 Dr. Roger Robinson celebrated his 100 th birthday. He and his late wife Imogene (1901–2004) founded the museum. Both Dr. and Mrs. Robinson attended the ceremonies, and Dr. Robinson gave a fascinating and witty recount of events leading to the opening of the museum. In honor of Dr. Robinson’s centennial the staff of Willard House decided to publish the remarks below. I have written the text from the outline I used at the ceremonies. It fairly closely follows the original remarks as I remember them. I have added some personal footnotes where I think they might add to the text. John C. Losch August, 2009 Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is a wonderful gathering, and it is encouraging to see so many people interested in both the existence and history of the Willard Museum. I think it is appropriate to ask why we are celebrating the Willard Museum. Why not the Smith, or the Robinson Museum? The simple answer is that the Willards were, and remain, the most prominent clockmaking family in the history of American clockmaking. During a period of over 100 years there were numerous Willard family clockmakers. Here are a few reasons why the family has remained prominent for so long.
    [Show full text]
  • Poverty, Mobility, and Revolution 25 May
    [Copyright material. Please do not use without permission.] Poverty, Mobility, and Revolution 25 May 2015 Nian-Sheng Huang California State University Channel Islands The nature and extent of poverty on the eve of the American Revolution have long intrigued two groups of modern scholars who hold opposite views. Believing that the number of the poor is insignificant in a predominantly middle-class society, one group has stressed America's great promise, abundance, opportunity, and mobility. Meanwhile, the other group-convinced of having found so severe a conflict between the haves and have-nots as close to the brink of a class w a r- has underscored America's glaring inadequacies, limits, inequalities, and inconsistencies. These conflicting views are further compounded with another tendency of casting eighteenth-century poverty into the unmitigated mold of rich against poor-a dichotomous approach often silent about the manifest distinctions between the middle and the upper classes on the one hand, while downplaying many crucial differences between the laboring classes and the poor on the other. In recent years Ruth Wallis Herndon's Unwelcome Americans (2001), Jacqueline Barbara Carr's After the Siege (2005), Barry Levy's Town Born (2009), Seth Rockman's Scraping By (2009), and Cornelia H. Dayton and Sharon V. Salinger's Robert Love's Warnings (2014) have filled some of the gaps and addressed some of the weaknesses in earlier investigations. This new output of scholarship in the post-revisionist era advanced two salient changes. First, more sophisticated understanding and more sensitive delineations of class stratification and class relationships than before came to light as a result of these new publications, which significantly broadened 1 the narrowly defined class antagonism and class consciousness revisionist history had tried to demonstrate since the 1960s.
    [Show full text]
  • Town of Massachusetts
    TOWNOF MASSACHUSETTS 2001 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2001 Grafton Comprehensive Plan Acknowledgements ________________________________________________________________________ The Residents of Grafton and the Grafton Planning Board ________________________________________________________________________ Planning Board Members Citizen Participants (Cont.) Robert Hassinger, Chairman Nancy DeWolfe Robert Mitchell, Vice Chairman Kenneth Deshais Keith A. Regan, Clerk Robert & Joann Duncan Martin Temple, Member Carol Dunn Ricky J. Lukasevicz, Member Donna Dunn Stephen Dunne, Associate Member MaryLou Faden (Former Members) Suzanne Fleming Elias Hanna MaryAnn Gardzina Jacquelyn S. Anderson Barbara Hememway Ann V. Morgan Wanda Hendrix Chris LeMay Roger Hohman Craig Dauphinais Kenneth & Carolyn Hudson Essek Petrie George B. Houle Jeanne Marie Mikels Anthony Kavanaugh Kenneth Deshais Richard Kirejczyk Margaret Hurley Jeffrey Lane Emilie Richmond Ann LeBlanc Citizen Participants Steven Lemoine Timothy Bair Ann Morgan Kelly Barnhat Randy Pepper John Boelke Loraine Pietruska Lydia Bogar Anthony T Piscillo James & Patricia Calvo Robert Shumeyko Daniel & Jill Carter John Stevens Phyllis Case Joseph Tancrell Richard Chiros Donna Williams Kenneth Crater Frederick & Anne Woehr Mrs. Irene Danowski John Woodhead Technical and Administrative Assistance Provided By: Larry L. Dunkin, AICP Grafton Town Planner Megan DePrete, AICP Town Planner to 11/2000 Carol J. Thomas, FAICP President, Thomas Planning Services, Inc. Marc Older Akira Yamashita, Assts. TOWN OF GRAFTON GRAFTON MEMORIAL MUNICIPAL CENTER 30 PROVIDENCE ROAD GRAFTON, MASSACHUSETTS 01519 TEL. (508) 839-5335 ext. 120 FAX (508) 839-9648 PLANNING BOARD Robert Hassinger, Chairman Robert Mitchell, Vice Chairman Keith A. Regan, Clerk Martin Temple, Member Ricky J. Lukasevicz, Member Stephen Dunne, Associate Member November 26, 2001 To Grafton Residents, This document is the 2001 Grafton, Massachusetts Comprehensive Plan. The effective date is December 1, 2001.
    [Show full text]
  • American Watch Papers with a Descriptive List of the Collection in the American Antiquarian Society
    American Watch Papers With a Descriptive List of the Collection in the American Antiquarian Society BY DOROTHEA E. SPEAR O LIBRARY or museum in the country, so far as we N know, had attempted to gather a comprehensive collection of watch papers until the American Antiquarian Society became interested. In 1948 the Library had an opportunity to purchase twenty-six early papers which originally were in the possession of Dr. Samuel A. Bemis, of Boston. Bemis, whose father, Samuel Bemis, was a watchmaker, was apprenticed to the trade in Boston about 1810, but in the hard times following the War of 1812, young Bemis realized that the making of watches was not a lucra- tive business. He therefore decided to become a dentist and practiced very successfully in Boston for man)'- years until the i86o*s when he removed to Hart's Location in New Hampshire. It is believed that he gathered old watches to melt for the filling of teeth, removed the watch papers, and carefully preserved them. During his entire life. Dr. Bemis had the reputation of not throwing away even the smallest items and for this New England thrift we are most grateful. The little lot of papers, including his father's handsomely engraved advertisement as a watchmaker, formed the nu- cleus of the Society's collection which now numbers two hundred and fifty-eight examples. The Bemis watch shop, consisting of partially completed watches and clocks, small tools, and work benches, was acquired in 1929 by the Edison Institute Museum at Dearborn, Michigan. 298 AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY [Oct., There are large collections of English watch papers in London, at the Guildhall Library, and in English private collections such as those of John Eliot Hodgkin and Edward Heron-Allen.
    [Show full text]
  • Mcnelley Family History
    MCNELLEY FAMILY HISTORY The Ancestry of the Oscar McNelley Family of Chicago, Illinois © Susan A. McNelley 2017 Update McNelley Family History Ancestry of the Oscar McNelley Family of Chicago, Illinois © Susan McNelley 2017 Update © Copyright 2017 Susan A. McNelley All rights reserved. Permission is given to download and print this document for personal use and to share the document in print or electronic form with others, as long as proper attrition is maintained and it is not modified in any way and not used for commercial purposes. If you would like to repost on the internet, please contact me for written permission. For Terry, my Love This is his story. There is a history in all men's lives. Shakespeare MCNELLEY FAMILY HISTORY Table of Contents Introduction 1 Thomas T. and Mary Sarah (Miller) McNelley of Nineteenth-Century Cleveland, Ohio 3 McNelley Family Tree 9 Family Photos and Documents Section 19 (Separate Numbering System) McNelley Family Forebears: Their Stories 21 Index 80 MCNELLEY FAMILY HISTORY Introduction This family history begins with Oscar McNelley who married Louise Mikkelsen in Chicago, Illinois about 1909. Their children were Theodore Thomas and Alta Adele. Theodore was my husband’s father. Oscar’s father was Thomas Lawrence McNelley who married Sarah Amelia Lamb, grand-daughter of Joseph Lamb and Clora Willard. The Lambs and the Willards have been traced back to eighteenth-century Vermont in the years following the American Revolution. Joseph Lamb was born in Rhode Island in 1763 and served in the Revolutionary War before settling in Vermont. His Lamb forebears had settled in New London, Connecticut in the late 1600s.
    [Show full text]
  • A Memorable Morning
    Summer 2016 Volume XVII, Issue 10 A PUBLICATION OF WILLARD HOUSE AND CLOCK MUSEUM IN THIS ISSUE A Memorable Morning ....................... 1 A Memorable Morning A Message From Patrick Keenan, On the morning of October 7, 2015 Willard House had two interesting visitors. Brock Museum Director ...............................2 Jobe, from Winterthur Museum in Pennsylvania, accompanied by Gavin Ashworth, a My Grandfather’s Clock: The Many Names of This specialist in photographing historic artifacts, were there to photograph the Lewis and Floor-Standing Timekeeper ...............3 Alpheus Babcock piano that is a part of the museum furniture collection. It is a very rare and A Closer Look: Lewis and important piece. Ahead in this issue is an article detailing some of the history of the piano Alpheus Babcock’s Piano ...............4-5 written before we knew that it is to be part of a study in progress about early American pianos Staff Spotlight: Meet Sarah Mullen ...6 by Darcy Kuronen, curator of musical instruments at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Willard-Goddard Connection .....6 It was for that reason the piano would be carefully photographed. Program Coordinator .........................7 Much heavy equipment was carried into the Aaron Willard Gallery from a fully loaded SUV. The session continued when Patrick Keenan and Brock Jobe, piano movers on the Membership Application ...................8 side, had to remove two Willard Shelf Clocks and other artifacts from the piano top so that it could be moved to a location suitable for photography. After the piano was in place, and Willard House Trustees photographer Gavin Ashworth had positioned backdrops, lighting, and his rigidly mounted Mr.
    [Show full text]