The phrase Antiques and Horribles appears in a wonderful essay about Town Clerks in Ways to Do Things, by Sarah Orne Jewett, in which she talks about what is important to write down for history, if you were to become a Town Clerk, "You won't care to know that the Fourth of July, 1884, was a pleasant day, but you will care to remind yourself that you were this figure or that in the Antiques and Horribles."
From Notes on Jewett's writing, by Terry Heller:
The Antiques and Horribles was once a common part of the celebration of the American Independence Day on July 4. It consisted of a procession of masked and costumed figures, often including Uncle Sam, the Yankee cartoon figure dressed in top-hat, stars and stripes often used to graphically represent the United States. Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) observes in her essay, "How to Celebrate the Fourth of July": "Removing to Boston some ten years later, I found the night of the third of July rendered almost sleepless by the shrill gamut of gunpowder discharges. The ringing of bells and the booming of cannon destroyed the last chance of an early morning nap, and in self-defense most people left their beds and went forth to see what could be seen. This was some-times a mock procession of the Antiques and Horribles, so called in parody of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, so well known in and about Boston."
4 comments:
Postings from 1909 are mildly interesting but what is more interesting is the question of why the blogger is continually posting historical items from one specific year 1909? It appears as if he is doing some sort of research project and making the assumption that everyone else is as interested in it as he is.
I am glad to know they are mildly interesting, and happy to tell you I am not doing 'some sort of a research project.'
Each week I look in 1759, 1809, 1859, 1909, and 1959 for something that I think might be interesting to readers on the same date in 2009. If I had unlimited time, I would look in the Penny Press, and any other newspapers which covered Middletown during those days of old. Unfortunately, the only easy to search on-line database is the Historical Backfiles of the Hartford Courant, which I have access to through Wesleyan.
In those backfiles, there have been very few articles from 1859 or earlier which I found worthy of transcribing, and only one article from 1959. How much of this is a result of the database organization (1909 has by far the largest number of articles), how much is related to the importance of Middletown to the publishers of the Hartford Courant, and how much stems from my own personal idiosyncrasies, I do not know.
As to the latter, I find 1909 to be fascinating because it is distant enough to be distinct from our era, and yet many of us knew people who were alive then (3 of my grandparents were alive in 1909, and one of them told me stories of things he did then). Our city was a vibrant place of manufacturing, merchants, immigrants, and farming. The buildings and streets would be recognizable to us, but day to day life was quite different. The news was about prominent families from the original Protestant settlers, about Italian immigrants, and even about "Indian Tribes". There were events of national importance in Middletown (in the fall of 1909, the President of the U.S. spent most of a day in our city), but mostly there were stories of people and events we can relate to.
These ordinary newspaper stories about Middletown of long ago connect me to our city in an important way. It helps my Middletown roots grow: just like those whose parents and grandparents have been life-long Middletown residents, I too know stories about our city.
If you have stories about other years to share, I would be happy to post them.
WOW, what a jammed packed site. I really like this post though, because it taught me something about the 4th of July that I didn't know.
Antiques and Horribles - indeed! and it made me smile too...
Thanks
Martin
Yes this is a great site. Good work Ed
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