Difference between revisions of "Local Yokel's Straw Hat"
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==Historic Overview== | ==Historic Overview== | ||
| − | At the nineteenth century’s halfway point the American countryman dwelt contentedly on his own estate. Heir to the Revolution and beneficiary of American consolidation, he and his family gloried in the fruits of what earth they could cultivate with their own labor. (At least, that’s what the national identity liked to see when it looked at itself.) | + | At the nineteenth century’s halfway point the American countryman dwelt contentedly on his own estate. Heir to the Revolution and beneficiary of American consolidation, he and his family gloried in the fruits of what earth they could cultivate with their own labor. (At least, that’s what the national identity liked to see when it looked at itself.) But Walt Whitman’s “Open Road” of “the universe itself” beckoned, to those who wondered what was over the next hill. |
| − | + | Calvin Coolidge once wrote that country life was not broad, but it was deep. That was achieved through hard work in familiar places, guided by clear values. And those who lived it reported that it was invigorated by practical achievement. The nation's growing rail network would soon link farmsteads and great cities to California and the inland empire of the Great Lakes and the Great Plains. With the continent spanned, exploration now meant discovering the American interior. | |
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| − | Calvin Coolidge once wrote that country life was not broad, but it was deep. That was achieved through hard work in familiar places, guided by clear values. And those who lived it reported that it was invigorated by practical achievement. | ||
| − | |||
| − | The nation's growing rail network would soon link farmsteads and great cities to California and the inland empire of the Great Lakes and the Great Plains. With the continent spanned, exploration now meant discovering the American interior. | ||
–David Hammond | –David Hammond | ||
[[category:Tramp Headgear]] | [[category:Tramp Headgear]] | ||
Latest revision as of 17:51, 5 January 2010
Artifact Description
Straw Hat, Staw with cloth interior band. 20th century recreation of a 19th century design. Circumference:
tr.422.009.th
Historic Overview
At the nineteenth century’s halfway point the American countryman dwelt contentedly on his own estate. Heir to the Revolution and beneficiary of American consolidation, he and his family gloried in the fruits of what earth they could cultivate with their own labor. (At least, that’s what the national identity liked to see when it looked at itself.) But Walt Whitman’s “Open Road” of “the universe itself” beckoned, to those who wondered what was over the next hill.
Calvin Coolidge once wrote that country life was not broad, but it was deep. That was achieved through hard work in familiar places, guided by clear values. And those who lived it reported that it was invigorated by practical achievement. The nation's growing rail network would soon link farmsteads and great cities to California and the inland empire of the Great Lakes and the Great Plains. With the continent spanned, exploration now meant discovering the American interior. –David Hammond
