COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 43, NO. 47 FRIDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2012
Thanksgiving - A Time For Collecting Memories, And Memorabilia Excerpted from “Thanksgiving: An Illustrated History” by John Wesley Thomas and Sandra Lynn Thomas, published by Schiffer. (www.schifferbooks.com). More than 700 illustrated newspapers, magazine covers, postcards, and prints trace the holiday’s history - from the Pilgrims’ first observance to the present.
To most Americans, the very mention of Thanksgiving brings back nostalgic memories of homecomings and family gatherings set around the traditional repast of
hanksgiving is the oldest American holiday and, for many, the most cherished. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, since the 300th Anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in 1921, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has staged an annual reenactment of the inaugural events of Thanksgiving. For over ninety years, a select group of men, women, and children, dressed as Pilgrims, march to Burial Hill (the site of the first fort) in honor of their ancestors who died seeking religious freedom. After a prayer and sermon, this group of townspeople, in maintain-
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Artist: J. Scott Williams. The Delineator, New York City (1873-1937), November 1925.
ing the customs of their forefathers, then marches down Leyden Street to Pilgrim Rock. (The authors spent Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1999 compiling facts for their first book and witnessing, for themselves, the Pilgrims reenactment march). Today’s continuing research into the genesis of Thanksgiving has produced new books that have been instrumental in slowly changing some of the embellished images that Americans have of this first holiday. New interpretations of original primary source documents such as Mourt’s Relation, a written firsthand report that detailed certain observations surrounding the origination and setting of the first Thanksgiving, indicate that the 1621 feast was not so much a gustatory celebration as it was a communal gathering of the Pilgrims and local Indians to forge a diplomatic concordance. The very few works that contained factual evidence of the first Thanksgiving, an event lasting three days, have always been subject to interpretations from generations of scholars. In this regard history of this festival cannot be considered as an impregnable, inviolate episode. Therefore, future historians do have a mandate to continue to critically pursue investigations into the circumstances that still bind Americans today as not only a means by which to offer thanks for our country’s many virtues but also to share with family and friends a thankful repast.
Maria Child (1802-1880). This remarkable woman in her time was a
Revolution, the rather slow evolution of the American press began to expand due to the growing public appetite for the printed word resulting from the less restrictive and a more secular literary environment - based on the supply of practical and useful information. Technological printing and paper making innovation matured to a level that now was about to fundamentally transform how newspaper publishers would have to approach their readers in terms of added eye appeal as a way to increase sales. The transformation of using paper made from inexpensive wood pulp instead of linen fiber, the use of the Fourdrinier machine to produce a continuous roll of paper all permitted newspaper publishers to spend substantial funds to hire artists to put pictures on paper to go along with the written words. Therefore in the Cover of magazine Good Housekeeping, November, 1919. Designed by artist Jesse Wilcox Smith. period around 1850 there singsong poem that is familiar to was a simultaneous introduction in most children. (“Over the river, both England and the United and through the wood, to States of a new form of publicaGrandfather’s house we go…” tion….The Illustrated Newspaper. etc.) Both Frank Leslie’s Illustrated After the American (Continued on page 2)
Capper’s Farmer, November 1935. Artist: Welvetrees.
Roast Turkey, vegetables of the season and pumpkin pie. To complete this family circle, there was no better set of words to express these sentiments than that of the immortal poem of Lydia
novelist, an abolitionist, women’s rights advocate and social reformer. L. Maria Child had also written for children and in one of The Saturday Evening Post, November 24, 1928. “Thanksgiving: 1628 to her volumes of Flowers for 1928.” This iconic and frequently duplicated painting represents artist J.C. Children she penned a 12-verse Leyendecker at the apex of his career as an illustrator.