In this post I contrast two African-American watch meetings, one that heralded the year 1863, the other 1965. One perhaps was never held, but was powerfully depicted in a painting and circulated as a carte de visite, the other was recorded on twelve reel-to-reel audiotapes and never reproduced. As an historian of temporality, I am […]
Author: Alexis McCrossen
Alexis McCrossen is a professor of History at Southern Methodist University, where she teaches courses in the social and cultural history of the United States. She has published three books: Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday, Marking Modern Times: Clocks, Watches and Other Timekeepers in American Life, and as editor, Land of Necessity: Consumer Culture in the United States-Mexico Borderlands.
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Cafe, New Year’s Eve ca. 1910-1915
What hat will you wear to welcome 2016?
While transcribing entries from the private journal of a lifelong resident of North Carolina, William D. Valentine, I came across an 1845 entry that began, “Yesterday Christmas that holy anniversary of our Lord’s birth…” But instead of an account of merriment, prayers, and presents for the children, Valentine fulminated for pages that “it will long […]
With the annual turn of the civil calendar in the United States, temporal rituals in churches, public squares, civic spaces, and newspapers took shape that defined the nation as God-fearing, clock-oriented, and democratic. An array of practices associated with the turn of the calendar –such as rendering an account of the previous year, delivering and listening […]
On the eve of the United States’ Centennial Year, a notable number of people “made it their especial business to hear the New Year’s bells” at New York City’s Trinity Church. When the church opened its doors an hour before midnight December 31, 1875, the pews filled to capacity, leaving the aisles crowded with men […]