Home bound almanacs
date: label: date made
content: 1734 - 1799
name: label: users
content: Copp Family
notes: label: Description
content: This object contains almanacs from 1733-1799, hand-bound together in brown corduroy. It was part of the library of the Copp family of Boston, Massachusetts and Stonington, Connecticut. This was the first of three bound volumes of Copp almanacs that extend into the nineteenth century (museum objects DL.00681.03 and DL.006861.04.)
label: Description
content: The almanac (archaically spelled almanack) spread valuable information during a time when newspapers were scarce. Their popularity with the public and low overhead made them attractive for publishers as well. While almanacs may be known for their farmer’s calendar or weather forecasts, they also served as calendars that marked holidays, feast days, and notable historic dates. The calendar also tracked the transit of celestial bodies and included related astrological guidance. Additional materials generally included literary extracts, poetry, a list of roads and their mileage to major cities, medical advice, cooking recipes, patent notices, rates of interest, short histories, political discussions, schedules of courts, and practical advice. The diversity of topics made the almanac useful for every strata of society, creating an early form of mainstream culture. Almanacs were often just sew together, but the Copp’s compiled these into bound volumes, speaking to its usefulness as a resource even years after they were published.
label: Description
content: This cloth-bound volume consists of a sequence of American almanacs for most of the years from 1733 through 1799. The identifiable almanacs include ones of Nathaniel Ames of Boston and his son of the same name (for 1734-1738, 1742-1756, 1759-1766, 1769,1771) and the Ames almanac for Connecticut for 1767 and 1768. There is also an almanac of Joseph Stafford of Boston for 1739, and some for Joseph Perry of New Haven (1772-1774). The volume also includes almanacs of Nathan Daboll of New London for 1775-1779, 1781-1782, 1785, 1787, 1790, and 1792-1799. Less well represented are John Anderson (1780), N. Strong of Hartford (1781), Isaac Bickerstaff (1783), publisher Joseph Crukshank of Philadelphia (1784, 1785), Eben W. Judd of Connecticut (1786), Andrew Beers of New York (1789), and J.N. Hutchins of New York (1791).
label: Description
content: Individual almanac title pages give the full title, contents, author’s name, publisher, and place of publication – a few of the title pages are missing. The objects have occasional light annotations in pen.
label: Description
content: The Copp Collection contains about 150 books of early American imprint and shows a wide range of reading matter typical of a New England Puritan family living in a port town. Literacy was expected of many New Englanders, as Puritan doctrine required everyone to read the Bible. The abundance of multiple Bibles, psalms, hymnodies, sermons, and morality tales reflects the Copp’s religious beliefs. Other highlights of the library include the works of Shakespeare, almanacs, historical and political texts, and travel narratives. The Copp Collection also contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New England
label: place used
content: United States: Connecticut, Stonington
topic: label: Subject
content: Bookbinding
label: Subject
content: Books
label: Subject
content: Calendar
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Copp Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John Brenton Copp
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.006861.02
label: accession number
content: 28810
label: catalog number
content: 6861.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: corduroy (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: linen (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/2 in x 10 in x 7 in; 6.35 cm x 25.4 cm x 17.78 cm