1 10 35 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/cf40ff01e7c5c2e3d1ba4e3342422191.gif 501792aa2f18db3a4f23a89f048aa91a https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/f539c02a2f0d26b4ba69ffc47de0151a.gif ce832d24e432eb48f1950f5961964d07 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/acfe6972b5d12b43ec7f2083bfda5b37.gif 776c54c56c4e8d46044a1fd3bfbdf0b8 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/e103a415a171d7d41274ea93a620a6b5.gif 15a700ff03bbc2fdb48c78a30af86dd9 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/43857936215c1a237878fea6fc36f23b.gif 9a30eedc1c8c16ed3a1bdf1b736c9852 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Most cultures exhibit a particular configuration or style. A single value or pattern of perceiving the world often leaves its stamp on several institutions in the society. Examples are "machismo" in Spanish-influenced cultures, "face" in Japanese culture, and "pollution by females" in some highland New Guinea cultures. Here Horace Miner demonstrates that "attitudes about the body" have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacirema society. 1151 words, not including notes [503 begins -&gt;] The anthropologist has become so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different people behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic customs. In fact, if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe. The point has, in fact, been expressed with respect to clan organization by Murdock (1949: 71).[2] In this light, the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go. ¶ 1 Professor Linton [3] first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago (1936: 326), but the culture of this people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east.... [4] ¶ 2 Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people's time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique. ¶ 3 The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls. ¶ 4 While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. I was able, however, to establish sufficient [504 begins -&gt;] rapport with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me. ¶ 5 The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm. ¶ 6 The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is placed in the charmbox of the household shrine. As these magical materials are specific for certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of the people are many, the charm-box is usually full to overflowing. The magical packets are so numerous that people forget what their purposes were and fear to use them again. While the natives are very vague on this point, we can only assume that the idea in retaining all the old magical materials is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body rituals are conducted, will in some way protect the worshiper. ¶ 7 Beneath the charm-box is a small font. Each day every member of the family, in succession, enters the shrine room, bows his head before the charm-box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font, and proceeds with a brief rite of ablution.[5] The holy waters are secured from the Water Temple of the community, where the priests conduct elaborate ceremonies to make the liquid ritually pure. ¶ 8 In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, and below the medicine men in prestige, are specialists whose designation is best translated as "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber. ¶ 9 The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact that these people are so punctilious [6] about care of the mouth, this rite involves a practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.[7] ¶ 10 In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year. These practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of [505 begins -&gt;] these objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client. The holy-mouth-man opens the client's mouth and, using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. If there are no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the supernatural substance can be applied. In the client's view, the purpose of these ministrations [8] is to arrest decay and to draw friends. The extremely sacred and traditional character of the rite is evident in the fact that the natives return to the holy-mouth-men year after year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to decay. ¶ 11 It is to be hoped that, when a thorough study of the Nacirema is made, there will be careful inquiry into the personality structure of these people. One has but to watch the gleam in the eye of a holy-mouth-man, as he jabs an awl into an exposed nerve, to suspect that a certain amount of sadism is involved. If this can be established, a very interesting pattern emerges, for most of the population shows definite masochistic tendencies. It was to these that Professor Linton referred in discussing a distinctive part of the daily body ritual which is performed only by men. This part of the rite includes scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument. Special women's rites are performed only four times during each lunar month, but what they lack in frequency is made up in barbarity. As part of this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour. The theoretically interesting point is that what seems to be a preponderantly masochistic people have developed sadistic specialists. ¶ 12 The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size. The more elaborate ceremonies required to treat very sick patients can only be performed at this temple. These ceremonies involve not only the thaumaturge [9] but a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the temple chambers in distinctive costume and headdress. ¶ 13 The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that it is phenomenal that a fair proportion of the really sick natives who enter the temple ever recover. Small children whose indoctrination is still incomplete have been known to resist attempts to take them to the temple because "that is where you go to die." Despite this fact, sick adults are not only willing but eager to undergo the protracted ritual purification, if they can afford to do so. No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift. ¶ 14 The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In everyday life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions. Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household shrine, where they are ritualized as part of the body-rites. Psychological shock results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso. A man, whose own wife has never seen him in an excre- [506 begins -&gt;] tory act, suddenly finds himself naked and assisted by a vestal maiden while he performs his natural functions into a sacred vessel. This sort of ceremonial treatment is necessitated by the fact that the excreta are used by a diviner to ascertain the course and nature of the client's sickness. Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men. ¶ 15 Few supplicants in the temple are well enough to do anything but lie on their hard beds. The daily ceremonies, like the rites of the holy-mouth-men, involve discomfort and torture. With ritual precision, the vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing ablutions, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained. At other times they insert magic wands in the supplicant's mouth or force him to eat substances which are supposed to be healing. From time to time the medicine men come to their clients and jab magically treated needles into their flesh. The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men. ¶ 16 There remains one other kind of practitioner, known as a "listener." This witch-doctor has the power to exorcise the devils that lodge in the heads of people who have been bewitched. The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children. Mothers are particularly suspected of putting a curse on children while teaching them the secret body rituals. The counter-magic of the witch-doctor is unusual in its lack of ritual. The patient simply tells the "listener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember. The memory displayed by the Nacirema in these exorcism sessions is truly remarkable. It is not uncommon for the patient to bemoan the rejection he felt upon being weaned as a babe, and a few individuals even see their troubles going back to the traumatic effects of their own birth. ¶ 17 In conclusion, mention must be made of certain practices which have their base in native esthetics but which depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body and its functions. There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. Still other rites are used to make women's breasts larger if they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation. A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hypermammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee. ¶ 18 Reference has already been made to the fact that excretory functions are ritualized, routinized, and relegated to secrecy. Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturi- [507 begins -&gt;] tion takes place in secret, without friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants. ¶ 19 Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves. But even such exotic customs as these take on real meaning when they are viewed with the insight provided by Malinowski [10] when he wrote (1948: 70): ¶ 20 Looking from far and above, from our high places of safety in the developed civilization, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of civilization.[11] ¶ 21 REFERENCES CITED Linton, Ralph 1936 The Study of Man. New York, D. Appleton-Century Co. Malinowsli, Bronislaw 1948 Magic, Science, and Religion. Glencoe, The Free Press. Murdock, George P. 1949 Social Structure. New York, The Macmillan Co. 1 From "Body Ritual among the Nacirema," American Anthropologist 58 (1956): 503-507. [Sourcetext as PDF: &lt;http://tinyurl.com/792mf5g&gt;.] Footnotes were added by Dowell. [BACK] 2 George Peter Murdock (1897-1985), famous ethnographer. [BACK] 3 Ralph Linton (1893-1953), best known for studies of enculturation (maintaining that all culture is learned rather than inherited; the process by which a society's culture is transmitted from one generation to the next), claiming culture is humanity's "social heredity." [BACK] 4 Missing text as follows: According to Nacirema mythology, their nation was originated by a culture hero, Notgnihsaw, who is otherwise known for two great feats of strength - the throwing of a piece of wampum across the river Pa-To-Mac and the chopping down of a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth resided. [BACK] 5 A washing or cleansing of the body or a part of the body. From the Latin abluere, to wash away. [BACK] 6 Marked by precise observance of the finer points of etiquette and formal conduct. [BACK] 7 It is worthy of note that since Prof. Miner's original research was conducted, the Nacirema have almost universally abandoned the natural bristles of their private mouth-rite in favor of oil-based polymerized synthetics. Additionally, the powders associated with this ritual have generally been semi-liquefied. Other updates to the Nacirema culture shall be eschewed in this document for the sake of parsimony. [BACK] 8 Tending to religious or other important functions. [BACK] 9 A miracle-worker. [BACK] 10 Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), famous cultural anthropologist best known for his argument that people everywhere share common biological and psychological needs and that the function of all cultural institutions is to fulfill such needs; the nature of the institution is determined by its function. [BACK] 11 Did you get it? In any case, try analyzing Malinowski's statement in the context of what has come to be known as [Aurthur C.] "Clarke's Third Law": "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." [BACK] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" Description An account of the resource For the best reading experience, it is advised that the reader simply dive right in with only this bit of context–"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" was originally published as an article within an anthropology journal. Keep that fact in mind as you read, and take everything at face value the first time around. Hopefully this will give you the reading experience that the author intended, and you will only fully realize its satirical nature towards the end of the piece. Only upon second and further readings does Miner's careful criticism of anthropological articles fully shine through, forcing the reader to examine how they view journals about the "other" by reflecting on the self. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived https://msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html Subject The topic of the resource Anthropology Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Article Language A language of the resource English https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/05d38c5a90ef057572b756b6b713a232.jpeg adf91c9d4e548b0aece60ff5cae86298 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/533ccc4ecdb6e75ec6e4271accfe68dd.jpg cc76d2d1614dd58fb65f3502bcce657c https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/60026e587d3cdec8c6fc1f1be692c276.jpg 863e9f2238a10196dfcd53041b64c424 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/cbd50cf83160bd5826fcdcc8eda1020c.jpg 58359c25427f4261b30188bd34dcb73e https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/b97602283f1c58232cc8deb545e185a0.jpg 8ed7ea10e74eb4615e8baa5fd821f12c https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/4ff5da4e6a802799282c23d883ba6098.jpg ae4252d1b0c4eb7ec970d10c00d56c9e https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/c8cbd6f0372070e75fe841dd7e70f513.jpg 54debc87183f5788ba2236dd3356f4d4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/48822c0e157f32fe7a8868cc0f4a441f.jpg 3360f18f34036ae56dc71fbcb078b264 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/179ebd488e6dc4dabee9dc81c8a1b72f.jpg 073ff84a4b4c1bc8bf6d1f3b4a986131 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/bbf8e52a30b00d22353d6cadd40613eb.jpg ccc73995b59dac0952584720d8680bf7 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/b703ba33b59eea64801e2483843225b0.pdf a205867212a7698c9af2b12d543b1636 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "St. Paul Church, Cambridge, Mass. - Description, Exterior and Interior" Subject The topic of the resource St. Paul's Catholic Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts Description An account of the resource This booklet is a printed copy of an account of details of the building of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, currently located at the corner of Bow and Arrow Streets in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The new church building opened on Easter Sunday in 1923. This description of the details of the building was written by Rev. John J. Ryan, the pastor of St. Paul’s at the time, and printed for the dedication of the new church on October 13, 1924. In the foreword, Fr. Ryan writes that this booklet was published for the “inquiring public” at the “expressed wish” of William Henry Cardinal O’Connell, the Archbishop of Boston. Fr. Ryan notes that “the assurance of a booklet, explanatory of everything to be seen in their church, was welcome with joyous satisfaction” by parishioners and visitors of St. Paul’s. The booklet contains descriptions of the architectural and artistic features of the church, including the exterior style and location, the bas-relief of the Ascension above the embellished altar, the scenes portrayed in paintings around the church, the saints represented in stained-glass windows and statues, the design of the Stations of the Cross, and more. Fr. Ryan notes various things about the church, from practical aspects such as the dimensions of the interior and the estimate that “more than one million bricks were used in construction,” to more theological aspects of the church, such as the religious meanings of symbols and the statement that “St. Paul’s is the formal expression of an unqualified belief in revealed religion and the Divinity of Christ.” The text also features nine pages each with a black and white photograph of the church, distributed throughout. This copy of Fr. Ryan’s booklet is currently kept in the parish office at St. Paul’s. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fr. John J. Ryan Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. Paul's Catholic Church Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource October 13, 1924 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Ink on paper, 48 pages 8 1/2 x 11 x 1/8 in. (21.6 x 27.9 x 0.3 cm) Language A language of the resource English https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/c559e0bde9b828d78a9a5ffe6b9d2bc4.pdf 218d05f5d1a69e6f269e25c038f20a64 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (1888) by W.B. Yeats Subject The topic of the resource Poetry Description An account of the resource "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Yeats is a ballade-like poem. Each stanza has three lines in hexamater with a caesura after the third foot and a fourth line in tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is ABAB for each stanza. The most pithy summary of the poem is that the speaker imagines a bucolic existence on an uninhabited island (Innisfree). It is his place of loneliness, which he thinks of as he stands in the middle of a city. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource William Butler Yeats Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1888 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Word Document Type The nature or genre of the resource Poem https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/d38080d29b31e900ebcf40a518af5181.jpeg bfa0e822a5d27b70e4464ffe86d9e98e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Original cover of <em>To Arcadia</em> https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/4694912e1806b4b1d93e2849b1f60e29.jpeg 90c8730d676783e13f2981c6f79f6afc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Subject The topic of the resource Part of a passage I transcribed, with my annotations and emendations https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/0ab999f34dcc6f9d6726285ef0304456.jpeg da0858041cb4001d9388835fd11cff3e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Autograph and note in the front page Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>To Arcadia</em> Subject The topic of the resource Death, love, memory Description An account of the resource <p>L.B. Zelk, a senior studying Philosophy at Yale University, is a prolific writer for an undergraduate, having written two books and submitted several poems for publication. In this exhibit is an edited excerpt from his second book, <em>To Arcadia, </em>a collection of aphorisms, short stories, and poems, inter-connected by themes of death, love, and memory. <br /><br /></p> <p></p> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource L.B. Zelk Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived To Arcadia Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available L.B. Zelk Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 2018 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bin Kwon Relation A related resource To Arcadia Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Print, 8 1/2 in x 11 in https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/09a300ab6907ece4c56e290a235c5370.pdf c64a95aa913b2a837d3c684353d5ccd4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A creative transcription of Fokine's figures. Subject The topic of the resource Choreographic notation Description An account of the resource In this textual transcription I utilized a derivation of the choreographic notation in Feuillet’s 1701 work Chorégraphie, ou L'art de décrire la dance par caracteres in order to convert Fokine's figures into a textual format. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Caroline Conway Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Houghton Library https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/22431bb5e1f1c5f59eeacf7184ecd8d7.JPG a3de59d5f7e203dd224bd27f3193cde3 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/1df7a11dd2e3d1066fa57ebada110461.JPG 0399db492d82bb84fc8cf98375fe0af8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Adorno's Aesthetic Theory Seminar #2 Subject The topic of the resource Adorno's Aesthetic Theory; Dialectic Description An account of the resource Lecture notes from Adorno's Aesthetic Theory seminar #2 on the topics of Hegelian dialectics and negative dialectics Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brianni Lee Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2/6/2019 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Hand-written note Language A language of the resource English https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/ec4bedfdd778d4b40c219073fa64da6c.png 8696ae7704469f288ce2444b6e74c281 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autograph letter signed, dated Godmersham, 20-22 June 1808, to Cassandra Austen Description An account of the resource My final project text is a letter written by Jane Austen. Officially titled “Autograph letter signed, dated Godmersham, 20-22 June 1808, to Cassandra Austen”, this letter can be found at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. Purchased by J.P. Morgan from a New York dealer in 1920, this letter is part of a $3000 collection of 41 letters and two prints. This letter is personally significant to me because of the context in which I discovered Jane Austen’s writing. On a whim, during my freshman spring here, I decided to take an English class at Harvard that centered around Jane Austen and fandoms. This class ended up being my favorite class of the semester, and it inspired me to study English in a more formal capacity and take more classes in pursuit of an English secondary, in addition to making Jane Austen my new favorite author. One day, this class visited the Houghton, and we saw replicas of Jane Austen’s original letters. Something that I immediately noticed was how every single inch of the paper was used in her letters. The techniques used—from the cross-writing to the style of folding—made it such that a singular sheet of paper could be used as the envelope itself. These techniques, although no longer used in present-day, are interesting to analyze simply because they can provide the reader some context as to the availability of paper and the importance of space in writing at the time. I chose this specific letter from the Morgan Library and Museum because, this letter is an original cross-written Austen, whereas the letters at the Houghton are either authentic or cross-written but not both. In the future, this text may continue to be incredibly important, or it may fall out of relevance. Ultimately, this will depend on both how relevant of an author Jane Austen continues to be and on how many people know of the existence of this text. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Photo = property of the Morgan Library and Museum Subject The topic of the resource Literature/Letters Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jane Austen Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1808 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Digital (original in print at museum), roughly legal size (8.5x14") Language A language of the resource English https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/9261f620e67ee9a59e5958a40ca7cbf9.png 60959d2aa9a30485567b5db99a598f1b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bin's Comment Subject The topic of the resource Bin's comment Description An account of the resource Bin's comment on the transcription of "Adorno's Aesthetic Theory" lecture notes Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bin Kwon Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 11/8/2019 Language A language of the resource English https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/df6bba1705116c8f0cb7069ef9ff185e.png 5aa1b52bc2d9debaecebb993681d5c2d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Choreographic notation for Le Dieu Bleu Subject The topic of the resource Choreographic notation Description An account of the resource This text was created by esteemed choreographer Michel Fokine in order to preserve the nontraditional poses of his original ballet Le Dieu Bleu. Fokine choreographed Le Dieu Bleu for the Paris-based Russian ballet company, Ballet Russes, premiering the work on May 13, 1912. Ballet Russes was internationally recognized for its groundbreaking choreography and avant-garde interpretation of classical ballet. The company was largely comprised of Russian dancers and artists fleeing the conservatism of the Russian art scene for the freedom of expression that Paris allowed. Fokine similarly found his creativity to be stifled as a young dancer in Saint Petersberg’s Imperial Ballet Academy, and he transitioned to choreographing pieces abroad in order to find a more receptive audience for his reinterpretation of ballet. Fokine’s term as choreographer-in-residence for Ballet Russes marked a period of great experimentation for Fokine and the company, catalyzing a Parisian renaissance of ballet. In this text one can see Fokine’s attempts to move past the classical definition of ballet in Le Dieu Bleu. Whereas every step in the ballet canon corresponds to a specifically defined French term, Fokine’s unusual poses must be represented by drawn human silhouettes. Each silhouette in the text corresponds to a number, and each pose would have been taught to the dancers as corresponding to this numbered count in the music. Thus, this text can be directly translated into a phrase of movement. The translation of movement into text was made by Fokine in order to preserve his choreography for future stages of La Dieu Bleu. This transition from dance described in French terminology to figures can be equated to a transition from a modern alphabetic system to a more ancient logographic system, in which a figure corresponds to a certain pose. In Fokine’s transition from classical choreography, which comes complete with its own language, to modern choreography, one can see the attempt to recreate a language of movement from the very beginning. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michel Fokine Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Currently stored in the Harvard Fine Arts Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Spring of 1912 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 1 page of modern paper with notation in black pen Language A language of the resource French https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/4f93e6acc811a895460d06032fbdd5b9.pdf 16f9f2a71a8664ce33ccb7f3fc1e6db8 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/c9e9a823e32759128ba09a822f986f2d.png e650dfd662af504c4299c6c0ba412242 https://s3.amazonaws.com/atg-prod-oaas-files/gened-1034-19/original/0277f571f64c72a5037234ed435e4992.png 5863832145a3736376ff29c8c4bb2619 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Home and Outside Description An account of the resource This is a poem by my grandfather, Ganpatsingh Bhandari. He writes and shares his poems over WhatsApp, where I first read this poem. He writes in Hindi. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ganpatsingh Bhandari Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource October 2019 Language A language of the resource Hindi Type The nature or genre of the resource Poetry