The Rose: or Affection’s Gift for 1847: History, Culture and Society as Relating to the American Gift Book

Abstract

For the final project in ART 382: The Art and History of the Book, I was required to write an essay based on original research I completed on a book from Goucher’s Special Collections and Archives. What intrigued me about the project was the fact that my chosen book would be one with no previous research. As an art history major, this project provided me with an opportunity to acquaint myself with the process of original research, and with the multiplicity of resources found in the Goucher College Library. During the two months I spent researching The Rose: or Affection’s Gift for 1847, I utilized a variety of library resources. To begin with, my chosen book’s placement in Special Collections and Archives necessitated that I spend time there exploring my primary source; reading excerpts and examining everything from the engravings, paper type and type face, to the publication information, binding and cover. While working in Special Collections, I also discovered the wide range of reference materials kept there, including Bamber Gascoigne’s How to Identify Prints, a text that was instrumental in determining the type of illustrations in The Rose. In addition to the resources in Special Collections and Archives, I also took advantage of the library’s more prevalent resources, including texts from the general collection, articles found on databases such as JSTOR, and books received through Interlibrary Loan, all of which provided me with a vast array of information regarding my topic of study; American gift books in the 1800’s. Overall, the resources in Goucher’s library played an intrinsic role in shaping and developing both my preliminary research and final essay. Having access to such a 3 wide variety of sources proved instrumental to writing a comprehensive essay on a previously un-researched text, and also helped me to explore the many facets of original research, allowing me to develop a greater appreciation for the effort and perseverance required to complete such a project.