The first in-depth study of Southern clockmakers and the magnificent artistry they brought to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century timepieces. Entitled Dixie Clockmakers, this volume traces the development of clockmaking and horological history below the Mason-Dixon line and documents the works of those artisans who designed and constructed some of the world’s finest timepieces. Author James W. Gibbs focuses primarily upon clockmaking in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, but attention also is given to eight other states. Included are some sixty photographs illustrating outstanding examples and details of Southern clockmaking. Dixie Clockmakers also lists every known clockmaker and watchmaker in the South during the two centuries, along with nomenclature common at the time, and advertisements used by individual craftsmen.

Mastered by the Clock is the first work to explore the evolution of clock-based time consciousness in the American South. Challenging traditional assumptions about the plantation economy's reliance on a premodern, nature-based conception of time, Mark M. Smith shows how and why southerners--particularly masters and their slaves--came to view the clock as a legitimate arbiter of time. Drawing on an extraordinary range of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century archival sources, Smith demonstrates that white southern slaveholders began to incorporate this new sense of time in the 1830s. Influenced by colonial merchants' fascination with time thrift, by a long-held familiarity with urban, public time, by the transport and market revolution in the South, and by their own qualified embrace of modernity, slaveowners began to purchase timepieces in growing numbers, adopting a clock-based conception of time and attempting in turn to instill a similar consciousness in their slaves. But, forbidden to own watches themselves, slaves did not internalize this idea to the same degree as their masters, and slaveholders found themselves dependent as much on the whip as on the clock when enforcing slaves' obedience to time. Ironically, Smith shows, freedom largely consolidated the dependence of masters as well as freedpeople on the clock.

This book is a full-color catalogue raisonne interprets the distinctive furniture made by John Shearer, one of the most accomplished and intriguing furniture makers during the post-Revolutionary period. Shearer emigrated from Scotland in the late 18th century and retained loyalist sympathies throughout his life, evidenced by the imagery and inscriptions sympathetic to various British causes_such as the suppression of the Irish rebellion in 1798 and the British victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805_that he worked into his furniture. Davison provides insight into the furniture's appeal to Anglo-American patrons, not secret loyalists, but men still culturally tied to Great Britain. Shearer's pieces are scattered among various collections, and many of them have been identified only in the last 25 years. This catalog is the only work in which all of Shearer's known pieces of furniture are presented in a single volume.

This free download is a fascinating and wide ranging study that offers many insights into American Tall Case Clock making in the Backcountry of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in the late 18th Century. This story informs those wanting to know more about antique tall case clocks (also known as longcase clocks, Grandfather clocks, floor clocks); Backcountry Early American furniture; how time was determined; culture and commerce; whether as a student, educator, casual collector or curious clock owner. Photographs in the body and addendum add value for inquisitive researchers. Each page - Splendid photographs and illustrations enhanced by brief narratives in laymen terms provide fascinating information about a group of five known tall clocks that were made in the Virginia Backcountry. The clocks genealogy is traced back to: Rome and Greece for the furniture case; Galileo for the pendulum; and England for the painted dial. Tap or click on a Hyperlink to go to online videos and references for further understanding about the Backcountry artisans and settlers, clock making, period furniture, painted dials, how a clock and pendulum works, clock setup and trouble shooting. Note: Not all Operating Systems recognize hyperlinks after Google processing deactivates them. In that case, search terms are provided for internet search. Enjoy the story! Recommended video links - Palladio, Chippendale, Galileo, How the escapement works, Four parts of a clock, and "The Clock that Changed the World."

As the North celebrated the end of the Civil War, the South mourned. It was about to enter a period of extreme turmoil--reconstruction. The authors trace that period that pervaded through 1866. 30 photos.

Previous editions titled: Genealogical books in print