American Antiquarian Society

“ Translated and applied to the illustrations of similar Remains in England, by WILLIAM J. THOMS, F.S.A., Secretary of the Camden Society. With numerous Woodcuts. 8vo. 10s. 6d.
"The best antiquarian handbook we have ever met with—so clear is its arrangement, and so well and so plainly is each subject illustrated by well-executed engravings.... It is the joint production of two men who have already distinguished themselves as authors and antiquarians."—Morning Herald. ”

“ Those who have hitherto paid no attention to antiquarian pursuits, or may have treated with contempt what appeared to them the useless or speculative labours of the antiquary, may, it is hoped, be taught that his object is, in its way, of as high a reach as that of others who are allowed to be worthy labourers in the field of history. ”

“ For the student of manners, and of the old language and literature, it has much interest of a purely antiquarian order. To say of an ancient literary composition that it has an antiquarian interest, often means that it has no distinct aesthetic interest for the reader of to-day. Antiquarianism, by a purely historical effort, by putting its object in perspective, and setting the reader in a certain point of view, from which what gave pleasure to the past is pleasurable for him also, may often add greatly to the charm we receive from ancient literature. ”

“ You, as an Archæological Society, should endeavour to remedy this state of things. The great object of antiquarian research should be, to supply the want we now feel in regard to our history. We hear a great deal of the instruction of the million, about which everybody is mad nowadays. ”

“ The numerous societies established of late years all over the kingdom, for the express purpose of advancing these objects, are a proof of the value that is now being attributed to such inquiries, while the spirit in which they are conducted tends to elevate antiquarian studies far above the character which they formerly had of mere learned but unprofitable trifling. ”

“ VI. RELICS OF ABORIGINAL ART IN WESTERN NEW-YORK.
[Antique insignia, amulets, implements and ornaments.]
It will tend to render the work of antiquarian examination exact, and facilitate comparison, if names descriptive of the general classes and species of each object of archæological inquiry be introduced. No science can advance if the terms and definitions of it be left vague. The mere inception of this design is here announced; it is not proposed, at present, to do more than submit a few specimens from a large number of antiquarian articles, the result of many years’ accumulation. ”

“ Besides the antiquarian relics of a visible and tangible form to which I have adverted, as demanding investigation and collection on our part, there are various antiquarian relics of a non-material type in Scottish Archæology which this Society might perhaps do much to collect and preserve, through the agency of active committees, and the assistance of many of our countrymen, who, I doubt not, could be easily incited to assist us in the required work. ”

“ The pursuit of antiquarianism has always flourished in England since her inhabitants have enjoyed sufficient culture to be aware that they possessed a past. Even the poetry of Layamon is in a certain measure antiquarian, and Chaucer, Spenser, Milton appear progressively more and more leavened with antiquarian sentiment, which, as a factor of literary inspiration, attains perhaps its highest conceivable development in the works of Robert Burton and Sir Thomas Browne. The Restoration period produced no such examples of antiquarian men of genius ”

“ There have been imputations cast upon societies like this, and some degree of ridicule has been thrown upon the objects which they have in view. Now this arises from a mistake existing in the minds of many as to what are the objects of antiquarian research, and what are its true purposes. It is not for the mere collection of the remains of antiquity or archæological curiosities,—for this would only be an amusement, if attended with nothing else. The real merit of archæology is, that it elucidates the history of the country ”

“ Nevertheless, accident may make an Antiquary, as good as another, out of anybody whose boyish education has given him, willy nilly, some knowledge of the elder world. Let him be thrown, for example, in early manhood, much into lands whose ancient monuments conspicuously exalt the past at the expense of the present. The necessary curiosity can grow within him, disposing his mind to study antiquarian detail as a duty, and, in time, a pleasure; and through apprenticeship he may learn and love the trade to which he was not born. ”

“ The first consequence of this is that we become able to make the largest and most general comparison of human conditions which has ever been possible to humanity, nor does this [Pg 25] ability regard the present alone. The unveiling of the treasures of the past, the interpretation of its experience and doctrine which we owe to the scholar and archæologist, enable us to compare remote antiquity with the things of the last minute. The work of antiquarian science culminates in the discovery of the prehistoric man. ”

“ Considering the value of their collections and the difficulty and expense which often has attended their acquisition, it may most truly be affirmed that they have generally manifested a most liberal desire to make them known, and instrumental in forwarding the great objects which antiquarian pursuits are intended and are so peculiarly calculated to advance. ”

“ Some people seem to think that paying a subscription to an Antiquarian Society makes one a fully qualified antiquarian, just as some people fancy that being a Royal Academician makes one a good painter. ”

“ The antiquarian is provided with an ample supply for the spirit of research in the legends, the brasses, the ruins, and above all, in the claim it sets forth of resting its pretensions on a far-gone antiquity: while the ignorant and superstitious find all their wishes satisfied in the relics, the charms, the pilgrimages, the holy coats, the miracles, and the whole tissue of fanatical deception with which the system abounds. ”

“ In our islands, as well as on the Continent, as antiquarian zeal became more widely diffused, the need of organized effort was felt; and, side by side with the leading academies—the Society of Antiquaries, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and the Cambrian Archaeological Association—local societies were gradually formed in every important provincial town. ”

“ Fewkes, J. W. American Anthropologist, vol. 10, n. s., p. 390. Southwestern Kivas. 1908.
Fish-Hooks.
Brown, C. E. Wisconsin Archeologist, 1904, p. 83. 1904.
Flint and Chert.
Mercer, H. C. International Congress of Anthropology, p. 63. 1894.
Wright, G. F. Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Springfield, p. 296. 1895.
Seever, W. J. The Antiquarian, 1897, p. 141. Tennessee. 1897.
Snyder, J. F. The Antiquarian, 1897, p. 160. 1897.
Barrett, A. F. The Antiquarian, 1897, p. 252. New York. 1897.
Brooks, J. M. American Archæologist, 1898, p. 39. Missouri. 1898. ”

“ Such men are not genuine lovers of the antique. Their tastes are those of the common herd after all, though they make a great show and filch the reputation of true antiquarians, in the hope of thus distinguishing themselves from their fellows, ignorant as they are that what they secure is the name alone without the reality. The man whom I call a genuine antiquarian is he who studies the writings of the ancients, and strives to form himself upon their model though unable to greet them in the flesh ”

“ No casuist observer could have thought that the nine apparently light-headed and careless party who now wended their way to Blackheath Station, looking as if they were not up to anything in particular, were really an Antiquarian Society of the deepest dye. ”

“ Modern Societies. resulting from individual taste, and not from legal enforcement. Whatever good (it is very little) human nature is inclined to do spontaneously, it will probably do best. Antiquarian research has been ever but slenderly patronized by Government, but gratifies its promoters by emanating from their own volition. ”

“ Although the discovery of the general import of the hieroglyphics has by no means excited any great sensation in this country, yet the activity of the various collectors resident in Egypt seems to have been in some measure stimulated by it. Important additions have been made, or are about to be made, to the Egyptian department of the British Museum; and in France, the magnificent liberality of the Government, together with the insatiable curiosity of some affluent individuals, has held out ample encouragement to the commercial antiquarian. ”

“ This is especially true of the museum on the Acropolis. It is, however, also true of the other museums, and more obviously true of the reliefs [pg 57] upon the tombs. The assistance of an experienced Athenian antiquary is also required, who knows his way among the fragments, and who can tell the history of the discovery, and the theories of the purport of each. There are a good many men of ability and learning connected with the University of Athens, who describe each object in the antiquarian papers as it is discovered. ”

“ The primeval antiquities, to use a term which distinguishes the earliest period from that which is more recent, have essential characters assigned to them, and include all those massive structures of whose origin no authentic record has been obtained or discovered. The early antiquarian remains in these islands belong to a period connected with that which has usually been called British, Gaulish, Cymric, and Celtic, and were certainly the works of the primeval race which inhabited them. ”

“ All the markings and relics of man, in the dim and distant past, which industry and science can possibly extract from these and from other analogous sources, Archæology carefully collects, arranges, and generalises, stimulated by the fond hope that through such means she will yet gradually recover more and more of the earlier chronicles and lost annals of the human race, and of the various individual communities and families of that race.
The objects of antiquarian research embrace events and periods, many of which are placed within the era of written evidence ”

“ The unhappy complications in Eastern Europe of a few years ago have at least brought forth some good results to antiquarian research. Thessaly having been ceded to Greece, learned men at Athens are already taking steps for the preservation of any objects of interest whieh may be brought to light on that classic soil. ”

“ To this fact many a museum can bear ample testimony. The antiquarian enjoys intense satisfaction in his labors of research, and when he is rewarded by the discovery of something new, he is but stimulated to renewed exertion. In the old world rich fields have been, and are now being explored; and in the new laborers are not wanting. ”

“ It is very obvious that the Incas destroyed a grand and spacious temple here, which legend tells us was heavily adorned with silver and gold, to make way for one of their own dedicated to the worship of the sun. Who this race were and whence they came, with so considerable a system of civilization, is a theme which has long absorbed the speculative antiquarian. It is easy enough to construct theories which may meet the case, but it is difficult to support them when they are subjected to the cold arguments of reason and the test of known history. ”

“ This antiquarian society of garments, fit representatives to a stranger of the Bavaro-Hellenic kingdom of Otho the gleaner, and the three donative powers, informed me that it consisted of charioteers. Each member of the society speaking on his own account, and all at the same time—a circumstance I afterwards found not uncommon in other antiquarian and literary societies at Athens—asked me if I was going to Athens: εἰς Ἀθήνας was the phrase. ”

“ One of the most interesting objects of enquiry, with some antiquaries, is whether there are any ancient indications of Alphabetical writing in our continent. A small stone found in the Grave-Creek Mound, and others of a more doubtful character, are quite sufficient to awaken interest and stimulate enquiry.
A few specimens of rude sculpture and drawing have been found in different parts of the U. States; and shells, ornaments, &c., evidently brought from great distances. There may be others, known to individuals, of which antiquaries are not aware. ”

“ The antiquary of old was but, in many instances, "a gatherer of other men's stuff;" whereas the archæologist of the present day adds to the worth of antiquarian studies by placing their results in new lights, and thus extending the utility and amusement which they afford. ”

“ However much variety or novelty may add to the interest attached to antiquarian discoveries, it must never be forgotten that their scientific value is to be determined by the extent to which they can be made to enrich our knowledge of the past phases of human civilisation. ”

“ When in former times our ancestors thought of an antiquarian, they described him as occupied with coins and medals and Druids' stones. But now there are other relics; indeed all matter is become such. Man himself has to the eye of science become an antiquity. ”

“ While it is true that an antiquarian might be expected to know considerably less about some ancient avenues of human research than about old houses, it is surely conceivable that one who is steeped in the processes of research among the habitations of the human race might occasionally encounter a more abstruse mystery than the date of an ell or the source of a gambrel roof and find it possible to come to certain conclusions about it, no matter how incredible, how horrible or frightening or even—yes, damnable! ”