Figure 1: This image depicts the Jean Hasbrouck House, located on Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York. The focus of this image is aimed specifically towards the rich stone structure that this house is comprised of. This stone runs deep into the history of New Paltz and its surrounding towns through the ideas of wealth, culture, and representation.

Physical Description

The stone foundation of the Jean Hasbrouck House is comprised of many heavy stones of different sizes and shapes. Some stones are longer and skinner, while others are larger and wider. These thicker, larger stones are mainly placed in the corners of the foundation to give the house a strong and reliable structure. The skinner, longer stones are spread throughout the sides of the foundation. From looking at this house, the stones are not placed in a perfect line. This is due to their variance in shape, which differs from drawn diagrams found in architectural records. These stones, from a glance, appear to be sealed together using some sort of clay, or paste. This clay has hardened into a gray-white color. In some areas of the foundation, these stones exhibit different shades of gray and brown and make up walls that are two feet thick. The stone itself is rough and rigid to the touch, especially on the corners of the foundation.

Provenance

The stone foundation of the Jean Hasbrouck house dates back to the early 18th century, estimated between 1712 and 1720. The original stonemason and laborers who created this foundation are unknown, however, it is known that to create and build other aspects of the house, many laborers were needed. This included slaves Garret and James, inherited by Jacob from his father. Therefore, they may have possibly contributed to the construction of the advancements of the house in the future. The chain of ownership of this house is known information as well. The original owner of the Jean Hasbrouck house was in fact Jean Hasbrouck. While he had died in 1714, before the whole house had been built, there was some evidence of his original dwelling, which included a fireplace, as well as its south and west walls. From here, this house was passed down to his son Jacob Hasbrouck, who concluded the general construction of the house. Jacob then passed the house down to his son, Jacob Hasbrouck Jr. around 1761. Josiah Hasbrouck was next in line, modernizing the house around 1786. After Josiah died in 1821, the Tenant Era began between 1822-1886. During this time, Levi Hasbrouck rented out the home to tenants, but it was still owned by a Hasbrouck. The last Hasbrouck to own this house was Josiah Hasbrouck, Levi’s son. After the second Josiah, Jesse Elting bought the house in 1886, rented it to a tenant family, and eventually ended up selling it to Historic Huguenot Street in 1899.

Narrative

Limestone and Community Relations:

Upon further research into the specifics on the stone foundation of the Jean Hasbrouck house, a multitude of information regarding the history of New Paltz was uncovered. First of all, the specific kind of stone used in the foundation was limestone. This was often the preferred material used in building stone houses throughout New Paltz, as it was relatively easy to quarry and dress. This meant that it was easier to harvest, surface and shape than many other stone materials during this time. Not to mention, there were numerous outcroppings of limestone in Kingston, Hurley and Marbletown, which allowed for easier collection from field and homestead sites rather than importing stone from further areas. Limestone mines in New York were actually a leading contributor to the country’s move westward as well as industrialization efforts. The mining here in Ulster County even helped lead to the creation of some of the most widely known landmarks in America today, like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Washington Monument, and the Statue of Liberty. From this point on in New Paltz history, Kingston became a relied upon source for economic and social reference.

On a similar note, the stones were bound together using clay dug from pits along the Wallkill river and the exterior joints were sealed together using hard lime mortar. This reinforces the idea that many of the stone structures built in New Paltz and the surrounding areas relied heavily upon local sources of stone, clay and mortar, maintaining important relationships with neighboring towns to obtain these materials.

Wealth Disparity in New Paltz:

Stone houses became a staple structure in Ulster County, and some have been preserved and remain today in New Paltz. However, these stone houses represent much more than just a type of foundation and relationships between neighboring towns. Stone houses were actually staples of wealth and upper class here in New Paltz. Building stone houses was very costly and pretentious, and they were exclusively owned by the Huguenot patentee families. The only reason that New Paltz could afford to house many stone structures was due to the economic and social composition of its landowners, aka the Huguenots. Therefore, the Huguenots were extremely wealthy upon their settlement in Ulster County.

In the later half of the 18th century, New Paltz began to grow and diversify in terms of its economy as well as its culture. This also meant that the town’s structures followed suit. The buildings in New paltz around 1798 ranged in value from $1900 to 25 cents, where the stone houses costed much more than the wood and log houses. These log and wood houses belonged to the other ethnic groups and individuals of lower economic status compared to the Huguenots. However, something interesting about New Paltz is the idea that stone houses belonged to the wealthy folk, while in other areas throughout the United States, brick structures belonged to the wealthy folk. This says a lot about the difference in industrialized advancements in New Paltz compared to other areas around the United States. This might also suggest that while the Huguenots were considered extremely wealthy settlers, in other areas around the country, the Huguenots may have been perceived as a middle class candidate. This can also be compared to the United States as a whole today, regarding wealth disparity and the range of minimum wage per state. Therefore, even 3 centuries ago, wealth disparity was a leading issue among Americans just as it is today.

Dutch Culture in New Paltz:

Lastly, an important thing to think about when researching the history of a community is its culture. Before the Bevier, Crispell, Deyo, DuBois, Freer, Hasbrouck, and LeFevre families settled in New Paltz, the area was inhabited by Dutch folk, who were more conservative than progressive at the time. However, when these French families immigrated to the United States, they began implementing advancements through architecture. They did so in a way that would not dominate over Dutch culture, but emphasize its cultural separation and economic dominance. Therefore, stone was the material used to express power and permanence of the Dutch culture within New Paltz. Also, these settlers named their settlement “die Pfalz” which translates to New Paltz, therefore, giving this town its name today. Upon their arrival, the settlers began to embrace and learn about Dutch culture as well, originally speaking french, then Dutch, then english, and they even attended the Dutch Reformed Church. This emphasizes the richness of Dutch culture here in Ulster County, even in New Paltz in general.

Concluding Remarks

Overall, the stone foundation of the Jean Hasbrouck house is representative of many significant plot points throughout New paltz history. Not only does it represent a type of foundation found during the 18th century, but it represents strong connections between neighboring communities, self-sufficiency, wealth disparity, and representation of Dutch culture. These stone houses serve as a reminder of not only the past of New Paltz creation, but a token towards what is achievable in the future.

Citations

Crawford & Stearns Architects and Preservation Planners, and Neil Larson & Associates. Historic Structure Report: The Jean Hasbrouck House. 2002.

“Hasbrouck Family Association.” Historic Huguenot Street, http://www.huguenotstreet.org/hasbrouck. Accessed 17 May 2023.

Larson, Neil. “Stone Houses of New Paltz.” Neil Larson, 2014.

Levine, David. “Dive into the History of Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz.” Hudson Valley Magazine, 2 Nov. 2021, hvmag.com/life-style/history/huguenot-street-new-paltz/.

If there is one thing most people would not consider to be an object, it would be body parts. Naturally, individuals today will believe a body part to be living, or at least connected to a living being and therefore not an object. Personally, I believe that a body part should not be considered an object and is a heavy source for ethical debate. But what about transplant organs? Or even animal body parts? How does our use of these body parts ethically differ from how body parts may have been viewed during the 1800’s?

In Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, uses human body parts to construct his Creation. In multiple instances, Victor refers to body parts using an object-like connotation, like, “materials at present,” or, “my materials” (Shelley, 80). He also describes the body parts as, “lifeless clay” (Shelley 81). Lastly, Victor references the Creatures body parts when explaining the methods in which he obtained them, saying, “The dissecting room and the slaughter house furnished many of my materials” (Shelley 81). By referring to body parts in this manner, readers can infer that Victor views human body parts as objects. This piqued my interest due to the controversial topic of using human body parts, or any body parts to complete some sort of task. Therefore, I wanted to research the difference in ethics surrounding the use of body parts today, versus in the 1800s.

One of the first things that came to mind when thinking about the ethical use of body parts during the 1800s was grave robbing. Technically, the term for grave robbing during the 1800’s was body snatching. The full definition of body snatching is the, “act of secretly removing corpses from graves in order to sell them” (Rimer). This act was actually very common during the 1800’s, especially in the United States. Here, many medical schools required the use of cadavers for anatomical practices, but had limited methods of obtaining these bodies. In fact, the punishment for executed prisoners was dissection, leaving a negative stigma against donating your body to science and therefore, the supply for fresh cadavers dramatically decreased. (Meier) This lead to a surge of body snatchers, or in this case, “Resurrectionists,” who were recruited by medical institutions to dig up fresh cadavers and body parts necessary for experimentation. These Resurrectionists mainly worked during colder seasons so that these bodies, or, “stiffs” would remain preserved before being dug up (Rimer). Most of the bodies recovered in this way would be of a skinnier stature, so that the muscles on the bodies would be readily accessible and free from excess fat for medical students to dissect. Also, the preferred age of the body recovered would be around 16-20 years old (Rimer). Most records state that, “those submitted to the anatomists’ knife at a University were largely the bodies of recently deceased African Americans (both enslaved and free) who were grave-robbed for the school by hired professionals — known as Resurrectionists — in Baltimore, Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond, and elsewhere.” (Meier). Therefore, race and wealth also played a very important role in grave robbing during the 1800’s. Sometimes, women would be hired to pretend to be a relative of the corpse to claim the body for the Resurrectionists, relieving them of any troubles they might face in this process. In fact, these grave robbers were paid about $80 per corpse which is equivalent to $2100 today. (Rimer).

Authorities saw this as a moral issue and did not take much action against grave robbers, only sentencing them to a few years behind bars if anything. Some individuals began using different methods to protect their deceased family members since they could not rely on the authorities. these methods included caging up the graves, buying sturdier coffins, or even setting up a “coffin torpedo” which was a bomb set to go off if anyone forcefully pried the coffin open. (Rimer).

Surprisingly, for some states, “it took until the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries to pass acts outlawing medical grave robbing.” (Meier). Therefore, I can infer that during the 1800’s, most individuals, especially those studying medicine, barely felt any remorse for their methods in obtaining bodies, and these bodies were definitely treated like objects, whether that be in the remorseless dissecting of them, or the bartering of them for large sums of money. Thankfully today there are other methods that allow students to study the human anatomy and plenty of repercussions against grave robbery. However, we still face some issues today involving the testing of products on animals or animal cruelty, but that is a whole other source for ethical debate.

Relating these grave robbers back to Victor Frankenstein, we can see that Victor also took upon methods of grave robbery to complete his Creature. I think that Mary Shelley wanted to convey a very important message relating not only to the type of character Victor is, but also to the politics surrounding the ethics of grave robbery during the 1800’s. I believe that Victor represents what the readers would most likely assume to be the average human being, and that the Creature is supposed to represent this horrendous monster. However by the end of the novel it is clear that the one character that contains the most human-natured characteristics is the Creature. This allows readers to see Victor in a more monstrous sense, representing how humans as we know them are more monstrous than any monster. Therefore, painting humans out to be individuals that cause more harm for personal gain than any good. Therefore Mary Shelley is criticizing those who do use human carcasses for material gain, while also criticizing humanity in general.

Citations

Meier, Allison C. “Grave Robbing, Black Cemeteries, and the American Medical School.” JSTOR Daily, 2018, https://daily.jstor.org/grave-robbing-black-cemeteries-and-the-american-medical-school/.

Rimer, Julie. “Body Snatching in the 1800’s.” Cemetery Index, June 2022, https://cemeteryindex.com/wordpress/featured-cemeteries/mt-washington-cemetery/julie-rimer-historical-ramblings/body-snatching-in-the-1800s/#:~:text=Body%20snatching%20is%20a%20term,for%20dissection%20and%20anatomy%20lessons.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, et al. Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the Original 1818 Text. Broadview Press, 2012.

Hi everyone! These are two videos Maria and I would like you to watch before class on Friday! Enjoy and see you then!

When I was younger, and even until this day, my parents have always told me that I have an old soul. I definitely agree with them because even though technology might be really useful and convenient, I always wish I could’ve experienced my life without it. I am the type of person who prefers riding my bike into town during the summer, just walk around shops, never actually purchasing anything, to just enjoy my time outside. Thats why I was really excited for this experiment.

For my scrolling experiment, I realized that I needed to buy some art supplies that I was running low on, as well as a box to carry my supplies in. I immediately opened the Amazon app on my phone and began to scroll through my search of the specific art supplies I was looking for. It was very easy for me to find these items but I spent almost 2 hours trying to find the cheapest versions of these items. This actually made my experience very stressful because I was never satisfied with the price of my items. I had a bit of a different experience when searching for the art box online. I had a very specific image in mind of what I wanted, however, I am convinced that this design does not exist. Therefore, since I was shopping online, I had assumed that I could find it somewhere and spent hours looking to find nothing of the sort. Overall, my experience was okay at first, but eventually stressed me out too much and I had to stop.

For my browsing experiment, I was actually unable to go shopping until this Sunday because I had sprained my ankle unexpectedly. However, I had the perfect opportunity to document my experience from the honors trip to NYC. My friend Donnie and I had two goals during this trip: 1)Have the best day ever and 2)Find some sort of unreasonably large stuffed animal to comically bring back on the bus with us. To fulfill these goals, we went to many different places all over the city. Many of them, like the Disney Store, Line Friends, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Kinokuniya were way too expensive to actually purchase anything from, so we just enjoyed looking at all the cool things that we were really tempted to buy. I think that this really added to my positive experience because just looking at all of the cool items in the store was satisfying enough. (The price tags definitely prevented me from spending more than I did). But soon enough, we encountered a really small store called the, “Toy Store” and we did some browsing for funny and large stuffed animals. Most of the larger stuffed animals were over $70 and we immediately knew we weren’t going to be purchasing anything there. However, my favorite experience in this store was finding a really questionable looking Thor plushie. It was so unexpected that I burst out laughing and got yelled at in the store. I proceeded to run out the front door and down the street with my friend, laughing the entire way. This is one of my favorite memories from this trip. However, that isn’t all. I am also highly tempted by all of the street vendors that I make an effort to stop at every vendor to make them feel better about their artwork. Most of the pieces these artists made were already collecting in my room back home so I knew I shouldn’t purchase any. However, I found these handmade wire figures that were stunning to look at. I spent almost an hour at his stand just contemplating whether or not I wanted to spend $40 on a dragon and I caved. I have a very soft spot for cool decorations, but also posters, so I did end up buying some cool posters as well. Overall, I had an amazing day and barely stressed at all.

After completing both of these experiments, I can say that there are pros and cons to both browsing and scrolling. I definitely prefer browsing over scrolling any day, in hopes that I may have another story like the Thor one. However, I am a very busy person, who barely has enough time to complete homework, so how could I find the time to make it to these stores to just browse? I enjoy having the option to shop online when I need something urgently and cannot walk to the store to buy it. Especially because walking takes a while and I am not allowed to have my car on campus yet, so it is very inconvenient for me to shop in person. Also, when scrolling, it is much easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. I also notice that depending on what I am purchasing, I pay more attention to the money I spend online rather than the amount I spend in person. However, if I am shopping for clothes online, I do find myself spending more money than I plan on spending. When shopping in person, if I am paying with cash, I am very conscious of how much money I am spending, but when using a credit card, the black hole of overspending money starts to form. I noticed that while in the city I was tempted my many cheaper items that added up a bit, but I was still avoiding the more expensive items. (Something about physical price tags scares me). I also think that when shopping in person, I had lower expectations of finding anything specific and enjoyed the randomness that followed. But with online shopping, I stressed myself out way too much over trivial details I wanted on my art box. Overall, I just think that shopping in person is much more personable, unique and enjoyable than shopping online.

Now enjoy some pictures of the items mentioned in my trip!

Browsing V.S. Scrolling

The object that I have chosen for this blog post is a piece of world war 2 trench art that was handmade by my great grandfather’s brother. I was unable to bring these pieces of trench art to college with me, so I asked my family members to take the best photos they could to represent this object. My object is about 3-4 inches in diameter and about the same height as well. It takes the form of a short, hollow, cylindrical shape representing an ash tray of sorts. The general cylinder lies atop a thinner, but wider circular base that has many small holes punched into it. On the general cylinder shape, there are many holes punched into it, creating straight lines, arrow-like slanted lines, and even letters. These letters spell out the name of my great grandfathers brother, “B.J. SIMEONE”.

They also spell out the word, “ENGLAND,” as well as the number, “1944”. Finally, the last letters punched into the cylinder spell out the words, “U.S. NAVY”.

Towards the center of the object lies another hollow cylindrical shape that is about 1 inch in diameter and 2-3 inches in height. Towards the top of this cylinder lies two small holes directly across from each other. On the rim of the large cylinder lies a bent, coin-like shape that seems to be welded onto the cylinder rim. On the coin, there is a bird-like image and some letters that are hard to make out. This coin seems to be made of a copper-like material with a small layer of dust covering the surface of it. The cylindrical shape seems to be made of a metal-like material and is brown in color. There are several signs of both white and green patinas throughout my object as well. The object smells somewhat like metal as well.

On the bottom of my object, there are multiple engraved circles surrounding the outer edge and the very middle. There are also multiple engraved numbers and letters, none forming coherent words.

This is a picture of my great grandfathers brother. I am still unsure of his full name and only know minuscule details about him. However, I was able to obtain some information about my great grandfather that helped me figure out some information about B.J. Simeone. My family found these art pieces in our basement while cleaning out some older holiday decorations. The house that we live in used to belong to my great grandmother, Mary Simeone. Fun fact: we still get our water bills addressed to her in the mail! Anyways, Mary and her husband, Urbano Simeone, lived in this house before my family. The house used to be a one story ranch house, with horse stables and wells all throughout the property. My great grandfather, aka Urbano, planted a long row of berry trees along the driveway, and used to make wine in the cellar located in our basement. We even have these soaked wine barrels to this day! We think that Urbano and his family back in Italy used to own their own wine vineyard and he continued on the business here in the United States. He was originally born in Filetto, Italy on July 10th, 1914. He became a registered U.S. citizen after escaping from the rule of Benito Mussolini. From this information I can assume that his brother, B.J. was also born in Filetto, Italy and moved to the U.S. around the same time. In October of 1940, Urbano was drafted into the United States Navy to fight in the second world war, as well as his brother. B.J. was stationed in England in 1944 and had a hobby of creating trench art. This ashtray was one of the pieces he made, along with the picture frame holding his image and even a little wheelbarrow, which I will attach at the end of this post. All of his artwork was created using scraps found on the battlefield, like empty bullet shells. That would explain the serial numbers on the bottom of the ashtray, although I do not know enough about bullets to figure out the exact model. Therefore, the ashtray is made up of many different sized bullets that were welded together in the trenches. Also, the coin on the rim of the ashtray, upon further research, is called a UK Farthing coin and the small bird is a wren to represent one of the smallest birds in Britain. They are worth about $3.00 today, depending on the year located on the coin. Also, during 1944, England was a very active site for the war. Food and clothing were very sparse and rationed among the people. Bombings were very frequent and caused mass death and destruction throughout England. Therefore, I think my great grandfather and his brother must have had a very hard life while stationed in England and I find it extremely impressive that B.J. was able to create these amazing pieces of art.

After the war, these trench art pieces were passed onto Urbano when B.J. died, then passed onto Mary after Urbano died, and when she died, we inherited the house as well as these works. I also love these objects because the love for art is really strong on my fathers side of the family, and seeing these trench art pieces only verified that, and made me feel even closer to my ancestors.

Citations:

EmmaP. “The Wren on the Farthing.” Wash Your Language, 13 Oct. 2019, https://washyourlanguage.com/the-wren-on-the-farthing/#:~:text=The%20smallest%20of%20pre%2Ddecimal,a%20much%20more%20symbolic%20bird.

Morano, Johanna. Interview. 2023.

“We’re Giving You Access to Your History.” Join Ancestry, http://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/193959668:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=256bccedfc2ea1f52ba06b30c83ca82a&_phsrc=hgy48&_phstart=successSource.

My object for this assignment is a handmade souvenir from the first time I went to New York City. I have a hobby of collecting different kinds of handmade souvenirs when I go to new places, and this one of my favorites.

This souvenir is about 16 inches long, 20 inches tall and about half an inch wide. It is composed of a canvas-like base, secured to a wood-like frame by 38 silver staples. This frame contains 8 slots carved into each corner, is smooth to the touch, and is multiple shades of beige. The bare base is rough to the touch, almost like sandpaper, and is white in color. Multiple edges of this base are scuffed up due to years of wear and tear, and even contain traces of blue and black splattered paint. There is also the presence of a pear-like glob of black paint, which seems to have seeped onto the back of the canvas while the painting was wet. The backing of the canvas base is actually hair-like to the touch and softer compared to the rigid front. It is an off-white beige color. In the bottom left hand corner of the backing, the canvas has been torn to reveal a glimpse of the wooden frame beneath. On the top right corner, the canvas seems to be folded upwards and crushed into place. Also, the upper left corner has a looser piece of canvas that may not have been stapled down entirely before being sold.

On each of the four sides of the canvas, there are multiple spots where the paint has thinned or worn off. Here, You can see the bits of white canvas peeking out from underneath the heavy black paint. If you look closely, the pattern on the canvas resembles that of a grid, or collection of pixels on a computer screen.

When looking at the front of the souvenir, there is a vast image with many intricate details forming that of a painting. Even after years of use, the painting still smells like that of spray-paint. On the bottom of this painting, there are multiple colors like violet, pink, orange and yellow that create somewhat of a light reflection on water effect, just like the ocean during a sunset. These lines are streaky, as if a finger or paintbrush were used to smooth out the color gradient. This part of the painting also feels rough and rigid like sandpaper. In the middle of the painting, there is a black silhouette of a figure holding up a torch like object. It can be inferred that this represents the statue of Liberty. Around this statue lies a bright white glow, which is reflected in the “water” in the lower half of the painting. Behind the statue lies a bridge like structure, composed of many small blue and white lines, creating a grid-like pattern. These lines look as if they were created by a small palette knife. The bridge connects to an area that appears to be a cluster of buildings. These buildings have the same detailing as the bridge but are all presented in different sizes and shapes. Some are cylindrical, some are rectangular, and some resemble buildings like the Empire State Building and the One World Trade Center. These buildings also have a three dimensional texture outlining them. Across the top of the painting there is a rainbow streak in the sky, that looks as if a paper towel was swiped across it. It seems to represent some sort of galaxy above the city, where there are also a series of white splattered dots representing stars. Lastly, at the top of the painting, there are two north star like objects, one white in color with a pink background and the other with a blue background. There also lies a large circular, planet like figure in the upper left corner of the painting. This planet is rainbow in color with a patchy surface and a blue and pink outline. Overall, this painting is not only pleasant to look at, but represents an important memory in my life.