Colonizing the Mind: The Library as a Site for Colonial American Identity Formation

The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and his Junto, served as the impetus for society libraries across colonial America. While inspiring ubiquitous learning, the Library Company also reinforced the English language in linguistically diverse Philadelphia. Furthermore, the Company emblematically displayed ownership of a new land and developed an idealized concept of what it meant to be a Pennsylvanian society through their cabinet of curiosities—all while cultivating the organization's reputation within the colonial press. The Library Company, therefore, utilized language and material/visual culture to navigate individual and community identity in a decidedly unstructured atmosphere—the period shortly before the complete onset of American nationalism. The process of "becoming American," the development of an identity tied to a specific location that emphases class mobility and self creation while also differentiating itself from other societies, is enumerated through the study of these linguistic and cultural manipulations.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Department dc:contributor.department

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Cook, Emily Katherine

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Shifflett, Crandall A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ekirch, A. Roger
• Purcell, Aaron D.

• Library Company
• Colonial Libraries
• becoming American
• Philadelphia

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-04122009-231335

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/31693