4,026 research outputs found
The Shaker Village
No full textThe Shaker faith is estimated to have had a total of fewer than 20,000 members across its 250-year history, yet more than 100,000 people visit the various Shaker villages and museums scattered across the eastern United States every year. We are still fascinated with the world of the Shakers, and authentic examples of Shaker architecture, furniture, and crafts are prized wherever they remain. In The Shaker Village, author and photographer Raymond Bial brings readers the history of the Shaker religion and an examination of the Shaker way of life, which was based on cooperation and self-sufficiency. Each Shaker village was built with the goal of creating a heaven on earth for its inhabitants. The Shaker people were among the first in America to apply science and new learning directly to traditional farming and homekeeping. They invented or improved significantly upon designs of many farm and household items, including some still used today: the flat broom, the slotted spoon, the circular saw, and the idea of selling gardening seeds in packets. Although each Shaker community was self-supporting, the Shakers’ success at applying their core values—simplicity, utility, and tranquility—carried Shaker villages to a point of abundance: they were able to export their beautiful furniture, delicious foods, and superior wares to the outside world, where they have been appreciated ever since. The Shaker Village is generously illustrated with Bial’s evocative photographs of buildings and artifacts from the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, one of the largest and best-preserved Shaker sites. The Shaker movement reached its peak in the mid-nineteenth century. Membership began to drop with the onset of the Civil War, and as the new promise of industrialization began to take hold in America, Shaker numbers steadily dwindled. Although the Shaker religion has all but departed, The Shaker Village captures a revelatory glimpse of a legacy that still resounds with modern Americans.
Raymond Bial has published more than eighty books of photographs, including Amish Home and Mist over the Mountains: Appalachia and Its People.
“Mirroring the simplicity and elegance of a Shaker chair, this book captures the sprit of a very special people. It is an eloquent introduction to the history and philosophy of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers. After relating the founding of the sect and discussing the ideals that guided (and still guide) the lives of its members, Bial details both dialing living and worship. His enthusiasm for his subject truly shines in his discussion of their workshops and marvelous creations, inventions, and innovations. With one look at the flat broom, clothes pins, oval boxes, furniture, and architecture, readers will fully understand the shaker belief that, \u27Anything may be called perfect which perfectly answers the purpose for which it was designed.’ The author’s exquisite full-color photographs, taken at The Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, reflect the clean lines of the people’s art and architecture as well as the order of their lives. —School Library Journal
“Similar in format to the author-photographer’s Amish Home, this handsome volume introduces the traditional Shaker way of life in a thoughtful text and well-composed, full-color photographs. Focusing on the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, the pictures show the buildings, fields, seeds, tools, and furniture of the people who live there. With no one in sight, the beautifully lit photos use the Shakers’ surrounding to express the integrity and simplicity of their ways. From the origins of the sect of their beliefs activities, clothing, inventiveness, skills, and humanity, the text describes the people as they lived, worked, and changed. To Bial’s credit, he’s made a book with as much integrity as his subject. —Booklist
“An appreciation of one of America’s most significant communal groups. Bial perfectly reflects the Shaker ideal of functional simplicity in his summation of the Shakers’ origins, mode of life, and devotion to productive work (their legacy includes such sensible inventions as the flat broom, the hay rake, and the slotted spoon as well as the clean-lined furniture that has come to command such high prices as to distress the few remaining Shakers.) Like his lucid text, the author’s beautifully composed, uncaptioned color photos—neatly framed in fine rule—have a grace and clarity that echo the Shakers’ open, light-filled buildings. An excellent introduction to a group whose ingenuity and striving for perfection have had an impact disproportionate to its small membership. —Kirkus Reviews
“Bial is a master at recreating the historical and philosophical contexts of the objects he photographs. Bial does justice to the community by devoting as much space to the Shakers’ religious beliefs as to their art and inventions. He shows how the simplicity of Shaker furniture grew out of the Shakers’ desire to live a plain life. —Greenbelt Interfaith News
“Bial tells the story of the Shaker people with straightforward language and remarkable photography. —The Manchester Enterprise
“For readers needing a reliable summary of Shaker belief and customs, this book will deliver—with beautiful views of Kentucky’s precious treasure: the restored Pleasant Hill. —Karl Lietzenmayer, Northern Kentucky Heritage
“Raymond Bial’s latest book offers a wonderful introduction to Shaker belief, history, and lifestyle. Highly recommended for all libraries. —Nancy Richey, WKU
“Anyone interested in the history of Shakers . . . should have this book. The book is an easy resource introduction for those who want to know more about the Shakers without having to read a long reference book. —The Harrodsburg Herald
“Though this is an excellent introductory volume for children or young adults, its appeal will not be limited by age. The familiar 18th-century Shaker song Tis a Gift To Be Simple\u27 ably describes this delightful book. Highly recommended. —Library Journal
“[Bial’s] eye for color, depth and contrast do an excellent job of capturing the life of the community. —Bowling Green Daily Newshttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_christian_denominations_and_sects/1005/thumbnail.jp
Raymond Williams and the limits of cultural materialism
No full textCultural materialism has become an influential discipline in recent
years, particularly so in 'Renaissance' studies, but also more generally in
'English', as well as departments defined as practising 'cultural' or
'communications' studies. The phrase is usually linked with the name of
Raymond Williams, but a cursory examination of Williams's own work
quickly establishes that it is a phrase he rarely uses, and only schematically
attempts to define. The thesis therefore takes the form of an investigation into
the way cultural materialism has come to be understood, by examining in
detail the trajectory of Raymond Williams's theoretical development, and how
his own engagement with various theoretical positions has helped to set
'limits' on the meaning of cultural materialism.
Chapters 1 and 2 deal with some of Williams's earliest work,
particularly Reading and Criticism, as a way of investigating how reasonable
it is to tag him as a 'Left-Leavisite', arguing that Leavis's undoubted
influence is resisted (though not entirely rejected) from a very early stage. The
first chapter considers in detail Leavis's work at Cambridge, the influence of
Eliot, and the significance of the 'Organic Community'. Chapter 2, which is
based around a comparative analysis of Williams's and Leavis's readings of
Dickens, argues that Williams rejects the 'organic community' in favour of his
'knowable community'. Chapters 4 and 5 deal with specific 'theoretical'
issues: the first, based around a reading of Terry Eagleton's critique of
Williams's use of the Marxist metaphor of 'base and superstructure', shows
some of the problems which arise from Williams's cultural model, as well as
suggesting refinements; the second deals with the influence of Volosinov's
theories on Williams. Chapter 6 comes out of Williams's readings of the
'Country-House' poems in The Country and the City, showing how his
practice of literary criticism relies on an acceptance of 'ideology' apparently
denied in his more 'theoretical' writings. This analysis is extended as a result
of investigations into the 'De L'Isle' manuscripts relating to the Penshurst
estate. Chapter 7 argues that it is possible to see the work of Fredric Jameson
as developing Williams's cultural materialism into Jameson's debates on
postmodernism.
In the Introduction and Conclusion, I have taken the opportunity to
look briefly at the activity of cultural materialism as it has developed since
Raymond Williams's death in 1988. The Introduction emphasizes what I see
to be important methodological differences between 'cultural materialism'
and 'new historicism'; the Conclusion deals with the continuing debate over
the value of a cultural materialist approach by considering the 'appropriation'
of Shakespeare
Raymond Gervais : 3 x 1
No full text"Raymond Gervais 3 X 1 traces and elucidates the important or little-known moments in the practice of Raymond Gervais, an artist who has explored the notion of the aural imagination since the mid 1970s. An erudite author, Gervais joins forces here with Nicole Gingras, a researcher and curator interested in what connects sound, image, and words. The first major publication on the work of a conceptual artist questioning whether thought is acoustic" -- p. [4] of cover
Special announcement from Raymond R. Best, Raymond R., Director of the Tule Lake camp, Japanese = 特別告示
No full textJapanese translation of a special announcement from Raymond R. Best, Raymond R., Director of the Tule Lake camp regarding permanent leave from the segregation center.The Kiyoshi Uyekawa Tule Lake Camp Collection comprises of the wartime publications collected by Kiyoshi Uyekawa while incarcerated in the Tule Lake camp, such as Tule Lake newsletters and bulletins, materials issued by the Pro-Japanese group, Sokoku Hoshidan (or Hoshi Dan), WRA publications, his family's incarceration documents, which include documents regarding his and his wife, Mitsuye‘s repatriation, his fictional works’ manuscripts, bulletins and manuscripts of haiku poems authored by the members of the haiku societies incarcerated in the camps, and letters from Kyo Koide, who was a prominent figure in the community as a photographer, physician, and poet under the pseudonym, Banjin Koide
Shanxi (China), red soil basin around Qin Xian
No full textTopography in the red soil basin around Chinchow.Image is part of research conducted by Raymond T. Moyer for the article: Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China
Author(s): Raymond T. Moyer
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 414-425
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047Grayscal
Shanxi (China), profile of soils
No full textProfile of soils of the Gray Brown Subgroup, showing zone of accumulation.Image is part of research conducted by Raymond T. Moyer for the article: Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China
Author(s): Raymond T. Moyer
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 414-425
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047Grayscal
Shanxi province (China), people irrigating from a well on the Taiyuan plain
No full textIrrigating from a well on the Taiyuan Plain.Image is part of research conducted by Raymond T. Moyer for the article: Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China
Author(s): Raymond T. Moyer
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 414-425
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047Grayscal
Shanxi (China), cross-section of soil and fossil profiles in Shouyang basin
No full textA cross-section of soil materials and fossil profiles in a "loess" hill of the Shouyang Basin.Image is part of research conducted by Raymond T. Moyer for the article: Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China
Author(s): Raymond T. Moyer
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 414-425
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047Grayscal
Shanxi (China), soil on the plains in Quwo County
No full textParent material of soils on the southwestern plains, Chu Wu District. No profile is observable.Image is part of research conducted by Raymond T. Moyer for the article: Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China
Author(s): Raymond T. Moyer
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 414-425
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047Grayscal
Shanxi (China), croplands on sandstone and shale hills
No full textSandstone and shale hills of the type which are too bare of soil covering to support the growth either of forest trees or of crops.Image is part of research conducted by Raymond T. Moyer for the article: Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China
Author(s): Raymond T. Moyer
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul., 1936), pp. 414-425
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047http://www.jstor.org/stable/209047Grayscal
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