Quaker City Blog

Lippard Society planning meeting

2010-09-09T19:39:21Z

Just a reminder, the planning meeting for the George Lippard Society is this Tuesday, Sept 14 at the Library Company of Philadelphia from 5:30-7:00PM.

So far, we have about a half dozen who can come to this first meeting and help formulate the Society's goals, mission, by-laws, officers, membership dues, etc. After the meeting, I'll send out an announcement containing the details about how to join and what we're planning for the immediate future.

If you would like to come and haven't yet responded, you are still welcome to attend. Just let me know (send me an email). The more the merrier.

Thanks for your interest in George Lippard and Philadelphia Gothic,

Edward Pettit

Lippardnet

2010-08-07T15:37:02Z

There are lots of internet places you can visit to learn more about George Lippard and his works. You can now follow George and all announcements for the George Lippard Society on Twitter. George also has a page on Facebook.

Years ago I began a Lippard site on which I was going to re-serialize The Quaker City, with annotations. That project fell by the wayside (although I've always intended to revisit it):

Frontpage of online QC

Lippard's Grave

More photos of Lippard's grave

My 2007 piece on Lippard for the Phila City Paper

The Library Company of Philadelphia's exhibition Philadelphia Gothic has lots of images and info about Lippard as well as a pdf guide for research:

Phila Gothic Lippard

Research Guide

The Literary Gothic has a page on Lippard with links.

The Wikipedia page on Lippard seems well-maintained.

From the Baltimore Society's Edgar Allan Poe site:

Poe's letter to Lippard

Emilio De Grazia, "Poe's Devoted Democrat, George Lippard,"from Poe Studies, vol. VI, no. 1, June 1973, pp. 6-8

Burton R. Pollin, " More on Lippard and Poe," from Poe Studies, vol. VII, no. 1, June 1974, pp. 22-23

Lippard's works online:

Christopher Looby has put online some of Lippard's early pieces from The Spirit of the Times and The Citizen Soldier newspapers: The Early Writings of George Lippard

The Quaker City or the Monks of Monk Hall at the Internet Archive (read online or download pdf)

The Life and Choice Writings of George Lippard(includes a bio by John Bell Bouton)

Internet Archive full list of Lippard's works available online (including, Blanche of Brandywine, Washington and his Generals, Washington and his Men, Legends of Mexico, The Nazarene, New York: its Upper Ten and Lower Million and The Mysteries of Florence)

Open Library has a list of Lippard's works, some of which you can read online.

Google has many of his works digitized as well (including Paul Ardenheim, the Monk of Wissahikon).

If anyone else knows of any other Lippard resources on the internet, please let me know.

First Meeting of the Lippard Society

2010-08-03T19:51:00Z

We're going to have an organizational meeting for the George Lippard Society on Tuesday Sept 14 at the Library Company of Philadelphia from 5:30-7:00 PM. At the meeting we'll discuss the purpose of the society, goals, mission, by-laws, officers, membership dues, etc. Anyone interested is invited to attend.

So if you are in the Phila area (or can make it here for the day) and are interested in being involved at the inception of this unique literary organization, please let me know (I'll need a head count).

And did you know the Library Co has their Philadelphia Gothic exhibition online (including podcasts)? You can check it out here.

I would also like to have an event, maybe a mini-conference, in the Spring. Possibly March or maybe in April (for Lippard's birthday) with a visit to his gravesite. So, we'll also be starting a committee to plan that event, as well.

If you'd like to come to the organizational meeting on Sept 14, drop me an email. If you'd like to be involved but cannot make it to the meeting, let me know and I'll keep you involved by email.

After the Sept 14 meeting, I'll be able to give everyone specific information about membership, etc.

Hope to see you there.

"the Bell speaks to the city and the world"

2010-07-04T12:51:50Z

George Lippard was much more than a gothic sensationalist novelist. Lippard was also a crusader for issues of social justice. He founded one of the first labor unions in the country. He campaigned tirelessly for workers and minorities. This fervor for the common citizen was probably born of his deep commitment to the ideals of the founding fathers of America. George Lippard was a patriot of the highest order. Even the ruling officers of The Brotherhood of America, the secret benevolent organization he founded, used the titles Supreme Washington, Supreme Jefferson and Supreme Franklin (Lippard, of course, was the Supreme Washington).

Lippard desperately wanted to carry on the best intentions of the men who declared America's independence from England. He also understood that America was a young country and did not have a mythological past that stretched into the mists of a distant past. So he invented the myths of America. In newspaper pieces and then in books, Lippard recounted the legendary exploits of America's early leaders: The Battle-Day of Germantown (1843), Herbert Tracy; or, The Legend of the Black Rangers. A Romance of the Battle-field of Germantown (1844), Blanche of Brandywine (1846), The Rose of Wissahikon; or, The Fourth of July, 1776. A Romance, Embracing the Secret History of the Declaration of Independence (1847).

Most significant was his Washington and His Generals; or, Legends of the Revolution (1847). So powerful were some of the stories in this book that some Americans still perpetuate them. Just a couple months ago there was a piece by Mitch Horowitz on a Washington Post blog about Ronald Reagan's use of one of Lippard's legends. And who as a kid didn't know the story of the Liberty Bell (hey, I grew up in Philly, so I certainly did)? The declaration read out loud to the public on the Fourth of July, the bell ringing out its peals of freedom. Lippard's legend "The Fourth of July, 1776" first published in the Saturday Courier on Jan 2, 1847, then reprinted in Wash and His Gens, has lasted more than a century in the popular imagination. It has truly become one of the legends of America. It's a little too long to be posted here. So you can read an abridged version here. But the whole piece is available at Google Books along with the rest of Wash and His Gens.

Do you see that old man's eye fire? Do you see that arm so suddenlv bared to the shoulder, do you see that withered hand, grasping the Iron Tongue of the Bell? The old man is young again; his veins are filled with new life. Backward and forward, with sturdy strokes, he swings the Tongue. The bell speaks out! The crowd in the street hear it, and burst forth in one long shout! Old Delaware hears it, and gives it back in the hurrah of her thousand sailors. The city hears it, and starts up from desk and work-bench, as though an earthquake had spoken.

Yet still while the sweat pours from his brow, that old Bell-keeper hurls the iron tongue, and still — boom — boom — boom — the Bell speaks to the city and to the world.

Have a happy Lippardian Fourth of July!

The George Lippard Society

2010-07-01T14:17:25Z

It's time for George Lippard to finally get his due. For too long, Lippard has been a footnote in American literary history. So, I am proud to announce a new organization dedicated to Philadelphia's 19th Century bad-boy novelist.

The George Lippard Literary Society

Our mission will be to popularize one of America's most important literary figures, as well as the literary movement in which he prospered, Philadelphia Gothic. Lippard was a significant novelist, labor organizer, publisher and popular historian. His novel The Quaker City or the Monks of Monk Hallwas one of the biggest-selling novels of the 19th century and paved the way for the sensationalist muckraker novels to follow. Lippard also made his mark as a crusader for the rights of workers, women and minority groups, founding one of the first labor unions in the country. As well as writing novels, Lippard also made major contributions to the mythology of America in his popular histories (including the myth of the Liberty Bell ringing out on July 4th).

As an organization, we'll meet several times a year to discuss Lippard's life and works and to share research on other figures of the Philadelphia Gothic literary movement, including its founder, Charles Brockden Brown, its most famous practitioner, Edgar Allan Poe, and lesser known authors like Robert Montgomery Bird and Frank Webb.

The GLS will also organize a mini-conference once a year.

I'm now accepting all queries for information and membership. Email me at ed@omnigatherum.com

Keep your eye on the Quaker City blog for more information to follow in the next few days.

For more info on George Lippard, see my piece from the Philadelphia City Paper, "Monks, Devils and Quakers," or my George Lippard pages at the old Omnigatherum site. Also check out the Philadelphia Library Company's Philadelphia Gothic online exhibit, including podcasts from Christopher Looby and myself (click here and scroll down for the podcasts).

For further reading, two newly published books feature many aspects of the time period:

Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love by Thomas H Keels

Philadelphia Stories: America's Literature of Race and Freedom by Samuel Otter

Wicked Philadelphia on the radio

2010-06-30T14:13:00Z

Tom Keels will be the guest on WHYY's Radio Times tomorrow morning (Thu July 1) at 11AM. Keels' new book, Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love was just released a couple months ago and features a chapter on Singleton Mercer's murder of Mahlon Heberton, the case which inspired George Lippard to write The Quaker City.

In January, Keels did a piece for WRTI radio about that murder and Lippard's novel, in which I was happy to participate. You can listen to that show here (the Lippard part begins at the 14:30 mark).

And check out Radio Times tomorrow morning.

Wissahickon Tour

2010-06-07T11:57:43Z

Another tour of the George Lippard's Wissahickon has been scheduled for Sun June 20. Local guide Nicholas Bucci is meeting people at the Johannes Kelpius historical marker at 1PM on Henry Ave and Hermit Lane. We tried to do this a couple years ago, but couldn't work it out.

Now this year, it's scheduled for Father's Day, so I'm not sure if I can make it yet again, but I'll know closer to the date. Feel free to join us. You can email me for further details or just show up.

William Thompson Russell Smith (1812-1896), A Scene on the Wissahickon, 1842

RIP George Lippard

2009-02-10T00:35:11Z

Today is the death day of George Lippard. I have a post with all sorts of Lippardian goodies on my Ed & Edgar blog.

Lippard like Shakespeare

2008-08-03T15:39:51Z

Just came across this little passage in The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52:

Among other oddities, there is a person here who is a rabi admirer of Lippard. I have heard him gravely affirm that Lippard was the greatest author the world ever saw, and that if one of his novels and the most fascinating work of ancient or modern times lay side by side, he would choose the former, even though he had already repeatedly perused it. He studies Lippard just like other folks do Shakespeare, and yet the man has read and admires the majestic prose of Chilton, and is quite familiar with the best English Classics.

Gratifying to find myself described over a hundred years before my birth.

Edgar, George and the Wissahickon

2008-06-20T12:26:58Z

That tour of the Wissahickon, the area beloved of both George Lippard and Edgar Allan Poe, will happen this Sunday, June 22 at 4PM. Nick Bucci will lead a group of us on a hike through the Philadelphia Wilderness. We'll see Kelpius' Cave and visit the rock where Lippard was married (see previous post). If you are free, you are welcome to join us. We're meeting at 4Pm at the Kelpius Historical marker located on Hermit Lane off Henry Ave. Parking is available there. Wear good hiking shoes. The trail can be rough in places.

Hope to see you.