Special Snowflake Research Resource List
December 20, 2015 12:44 PM   Subscribe

Please help me compile research resources for a project I will undertake in the year ahead. I would like to become very familiar with the following subjects: 1) New York City and Greenwich Village in the 1850s-1900. 2) The experience of Irish immigrants in that same era 3) The state of Christmas as a cultural entity and practice in that era. Special snowflake explanation inside.

Hi everyone! I would like to spend the year ahead writing a Christmas play for the holiday season of 2016. One of the local theaters where I live has had a series of holiday musicals running for twenty years, all set in the same nightclub in Greenwich Village. The series is a beloved local tradition and the shows are always thick with nostalgia. I've long thought of writing an entry in this series and since I mean to move out of this town within the next couple years, I reckon I'd best get on the ball.

The twenty plays prior were all set in the 20th century - the 40s and 50s, specifically. There are always nods to how forces in yesterday's world shaped the world of today. There is also a long-running tale of family and interpersonal drama throughout the series. The theater where these shows are performed taps into 60s nostalgia for their summer shows, so taking the Christmas musical into the 60s as well would be somewhat redundant. Therefore, my notion is to take the story way, way back. Set it somewhere between 1850 and 1900, in a very different United States and very different Greenwich Village. I am conducting my own research of course; nerding out on history is one of my favorite things to do. However, I only have a year to make this awesome and I'm willing to bet there are folks in the hivemind who might already know quality resources on these subjects.

Any format is fine, but audiobooks and podcasts are the most convenient. Regular books, documentaries, articles - any interesting and well-rendered data on the following subjects is of interest to me:

1) New York, Greenwich Village and the socioeconomic conditions thereof. What it was like to be there in the 19th century, what people wore and spoke of, what they argued about, how the city was growing and changing, how the locals reacted to national growth and change, etc. No, I don't intend to write a Christmas musical about the draft riots (at least I don't think so) but I want to know as much as possible about what was going on in that place, with those people.

2) The family this series has tracked over its 20 year history is Irish, and in the 20th century stories told so far, fairly well-established. What I have in mind for this 1800s entry in the series is something of an origin story / prequel situation for all the other plays. Therefore, I would like to become very familiar with the late 1800s Irish immigrant experience, what a family's journey from Irish to Irish-American was like.

3) The major theme of a Christmas musical series that has run for 20 years, of course, are those of tradition and timelessness. I'm very interested in depicting the ritual of Christmas from the days before Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus. So I would like to read up on how folks held the Christ's Mass back then, especially on the East Coast and in Ireland. What songs, decorations and meals, if any, were considered traditional in the 1800s? How much of a Santa did America have before advertising made him an icon?

Every time I go out reading on this project, I start getting a bunch of ideas. I'd like to dive deep on the research and come up with something really compelling and interesting. I'd like to do what this series has always done really well and show how Americans and American Christmas has changed and how it is the same. Any authoritative and interesting source you could point me towards would be very helpful. Thank you and Happy Holidays, AskMe!
posted by EatTheWeek to Education (15 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Burrow and Wallace's Gotham is awesome, but I can't say that I have, uh, made it all the way to 1850 and beyond. It's quite dense. But you might enjoy it for fun and a bit of research if you have the time. It's a fantastic book, up to where I've read.
posted by papayaninja at 12:52 PM on December 20, 2015


What it was like to be there in the 19th century, what people wore and spoke of, what they argued about, how the city was growing and changing, how the locals reacted to national growth and change, etc.

I absolutely can't recommend this book highly enough: Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante. "This is not the familiar saga of mansions, avenues, and robber barons, but the messy, turbulent, often murderous story of the city's slums; the teeming streets--scene of innumerable cons and crimes whose cramped and overcrowded housing is still a prominent feature of the cityscape."
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:55 PM on December 20, 2015


I'd definitely touch base with the people at the Archives and Public History program at NYU. I know they have a cohort there specifically researching the history of Greenwich Village who could point you in the right direction.
posted by ariadne's threadspinner at 1:01 PM on December 20, 2015


Best answer: RE: Christmas - for a scholarly treatment of what was once a booze-fueled and far more pagan holiday, I suggest Penne Restad's Christmas in America: A History. Also good, though aimed more at a general audience, is Stephen Nissenbaum's The Battle for Christmas.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:27 PM on December 20, 2015


The book 97 Orchard (inspired by the wonderful Lower East Side Tenement Museum, one of my favorite places in New York) is an "edible history" of the families that lived in the building. There's a chapter on the Irish family from the late 1800s. I can't remember if it mentions Christmas, but it's a great read and might be helpful for you.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 1:31 PM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


This may sound weird but Jack Finney's Time and Again is a so rich with primary research and actual period illustrations, all woven into an absorbing plot in exactly the time and place you're interested in. I first read it as a child living in Manhattan and it had a proufound impact on my understanding of the city I lived in and the physical world around me.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:14 PM on December 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


Seconding Time and Again, and don't forget its sequel, From Time to Time (not quite as good, but full of juicy details of period life).
posted by languagehat at 2:38 PM on December 20, 2015


Best answer: The Bowery Boys podcast and website looks at New York City history from many different angles. (Disclaimer: it's produced by two friends of mine.) They've covered Greenwich Village, the Irish in NYC, and Christmas in NYC.
posted by lisa g at 2:57 PM on December 20, 2015


Best answer: Do you know about the Draft Riots of 1863?

Many Irish women worked as servants, here is a book about women servants in that period. And here's another book about Irish women in America. Both of these books are somewhat dated, I read them years ago and enjoyed them both.
posted by mareli at 3:09 PM on December 20, 2015


John Strasbaugh has a history of Greenwich Village that's pretty comprehensive...
posted by AJaffe at 3:57 PM on December 20, 2015


Best answer: If the story will be set in the late 1800's, you could use references to Tin Pan Alley - the music business in a small area of NY where sheet music was written, printed and sold. Sheet music sold like MP3s on iTunes today and hit songs were judged by how many pieces of sheet music were sold. The beginning of the music business really. A lot of music was specifically written for Irish emigrants, essential to the business because they were either buying the sheet music, or singing popular songs in pubs, giving songs lots of "airplay". Songs like Sweet Rosie O'Grady, and many others were written specifically for the homesick Irishman.
posted by mulcahy at 4:06 PM on December 20, 2015


Best answer: American Catholic is a comprehensive one-volume history of Catholics in the US and has a LOT to say about 19th century NYC Irish Catholics.

The Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism is far and away the leading historical and sociological research center for US Catholicism, definitely look there. You may find some resources perusing their website, and definitely if you look at the journal and books they publish. You could probably even contact their general inquiries address and get some suggestions.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:57 PM on December 20, 2015


Response by poster: Holy cats what a fantastic collection of resources! Thank you so, so much one and all. This is exactly what I needed and then some.
posted by EatTheWeek at 8:17 PM on December 20, 2015


And, for the feels and something that will be very referential, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, both the movie and the novel.

There's a scene in the movie where the guy selling Christmas trees on Christmas Eve gets rid of them by throwing them at the people who are too poor to buy them. It sounds depressing, but it's pretty great.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:32 AM on December 21, 2015


Honestly I thought Low Life was a terrible read, just a disjointed series of anecdotes thrown together in a way that somehow made them tiresome to read. However, the afterword with his Notes on Sources would be a great place to look for more of the information you want.

Otherwise my first choice would be the archives/museum/library of the New-York Historical Society.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:51 AM on December 21, 2015


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