Medieval America: Reverence for an Old-World aesthetic, 1860--1930

This dissertation contributes to an understanding of the medieval revival in America. It is a material culture study of the actions upper-class Americans of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries took to claim the history of the Middle Ages as their own. This study argues that upper-class Americans of this era embraced material manifestations of the Middle Ages in order to document and legitimate their connections to a civilization whose history was age-old and whose customs and traditions aroused images of permanence, stability, and grandeur. Such Americans believed that by surrounding themselves with art and objects of the Middle Ages, they could justify their claims of superiority in a society that was rapidly witnessing the dissolution of once rigid class hierarchies. More important, however, they believed that by embracing relics of the Middle Ages, they could root their identities in a storied and well-chronicled past they found lacking in the United States.; "Medieval America" examines material manifestations of the Middle Ages that Americans of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries identified as valuable tools with which to document their ties to the Old World. Specifically, it looks at the use of coat armor---a distinctly medieval tradition---by Americans during the whole of this period; the use of authentic (and authentic looking) medieval architecture, furniture, and arts in the decoration of domestic interiors during the post-World War I era; the trade in medieval art and artifacts among Americans of the early-twentieth century; and the exhibition of medieval art and architecture in American museums during the late 1920s and early 1930s. In doing so, it fills a void left by other scholars who have examined the history of the medieval revival in America.