The Churches and Meetinghouses of Early America: An Architectural History

FAIN: FB-53102-07

Carl Reavis Lounsbury
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA 23185-4138)

The purpose of the fellowship is to write an architectural history of early American churches and meetinghouses. Based on extensive fieldwork and documentary research, it is a synthetic study covering nearly all the major denominations and sects from Maine to Georgia from 1607 to 1820. Although by no means an exhaustive exploration of the many aspects of church building, the work seeks to fill a conspicuous void in American architectural scholarship with an extended treatment of the theological, cultural, social, and regional influences on architectural design and function of ecclesiastical buildings in the colonial and early national period.