Family, Land, and Society in Concord, MA, 1750-1850

FAIN: FT-13829-78

Robert A Gross
University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT 06269-9000)

An intensive community study to examine the social transformation and modernization of Concord, Mass., over the period 1750-1850. The growth of agricultural capitalism will be traced through a careful reconstruction of the town's land market. Data gathered from deeds will make possible a new understanding of how the economic life of a long-settled rural community changed during the process of commercialization. The intellectual response of the town, led by such notables as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, will also be included in this interdisciplinary study.