The Expansion of Early National History Culture

This chapter examines the rapid growth in the presence and role of the past in the cultural production of the early republic. The first half of the chapter charts the vast increase in historical cultural production in a variety of print forms and literary genres. The second half of the chapter explores one of the processes behind this increase in production by uncovering an informal network—including historians, antiquarians, poets, essayists, painters, publishers, politicians, and others—that provided supportive relationships for those engaged in historical cultural production. Ultimately, that network, and the support it offered, provided the impetus and model for the institutionalization of history culture in this period through the establishment of the nation’s first historical societies and museums.