Analysis Of Wallace Nuttings Invention Of Old America

Another unique delivery of antimodernism is perpetuated by Wallace Nutting of Rockbottom, Massachusetts. Congressional Minister turned enigmatic entrepreneur, Nutting was primarily interested in the Colonial Revival as a profit making venture than a guidepost of sophistication. He did, however, note the importance of the movement’s ideals. Thomas Denenberg’s Wallace Nutting’s Invention of Old America is a successful encapsulation of antimodernist tendencies during the Colonial Revival that cannot be noticed when examined on a broader scale historically. In Wallace Nutting’s Invention of Old America, Thomas Denenberg uses Nutting’s brand of colonial idealism as a parallel with an American society on the precipice of social change at†¦show more content†¦He saw an overall secularization of everyday life that threatened his views as a former minister and expectations of society. Denenberg successfully demonstrates Wallace Nutting’s general skepticism towards urban development of the Progressive Era. He embraced â€Å"back to the land† aesthetic that he had marketed to middle class America. His neo-colonialism differed from colonialism in that Nutting’s various compounds resembled idealized factory village. Nutting constructed a work environment that combined industrialization of the era with colonial, Old American archetypes. He relied on colonial ideas of paternalism to govern his business practices. Nuttingshame as he called it, was a farmscape converted into Nutting’s original manufacturing center. Nuttingshame was equal parts utopian community and company town. Here, Nutting put young women, or colorists, to work hand tinting photographs. These young women were fed, housed and employed in a sort of boarding school setting. Nutting’s subsequently sought profit through a chain of consumer friendly museums. He wished to house these museums in preexisting period homes. Not only did these homes serve as museums, they also frequently served as backdrops for Nutting’s photographs. Despite the failure of his