Peter Benes (–2021)

This is the first book in the Publications of the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife. I read this book as part of research I was doing for a book that I am writing on a New England burial ground. I found this book to be very interesting and informative. As with any book, some of the material is dated. However, I found the material in the book well worth the read. The book is divided into 6 headings: Introduction; Research and Methods; Studies of Symbolism and Imagery; Cultural and show more Anthropological Studies; Preservation and Reproduction Techniques; and Bibliography. Many of the topics have been thoroughly expanded on since the book was published in 1976. There was a Puritan Gravestone Art II book published in 1978. I have not yet (at the time of this review) read this second book but I plan on reading it next. These Dublin books may not be suitable for the casual reader but if you are interested in serous work on gravestones and gravestone art, they may be a great starting point. show less

Not too bad as an academic journal with some useful facts and information.

Section I is Word-lists and Toponym Studies (mostly Maine, mostly historic or lagging place names); II Linguistic Studies of Colonial Court Documents; III Phonetic Writers; IV Popular Literature (Dialect studies); V Museum Interpretations (reconstructions of "American" dialect transported from England, primarily the idiom of London). Curiously, the NE coast Americans today speak a dialect of English more likely to be closer to the speech of Shakespeare's troupe, than what Londoners speak show more today -- in other words "Elizabethan English" is extinct in England, London was exposed to much more rapid dialect shifts, and the Shakespeare idiom survives in certain coastal parts of New England America.[122 ff] show less

Annual Proceedings for New England Folklife for 1976