SPECIAL THANKS to my good friend, Australian new music trombonist extraordinaire, Simone de HAAN.

‘the Symphony Orchestra” 

some extinctions are sweet
see the saprophytic
symphony orchestra
where our much will have more 
is forever at war 
with the speed of sound
morbidly obese strip miner 
of the past with superb technique 
like the humble sex worker who 
mimics true love perfectly
sad swan-song of the beautiful
young conductor decomposer-in-chief 
baton hard sharp pointed erect
leading its troops straight into 
the motionless oblivion of moist muck
the happy food of hungry worms

IMAGE: An actual sign in SNAKE RIVER COUNTRY along the CANNABIS HIGHWAY, spectacular gravel mountain bike road from Richland to Huntington, OREGON

SWEET EXTINCTIONS, “The Symphony Orchestra” Simone de HAAN,solo trombone

In the wide-open American economy, some people fake it ‘til they make it. Historically, American impostors realized the promise of social mobility. Identifying freely with different ethnic, racial, class, gender, or professional groups allowed some Americans to challenge social norms, and to reinvent themselves in an environment of rapid and disorienting change. 

In this episode of Stories from the Stacks, historian Clifton Hood, professor at Hobart & William Smith Colleges, discusses the macro-history of the American impostor as a social phenomenon. Hood situates his project in the context of his life’s work, suggesting that it may be a way of accessing subaltern perspectives on social hierarchies by locating and interrogating their attempted transgressions of its strictures. 

Using Hagley Library collections, including Empire Steel & Iron, Reading Company, Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Virginia Corporation, and Brandywine Oral Histories, Hood discovered that business and government elites tried a variety of methods to identify and eliminate impostors. These methods included systematic surveillance and documentation of subject groups. Hood highlights identification papers and reports from industrial spies as particularly fascinating documents.

To support his use of Hagley Library collections, Dr. Hood received a Henry Belin du Pont research grant from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, & Society. More information on funding opportunities for research at Hagley can be found at www.hagley.org/research/grants-fellowships.

For more Stories from the Stacks, go to www.hagley.org, or subscribe on your favorite podcatcher.

Interview by Amrys Williams. Produced by Gregory Hargreaves.

Image: Mr. Clash wearing a mask at Bushkill, 1915-1925, 2017239_07_228, Series V., ‘Personal and biographical,’ Box 7, Folder 228, Frank E. Schoonover negatives (Accession 2017.239), Audiovisual Collections & Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, DE 19807.

People Would Fake Being Everything: American Impostors with Clifton Hood

Hagley Museum and Library

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