A deeper explanation of our work toward an assertion, namely " Asaph tried a number of new vocations and each one represented something new, emblematic of change"

By: Guy Clarke

The importance of local historical inquiry is that empowers students to make sense of larger contexts in history. In other words, local historical inquiry enables students to connect to the big themes historians use to organize the past. Studying local history combines the benefits of authenticity and active engagement. Local historical inquiry provides especially fertile ground for improving students' ability to contextualize their historical thinking and in turn, engage in self-reflection. In this sense, the Story of Asaph Perry is not an unusual story, but it is story about, and full of, opportunities - opportunities for teachers to help students engage and make sense of the past.

Asaph Perry's life, as a resident of Cherokee County Georgia during an era in which modern America would begin to emerge, exemplifies a variety of historical themes in American history, including, importantly, economic/vocational change. Asaph experienced these changes throughout his lifetime, from a childhood where he lived on a farm to his adulthood as a middle-class businessman. The transformation parallels economic and social change in the larger communities of North Georgia and the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Asaph's economic social transformation became evident for us as we analyzed the documents. Drawing upon a model for historical document analysis called SCIM-C (see - http://www.dhip.org/materials.shtml for more information about the SCIM-C model) we developed a context that, when combined with substantive knowledge about the time, allowed us to infer that Asaph, like most other men of his time, had the opportunity to change their vocation from one that relied on agriculture to that of a middle-class business man.

We built our context on the twin assumptions, culled from our substantive knowledge of the period, that North Georgia was primarily agrarian when Asaph was born in 1870 and that parts North Georgia underwent significant economic and social change between 1870 and 1900. From the census records, we know Asaph was born on a farm. Over the next thirty years, we know that the introduction on industry (primary textile-based) and railroads began to transform North Georgia. Although our purpose in this vignette is not focused on the confirmation of our contextual assumptions, we would like to offer some support for the assertion that parts of North Georgia transformed between 1870 to 1900. We accessed the Historical Census Browser at University of Virignia and compared the value of farms and the amount of capital invested in manufacturing ventures in 1870 to that same data for 1900. We looked specifically at data for Cherokee County, Asaph's adult home. We found that the amount of capital invested in manufacturing in Cherokee county rose over 400 percent while the rise in the value farms increased less than 50 percent.

With a context in place, we began to explore the documentary record of Asaph's life. Of the 50 primary historical resources in our collection, we found seven which directly related to Asaph's professional economic life. From the earliest of these resources, a letter to his wife Ethel, we learned that Asaph engaged in some type of sales venture early in his life. The letter, which is undated and apparently missing its front page, contains a passage in which Asaph tells Ethel "I am stopping with a man by the name of Pangle he lives right at the Springs and is selling goods he said I could put my watches in the store and probably he could help me out some." We believe the letter was written between 1896 and 1898 because says he wishes that his wife and daughter Helen were there with him. Helen was born in 1896 and a second child was born in 1898. There is no reason to think Asaph would have exclude his second child.

The two inferences we made from this letter (Asaph was engaged in a business venture and the letter was written early in his life) are examples of the analytic work we did with the documents. Combining the inferences with additional inferences made from other historical documents or artifacts in the collection, we began to corroborate a larger inference that Asaph was deeply engaged in a type of economic life that differed from the agricultural experiences of his father.

Taking from the documentary evidence, we were able to make another inference that further supported our conclusion regarding Asaph's economic social transformation to that of a middle-class businessman. A coupon, used as a loan advertisement, issued by Hopkins and Company further corroborated the assertion that Asaph had engaged in another type of sales venture in 1900. While the loan coupon does not mention Asaph, two letters were written from Dr. J.R. Hopkins in Atlanta to W.A. Perry in Charleston, South Carolina during May and June of 1900. Both letters from Dr. Hopkins offer Asaph encouragement in what we believe was a new "business" venture in Charleston. The letter dated May 10 begins "I hope by this time you are getting some idea of the business (profit) the first impressions are not the best" inferring that the business venture was new. The later dated June not only corroborates the inference of a new business by statements from Dr. Hopkins advising Asaph to "Learn well the business" and to "Study closely & work hard and you will learn fast" but also through a simple greeting that states "I hope you are well pleased & not home sick." We believe that Asaph had temporarily gone to Charleston at the turn of the century, leaving his family in Canton, as the result of a business venture with Dr. Hopkins. The time in Charleston was surely for training purposes since Asaph received a letter from his wife Ethel, dated May 29, 1900, revealing her happiness that Asaph was to "make the change to Atlanta, so we can be together." We believe that Asaph returned to his family in Canton and his "jewelry" business, most likely expanding his inventory, which had been operating since before he left for Charleston.