Nathaniel Hawthorne was born when the Constitution was 15 years old.

Hawthorne was featured in a lecture given by Nora Pat Small of the History Department. The lecture was titled “Sketches of Place: Hawthorne’s New England.” Small’s lecture started the 18th annual EIU Literary Conference.

Hawthorne moved to New England when he was young.

“Hawthorne’s youth was when classic New England towns were just taking shape,” Small said.

New Englanders did not leave much land untouched, Small said.

New England was beginning to become more commercial.

“There were local economies and general stores located in the village center,” Small said.

From around 1790-1830 New England built cultural institutions in a highly literature reform society.

“As Hawthorne came of age, New England was changing. Manufacturing was expanding,” Small said.

Local manufacturers and farmers collaborated on certain projects involving textile mills and establishments.

A way to get goods to the market needed to be established. Manufactures would charge farmers who would use turnpikes.

This was the start of a new idea for New England. Farmers had to turn to hired hands and they then turned to cash to pay them with.

The idea behind this was not accepted by all, mostly because of the way things used to be in New England. Reformers thought that farmers were producers and they should not turn to hired hands.

“New England was becoming a consumer economy,” Small said.

At around the time of the booming New England society, Hawthorne quit his job at the Boston Custom House and went instead to the Brook Farm.

By this time, New England had really changed.

“Status was considered not by family lines but by what people had,” Small said. “Improvement was the order of the day.”

The importance of a built environment was obvious with New England.

“New England built a new republic will classic origins of thought and republic,” Small said. “Luxury used to be avoided before.”

An example of this was that houses were built all along the eastern seaboard.

In September 1845, Hawthorne moved back to Salem and took a job as Surveyor of Customs.

Salem was not the same as when Hawthorne was young and lived there.

“There was a lack of picturesque,” Small said.

Susie Lafary, an English professor, enjoyed Small’s lecture. “I am going to teach a class on The Scarlet Letter in the spring,” Lafary said. “This lecture was a way to get some more exciting ideas for my students. It also tied into what I already knew.”

Students and faculty listen to Nora Pat Small’s, history profesor, presentation entitled, Sketches of Place: Hawthorne’s New England. The presenation opened up the 18th Annual Literature Conference for Teachers and Lovers of Good Books which will go throu

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