{"id":775,"date":"2009-09-18T15:55:44","date_gmt":"2009-09-18T19:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vault204.gmu.edu\/?p=775"},"modified":"2011-12-02T16:36:15","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T21:36:15","slug":"what-am-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=775","title":{"rendered":"What am I?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can

Can you identify this image? Photo by the author.<\/p><\/div>\n

This unidentified object, part of the Alexander Haight Family Collection, was found alongside a broken handcuff and chisel in western Fairfax County, Virginia. Speculation is that a fugitive, possibly a slave, possibly a captured soldier, hid in the woods and used the chisel to break through the handcuff, leaving this object behind with them. Please let us know if you can identify this object.<\/p>\n

\"Longitudinal

Longitudinal view of object showing size. Photo by the author.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"View

View of object with "arms" wide open to reveal interior detail. Photo by the author.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Alexander Haight family collection<\/a><\/strong> offers a glimpse of American history told through documents and artifacts once belonging to the Haight family. Correspondence among extended family members refer to the California Gold Rush, in which George Sweet (1821-1898) participated as an original “49er and includes letters from Union soldier John M. Young (1831-1864) to his wife and children. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Alexander Haight and his wife Phebe, who had recently moved from Dutchess County, New York to Chantilly, Virginia, found themselves in a precarious position as Union sympathizers in the South. Documents in this collection such as army-issued passes allowing the Haights to cross the Virginia border, receipts for supplies provided to both the Union and Confederate Armies, and a letter from Union Major General Julius Stahel affirming Alexander Haight’s loyalty to the Union Army reveal just how precarious their position was.<\/p>\n

In addition to correspondence and Civil War artifacts the collection contains old photographs, legal documents, and financial records dating as far back as 1764. Specific items of interest include Confederate bonds, a signed, hand-written letter from renowned journalist and New York Tribune<\/em>-founder Horace Greeley, and an official order issued by General Stonewall Jackson on the day of the Battle of Chantilly (Ox Hill) prohibiting the theft or destruction of private property.<\/p>\n

Text by Eron Ackerman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This unidentified object, part of the Alexander Haight Family Collection, was found alongside a broken handcuff and chisel in western Fairfax County, Virginia. Speculation is that a fugitive, possibly a slave, possibly a captured soldier, hid in the woods and used the chisel to break through the handcuff, leaving this object behind with them. Please […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-scrc-interest"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-cv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2503,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=2503","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":0},"title":"Notes from a Photograph Collection","author":"admin","date":"July 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Although the Oliver F. Atkins Photograph Collection contains tens of thousands of prints, negatives, and slides, there is also a small amount of papers that consist of handwritten notes, correspondence, and caption guidance forms.\u00a0 These documents assist with identification, such as the Ku Klux Klan photographs from December 1965 for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Klavern.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5735,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5735","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":1},"title":"“Some books are lies frae end to end, And some great lies were never penn’d\u201d","author":"admin","date":"August 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"August 21st is Poet's Day and we are\u00a0celebrating by calling attention to just a few of our poetry books. The quote in\u00a0the title comes from \"Death and Doctor Hornbook: A True Story\" by Robert Burns, featured in\u00a0The\u00a0Poetical Works of Robert Burns shown below. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rare Books"","block_context":{"text":"Rare Books","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=326"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PR4300_1850_B6.jpg?fit=621%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PR4300_1850_B6.jpg?fit=621%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PR4300_1850_B6.jpg?fit=621%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4421,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=4421","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":2},"title":"Linking digital materials and finding aids","author":"admin","date":"June 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspired by the recent article \u201cWhen Archival Description Meets Digital Object Metadata: A Typological Study of Digital Archival Representation\u201d (GMU access only) by Jane Zhang and Dayne Mauney in the latest issue of the American Archivist (Spring\/Summer 2013) I decided to take a look at and share how we at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "SCRC interest"","block_context":{"text":"SCRC interest","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/MolkaReich.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6672,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6672","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":3},"title":"Travel Series: The British Isles","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"July 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The British Isles - made up of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (including England, Scotland, and Wales) and Northern Ireland - are some of the most traveled and beautiful countries in the world. Though not officially considered a part of the British Isles by their own government, Ireland is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_9330-e1498763515969.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_9330-e1498763515969.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_9330-e1498763515969.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_9330-e1498763515969.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6429,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6429","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":4},"title":"The C-SPAN Chronicles: Part II – Unique Finds – Processing is Like A Box of Chocolates: You Never Know What You’re Gonna Get","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"May 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello there! Amanda here again with another edition of the C-SPAN Chronicles. This week I will be exploring\u00a0unique items found in the C-SPAN records - some straightforward, some, well...not so much. As a processor, I have spent many an hour surveying collections, and usually this task is fairly clear-cut. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The C-SPAN Chronicles"","block_context":{"text":"The C-SPAN Chronicles","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=461"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_8697.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_8697.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_8697.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_8697.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_8697.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_8697.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7564,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7564","url_meta":{"origin":775,"position":5},"title":"V-E Day – The Jerome Epstein Collection","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"May 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Ben Brands, L. Claire Kincannon Graduate Intern. Ben has a Bachelors of History from the College of William and Mary, a Masters of History from George Mason University, and is currently a PhD candidate in History at George Mason University. As the inaugural L. Claire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Collections"","block_context":{"text":"Digital Collections","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=557"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/VEDayBlog_Photo2.jpg?fit=767%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3099,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions\/3099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}