Object Details
- Description
- This small booklet contains A Remarkable and Surprising Account of the Abandoned Life, Happy Conversion, and Comfortable Death of Fanny Sidney published by Elihu Phinney of Canaan, New York in 1795. The conversion story is told as a letter from Fanny’s minister, Reverend Martin Madan, to his friend. He relates the discourse that passed between them as Fanny lay dying. Fanny had been seduced into pre-marital sex, had a child, and was abandoned by the child’s father. To make ends meet, Fanny became an actress, then a seamstress, and finally a prostitute. She becomes ill, but in her sickness finds Jesus. On her deathbed, she recounts the saving grace of Jesus to Reverend Madan, and dies in a state of grace.
- The Copp Collection contains about 150 books of early American imprint and shows a wide range of reading matter typical of a New England Puritan family living in a port town. Literacy was expected of many New Englanders, as Puritan doctrine required everyone to read the Bible. The abundance of multiple Bibles, psalms, hymnodies, sermons, and morality tales reflects the Copp’s religious beliefs. Other highlights of the library include the works of Shakespeare, almanacs, historical and political texts, and travel narratives.
- The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- Credit Line
- Gift of John Brenton Copp
- Measurements
- overall: 4 in x 6 3/8 in; 10.16 cm x 16.1925 cm
- Object Name
- book
