Michael A. Vuksta
A touchstone was originally a hard black stone used to test the quality of precious metals by comparing the mark they left on the stone with one left by a standard alloy. This material and instrumental application has come to mean a standard or criterion. In extending this analogy by a further abstraction, I would suggest that this investigation of public monuments has sought to establish criteria for describing, understanding, and evaluating these artifacts. The standard alloy has been the methodology of object analysis employed herein. It has sought a precise material and objective base from which one can derive values and beliefs.
By rubbing ourselves against these monuments and by comparison with the discipline of the methodology, a deeper understanding of artifacts, and by extension ourselves, as potential makers of things, has been sought.
List of Monuments and Sites and Corresponding Holidays
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Monument
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Site
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Holiday
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Wooster Marker
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Wooster Square Park
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Columbus or
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|
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Discovery
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Columbus Statue
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" " "
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Day
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World War II
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Wooster Square Park
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Veterans’
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Soldiers’ Memorial
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Day
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World War I
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New Haven Green
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None
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Soldiers’ Memorial
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Public Library
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" " "
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"
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Courthouse
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" " "
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"
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Old City Hall
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" " "
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"
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Houses in
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Wooster Square
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Thanksgiving
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Neighborhood
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Historic District
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Christmas Tree
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New Haven Green
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Winter Solstice
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Menorah
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" " "
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" "
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Carousel
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" " "
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" "
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Design Project
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Classroom Activity
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Martin Luther
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|
|
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King Day
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