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"The Glare And Glitter Of That Fashionable Resort": Newport, Rhode Island As Ward Mcallister Found It, Emily Elizabeth Parrow

Masters Theses

As late nineteenth century New York City’s premier social arbiter, Ward McAllister was one of the most controversial and well-known figures of the Gilded Age. In the turbulent years following the Civil War, he helped codify an otherwise elusive definition of American high society in an era marked by conspicuous spending and an ever-growing gap between the rich and poor. His influence also extended beyond New York, paralleling and contributing to the physical and social transformation of Newport, Rhode Island. Once a thriving port city and participant in the Triangle Trade, Newport experienced a fifty-year period of stagnation following the …