A "Capitalist" By Trade

I've been going through many U.S. Census records and have frequently noticed "Capitalist" being listed as an occupation.

I started to wonder exactly what being a Capitalist was all about. My first guess was that it was simply someone who had their hands in many different institutions and did not derive a single income from a single occupation, but then I thought maybe that was too vague and confusing for old Uncle Sam.

A quick Google search led me to 200 Years of Census Taking: Population and Housing Questions, 1790-1990.

Fig. 1: Cover illustration for 200 Years...

Here was my answer: "Report a person who receives his income, or most of it, from money loaned at interest, or from stocks, bonds, or other securities, as a 'capitalist'."

American Architect and Building News through Online Books

(This post is part of a series about my research of Fitchburg architect H.M. Francis)

An interesting resource I've been going through lately is the American Architect and Building News magazine. AABN was a trade magazine for architects, it featured articles about building designs and general goings-on in the industry.
The magazine ended publication in 1938 and was absorbed by the Architectural Record.


The Online Books Library through the University of Pennsylvania put together a very useful page with searchable digitized editions of the magazines from 1878 to 1922.


As I research H.M. Francis, I'm going through this resource to find news about building designs he may have submitted and were in competition with other architects. In some cases, at the Historical Society, I've found buildings he designed that were never built.
I believe I found one instance of competing designs in Vol. 37 of the magazine.
There is an entry on page viii that lists a competition for the Congregational Church design in Orange, Massachusetts.

Fig. 1: Page viii with a listing of a competitive design for the Congregational Church in Orange, MA

The listing reads, "Orange, Mass. Competitive Design for Congregational Church. A.C. Fernald, Architect, 865 (Reg.)"
865 refers to the number of the journal, and that is where we find this:

Fig. 2: Description of A.C. Fernald's design

The text reads, "Design Submitted in Competition for the Congregational Church at Orange, Mass. Mr. A.C. Fernald, Architect, Boston, Mass. Wood construction throughout; all truss-work to be of Georgia pine. Exterior shingled; granite underpinning. Interior finished in quartered oak. Sheathed dado five feet high around all rooms and corridors. Walls and ceilings plastered. Estimated cost from reliable builder complete including heating (not including pews or organ) was $16,500."


Unfortunately, there is no description of Francis's design in this volume, but I did find a color drawing of his church design.

Fig. 3: Hand-colored drawing of Francis's design for First Congregational Church in Orange, MA

Using MACRIS

(This post is part of a series about my research of Fitchburg architect H.M. Francis)

A great resource to use on the Massachusetts Historical Commission's website is MACRIS.

MACRIS stands for the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System.

It is a very large inventory comprised of information on historic properties and areas in Massachusetts.

New information is added daily and many entries also have photographs of the historic property.

I've been going through this resource as I work on updates to my own H.M. Francis inventory.

I did a simple search for buildings and structures in Fitchburg with "Francis" entered as the architect and got 100 results.

(If you're looking for information in more than one city or town you can select them together or choose "All Towns" and it will search across the entire inventory.)

Fig. 1: Searching by Resource Type

Fig. 2: Results for Search

Fig. 3: Entry for Fitchburg Historical Society

There may be some discrepancies you find along the way of your research, but remember that MACRIS is constantly being revised and updated. For me, this resource is being used to cross-reference information I gathered last year, as well as to fill any "gaps", e.g. addresses, architectural styles, and construction years.