M. A. MILLER'S SKETCHBOOK OF 1860
                    CORINTH: THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
                       OF A MISSISSIPPI BOOMTOWN

                              CHAPTER I
                            INTRODUCTION

        Matthew Amos Miller's sketchbook of Corinth, Mississippi is a
very rare and valuable document. Most communities have visual records
of their past, such as photographs, engravings, paintings and the
like. But very few have as detailed a record as does Corinth. Miller's
sketchbook preserves the town exactly as it was in the year 1860.
Miller's sketches are the only record of many of these buildings.
There is no historical document in the southern United States by a
single artist, possibly in the entire country, that shows a town in as
much detail as does Miller's sketchbook.

        The methodology involved in interpreting such a source is
similar to the methodology used by Walter Horn and Ernest Born in the
1950's when they began to study the plan of the Monastery of St. Gall
in Switzerland. Horn and Born took this ninth century document and,
by applying their knowledge of the architecture and culture of the
era, were able to intensively analyze and graphically reproduce the
buildings of St. Gall. [1] Miller's sketchbook is an American
nineteenth century equivalent of the plan of St. Gall. There is as
much, if not more, to be learned about the city planning, building
types, economics, and lifestyle of an antebellum Southern town by
studying this sketchbook as Horn and Born learned about a ninth
century monastery complex by studying the plan of St. Gall. By
closely examining this sketchbook and other contemporary sources such
as photographs, engravings, drawings, and textual documents, a very
complete picture of 1860 Corinth, Mississippi comes to light to be
studied and appreciated.


Chapter II.  THE ORGANIZATION AND SETTLEMENT OF TISHOMINGO COUNTY


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