How Is a Rebus Like a Time Machine?

Abstract

Abstract: Because rebuses published in the early national period contained clues about a wide range of subjects—including the arts, politics, history, philosophy, mythology, religion, geography, science, commerce, and local events—solving them at the time they appeared required both cleverness and knowledge. Trying to solve them today requires the recovery of once-familiar but now-forgotten ideas, norms, and opinions that can seem quaintly outdated, surprisingly progressive, or enduringly harmful.