Setting the Table in Victorian Age St. Louis: the Utility of Glass Tableware Analysis in the Archaeology of Domesticity and Consumerism

Summary

The historical archaeology of domesticity and consumption rests heavily on the analysis of ceramic tableware artifacts. Few archaeologists have seriously incorporated analyses of glass tableware into this body of research, even though glass tableware was a common, durable, and heavily marketed domestic artifact class. My research addresses this problem through a study of glass tableware from Victorian Age (1830s – 1900s) residential sites in St. Louis, Missouri. This is done, in part, by adapting methods of historic ceramic artifact analysis to the analysis of historic glassware. The utility of this method is assessed by applying it in a historical archaeological study of household consumption in relation to domesticity in Victorian age St. Louis, Missouri. The results indicate that whether it is used independently or in conjunction with ceramic analysis, glass tableware analysis can contribute significantly to the historical archaeology of domesticity and consumerism. Archaeologists can do this painlessly by using the method developed and applied in this study, rather than continue to miss out on the potential contributions of this artifact class.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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