Granny’s Panties and Great-Grandpa’s Jock Strap: Reconstructing 200 Years of Middle-Class Clothing

Summary

This paper shares an in-depth comparative study focusing on clothing-related artifacts recovered at the Houston-LeCompt site as part a Route 301 data recovery project by Dovetail Cultural Resource Group. The site was occupied in rural Delaware from the mid-18th century until about 1930, and it is representative of the evolution of a typical middle-class clothing assemblage. Eighteenth-century artifacts illustrate specific forms for different garments while a decline in artifacts in the early 19th century corresponds to the rise of ephemeral styles with less hardware. As industrialization ratcheted up, artifact quantities increased until the 20th-century tenant farmers of Houston-LeCompt wore and discarded cheap fasteners and accessories with relative abandon. Using period portraits, extant clothing, historic sales catalogs, and assemblages from comparable sites, all artifacts are presented in a visual context to reconstruct modest wardrobes from undies and jock straps to outerwear and accessories. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• New Highway Uncovers New Histories: Archaeology Mitigations From the U.S. Route 301 Mega Project in Delaware

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 115