A Mahiole, a Revolutionary War Major, and a Cosmopolitan City; A Case for Southern Urban Places

Summary

Perched in a display case in the depths of the Charleston Museum in Charleston, SC is a seemingly out-of-place grass helmet, an artifact from Hawaii donated in 1798. At first, it may be unclear how this object has much to contribute to a museum with a mission focused on the history of Charleston and the broader lowcountry of South Carolina. However, the presence of this object in and of itself, and its itinerary that eventually brought it to America’s first museum (c. 1773) tells us a great deal about this important eighteenth-century city on the southeast coast. The following paper traces the itinerary of the "Chief’s Helmet" from Hawaii to Charleston at the turn of the nineteenth century. The itinerary of this object is a useful vehicle for understanding the character of the cosmopolitanism in a southern metropolis often dismissed as anomalous in the broader history of North American urbanization. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond and Between the Plantation; The Archaeology of "Everything But" in the American Southeast   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 186