Into the Lumberjacks Life: An Archaeological Study of Quebec’s 20th Century Lumber Camps

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Communicating Working Class Heritage in the 21st Century: Values, Lessons, Methods, and Meanings" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

I present the preliminary results of an archaeological investigation conducted at a 1940s lumber camp site in the Temiscouata region of eastern Québec. Combining archaeology and oral history, I capture the daily life and struggles faced by the communities of lumberjacks, as the industrial labour experience is often overlooked by larger historical narratives. Excavations revealed a rich, standardized and homogenous material culture suggesting an environment selected and controlled by the lumber company. Considering the equalizing effect of this industrial capitalist context, what is the evidence of people’s choices and reactions? I suggest that the recovery of hundreds of medicine bottles and alcohol bottles reveal workers’ personal strategies, dynamic consumption behavior to cope with difficult working conditions. I emphasize the unique archaeological context of lumber camps and their potential for exploring the use and appropriation of specific types of goods that channelled a sense of control over the worker’s stringent environment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Communicating Working Class Heritage in the 21st Century: Values, Lessons, Methods, and Meanings

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 262