Industrialization, Deforestation, and Socioeconomic Dynamics in Ash Grove, Missouri 1880s-1930s.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "POSTER Session 1: A Focus on Cultures, Populations, and Ethnic Groups" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Our study explores socioeconomic and environmental dimensions of industrial development around Ash Grove, Missouri in the 19th and 20th centuries. Euroamericans and enslaved African Americans began settling this part of southwest Missouri in the 1820s, establishing a farm-based economy. From 1881 through the 1930s, Ash Grove’s vibrant lime industry attracted an influx of white and African American laborers, and altered the local economy and environment. Using data from excavations at African American and Euroamerican residential sites, along with archival data and oral histories, we explore how these changes differentially affected households along racial and class lines. We also present the preliminary results of documentary research investigating how harvesting wood to fuel lime kilns affected local forest composition. Our ongoing investigations highlight the roles of race and class in mediating household-scale experiences of industrialization from the late 19th through early 20th centuries.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• POSTER Session 1: A Focus on Cultures, Populations, and Ethnic Groups   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 516