Gathering Glass: Community Ideals and Identity in Black Boston

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Meanwhile, In the NPS Lab: Discoveries from the Collections" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Abiel Smith School, an all-black primary school was constructed between 1834 and 1835 on Beacon Hill in Boston, MA. The Smith School is central to Beacon Hill’s Black history because it helped Black Bostonians advance in society and negotiate racism through education. However, like most schoolhouses in the nineteenth century, the Smith School was a place of community gathering and activities. There was an array of glass objects excavated at the site. With the consultation of historical sources, the glass assemblage can aid in the process of reconstructing how the schoolhouse was used by the Black community, for purposes other than education, as well as providing us with insight on the Black community’s ideals and shared identities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Meanwhile, In the NPS Lab: Discoveries from the Collections   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 612