Brooches, Combs, and Vaseline: The Personal Adornment Artifacts from Three Black Schoolhouses in Virginia

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

When excavating three late 19th -mid-20th century Black schoolhouse sites in Gloucester, Virginia, expected pencils, writing slate, and ink wells were recovered. But in addition to the educational artifacts, a significant amount of personal adornment artifacts was found, including jewelry, buttons, makeup, and hair combs. Photographs and oral histories of Gloucester’s black schools at this time suggest that students and teachers rarely wore jewelry and no one remembered bringing hair combs to school. This paper explores what archaeology can reveal about the fashion and public presentation of the teachers, students, and community members who used these schools and what it adds to the story of schools in the historical record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow