A Patriotic Creamer

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

A tenet of historic archaeological research is that when ceramic vessels are purchased, they have certain meanings for those who choose to and are able to acquire them. Whether or not we can correctly interpret these meanings is a matter of debate. Do we know enough about the economics of the time period, the methods of manufacturing ceramics, their availability, the social or other information that is encoded in their designs, and can we eliminate the bias of the present? A recent volume of the journal of the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology was devoted to the manufacture and archaeological remnants of “Philadelphia queensware”, a refined earthenware made in Philadelphia during the early 19th century as a replacement for English creamware. This paper draws on information in that volume to consider the possible reasons for the purchase and curation of a yellow-glazed creamer made in a style resembling Castleford teapots.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow