Setting the Table in 19Th Century St. Louis: the Utility of Glass Tableware Analysis in the Archaeology of Domesticity and Consumerism
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BearWorks MSU Graduate Theses Spring 2016 Setting The Table In 19Th Century St. Louis: The Utility Of Glass Tableware Analysis In The Archaeology Of Domesticity And Consumerism Grace Lynn Gronniger As with any intellectual project, the content and views expressed in this thesis may be considered objectionable by some readers. However, this student-scholar’s work has been judged to have academic value by the student’s thesis committee members trained in the discipline. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Gronniger, Grace Lynn, "Setting The Table In 19Th Century St. Louis: The Utility Of Glass Tableware Analysis In The Archaeology Of Domesticity And Consumerism" (2016). MSU Graduate Theses. 2386. https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/2386 This article or document was made available through BearWorks, the institutional repository of Missouri State University. The work contained in it may be protected by copyright and require permission of the copyright holder for reuse or redistribution. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SETTING THE TABLE IN 19th CENTURY ST. LOUIS: THE UTILLITY OF GLASS TABLEWARE ANALYSIS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF DOMESTICITY AND CONSUMERISM A Masters Thesis Presented To The Graduate College of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science, Applied Anthropology By Grace Lynn Gronniger May 2016 Copyright 2016 by Grace Lynn Gronniger ii SETTING THE TABLE IN 19th CENTURY ST. LOUIS: THE UTILLITY OF GLASS TABLEWARE ANALYSIS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF DOMESTICITY AND CONSUMERISM Department of Sociology and Anthropology Missouri State University, May 2016 Master of Science Grace Lynn Gronniger ABSTRACT The historical archaeology of domesticity and consumption relies heavily on the analysis of ceramic tableware artifacts. Few archaeologists have seriously incorporated analyses of glass tableware into this body of research, even though glass tableware was intensively marketed and is a common and durable domestic artifact class. My research addresses this problem through a study of glass tableware from Victorian Age (1830s – 1900s) residential sites in St. Louis, Missouri. This is done, in part, by adapting methods of historic ceramic artifact analysis to the analysis of historic glassware. Applying it in a historical archaeological study of household consumption in relation to domesticity in Victorian age St. Louis assesses the utility of this method. The results indicate that whether it is used independently or in conjunction with ceramic analysis, glass tableware analysis can contribute significantly to the historical archaeology of domesticity and consumption. Archaeologists can do this painlessly by using the method developed and applied in this study, rather than continue to fail to take advantage of the contributions of glass tableware analysis. KEYWORDS: historical archaeology, 19th century, St. Louis, glass tableware, domesticity, consumerism This abstract is approved as to form and content _______________________________ Elizabeth Sobel, PhD Chairperson, Advisory Committee Missouri State University iii SETTING THE TABLE IN 19th CENTURY ST. LOUIS: THE UTILLITY OF GLASS TABLEWARE ANALYSIS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF DOMESTICITY AND CONSUMERISM By Grace Lynn Gronniger A Masters Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College Of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science, Applied Anthropology May 2016 Approved: _______________________________________ Elizabeth Sobel, PhD _______________________________________ Scott Worman, PhD _______________________________________ William Meadows, PhD _______________________________________ Julie Masterson, PhD: Dean, Graduate College iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following people for their support during the course of my graduate studies. Thank you to my parents for putting up with me while I wrote this. Thank you to my advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Sobel, for guiding me. Thank you to my other committee members, Dr. Scott Worman and Dr. Bill Meadows, for your objective advice. Finally, thank you to Michael Meyer at the Missouri Department of Transportation for all of your help with the site collections and archival materials, without which I would have no project. I dedicate this thesis to my grandmother, Portia Brayfield, who instilled in me a love of antiques and history. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 History and Archaeology of Glass Tableware in the U.S. ...................................................3 Glass Tableware in the U.S. .....................................................................................4 Glass Tableware in Historical Archaeology ..........................................................12 History and Archaeology of Domesticity and Consumption in the U.S. ...........................23 Domesticity and Consumption in 19th Century U.S. .............................................23 Historical Archaeology of Domesticity and Consumption in 19th Century U.S. ........................................................................................................................34 Study Sites .........................................................................................................................39 Mississippi River Bridges Project ..........................................................................39 Mullanphy Park Site ..............................................................................................40 Worthy Women’s Site............................................................................................41 McGuire-Newell Site .............................................................................................42 Methods..............................................................................................................................50 Creating a Glass Tableware Analysis System .......................................................51 Archaeological Data Collection .............................................................................64 Archival Data Collection .......................................................................................65 Statistical Methods .................................................................................................67 Results ................................................................................................................................76 Correlations Among Variables ..............................................................................78 Mullanphy Park Site ..............................................................................................86 Worthy Women’s Site............................................................................................93 McGuire-Newell Site ...........................................................................................104 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................110 Discussion and Conclusions ............................................................................................157 Development of a Method to Investigate Glass Tableware Consumption ..........157 A Case Study from Historic St. Louis .................................................................158 Implications Concerning 19th Century American Domestic Ideologies ..............164 Conclusions ..........................................................................................................167 Future Studies ......................................................................................................169 Contributions of this Study ..................................................................................170 References ........................................................................................................................174 Appendices ......................................................................................................................193 Appendix A. Vessel Data .....................................................................................193 vi Appendix B. Census Data ....................................................................................235 Appendix C. City Directory Data ........................................................................277 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Important Glass Manufacture Dates in the United States ....................................17 Table 2. Nineteenth Century Gender Ideologies ................................................................38 Table 3. Overview of HISCLASS (Historical Class Scheme) Ranks ................................70 Table 4. Digitized Glass Tableware Catalogs from Corning Museum of Glass ................71 Table 5. Feature Information ...........................................................................................112 Table 6. Associated Address Information ........................................................................113 Table 7. Family Composition Data for Household Associated with Sampled Features 114 Table 8.