OUT OF THE SHADOWS: UNCOVERING WOMEN’S PRODUCTIVE AND CONSUMING LABOR IN THE MID-ATLANTIC, 1750-1815 by Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Fall 2017 © 2017 Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger All Rights Reserved OUT OF THE SHADOWS: UNCOVERING WOMEN’S PRODUCTIVE AND CONSUMING LABOR IN THE MID-ATLANTIC, 1750-1815 by Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger Approved: __________________________________________________________ Arwen P. Mohun, Ph.D. Chair of the Department of History Approved: __________________________________________________________ George H. Watson, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Approved: __________________________________________________________ Ann L. Ardis, Ph.D. Senior Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Cathy Matson, Ph.D. Professor in charge of dissertation I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Katherine C. Grier, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Anne M. Boylan, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee I certify that I have read this dissertation and that in my opinion it meets the academic and professional standard required by the University as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Signed: __________________________________________________________ Jennifer C. Van Horn, Ph.D. Member of dissertation committee ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Researching and writing a dissertation is often a lonely endeavor. I have been remarkably lucky to enjoy the support of a broad network of mentors, colleagues, friends, and family members during this process. I am grateful for the support of my advisor, Dr. Cathy Matson, who encouraged my interest in this topic, introduced me to a wide range of pertinent scholarship, and read through more drafts than I count. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Katherine C. Grier for sharing her knowledge of material culture methodologies and passion for object-based research; her classes first sparked my interest in the history of consumers and consumption. Dr. Anne Boylan and Dr. Jennifer C. Van Horn read and commented on portions of this dissertation and inspired me to ask new questions of my sources. The History Department faculty created an environment where I could pose questions freely, admit when I did not know something, and ask for help when I needed it. Such an environment is necessary for scholarship, and increasingly rare. I was fortunate to receive a fellowship from the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia, which allowed me to conduct research at that eminent institution as well as other libraries and archives in the region. I am thankful not only for the opportunity to engage with rich sources, but also with a tremendous community of scholars. This project would not have been possible without the help of the staff at the Library Company, the University of Delaware Library, the Winterthur Museum and Library, the Hagley Museum and Library, the Delaware Historical Society, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. iv I am grateful to Dr. Rebecca L. Davis for creating a write-on-site group for history graduate students that encouraged me to put my ideas on paper before I gained confidence in their validity and importance. I am indebted to my fellow graduate students for keeping me productive and accountable—thank you for making me “eat the frog.” I never would have made it through this process without the support of my mother, Carol, who inspired my love of history and has been my unflagging champion since day one. To my husband Keith, I owe more than I can possibly express. He has moved mountains for me. This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my father, John Jones, whose intelligence was matched only by his kindness. May we all bring such joy into the world. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………….viii INTRODUCTION: LABOR IN THE SHADOWS………………..……………………...1 Chapter 1 “A MAN MUST ASK HIS WIFE IF HE SHALL BE RICH”: HOME ACCOUNTING AND THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY, 1750-1815………..14 Household Authority and Responsibility………………………………..18 Keeping Household Accounts…………………………………………...24 The Role of Household Servants………………………………………...31 Making Meaning with Money…………………………………………...44 Legal and Customary Limitations……………………………………….48 Capturing Women’s Work and Its Meaning…………………………….58 Entangled Lives………………………………………………………….65 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….74 2 POINT OF PURCHASE: WOMEN’S CONSUMPTION, PRODUCTION, AND COMMUNITY EXCHANGE AT THE LOCAL STORE………..…....75 Visible and Invisible Shoppers…………………………………………..76 Windows of Economic Opportunity……………………………………..84 The Family Account……………………………………………………..88 Women’s Labor as Purchasing Power…………………………………...93 Purchasing Necessities and Essential Consumption…………………....101 Race and Consumption…………………………………………………105 Reckoning and Settling Accounts………………………………………109 Building Credit, Keeping Trust…………………………………………115 Brokering Community an Family Economies at the Store……………..118 Looking Inward: Storekeepers in the Community……………………...127 Conclusion………………………………………………………….......138 3 A GOOD PENNYWORTH: ASSAILING MID-ATLANTIC WOMEN’S LABOR AND LEARNING ECONOMIC SKILLS……………………..…140 vi Women’s Labor Assailed……………………………………………….140 How Women Learned Economic Skills………………………………...148 Quarrelsome Customers………………………………………………...161 Beyond the Shop………………………………………………………..164 The Revolutionary Moment…………………………………………….172 Knowledge and Gifting…………………………………………………175 Creating Meaning……………………………………………………….180 Multiple Materialities and Valuations………………………………….182 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...190 4 SINGLE WOMEN OF BUSINESS: OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS….…………………………………………………………..191 Shopkeeping Networks…………………………………………………194 Entrepreneurial Makeshift……………………………………………...204 Lodgers and Renters……………………………………………………210 Credit and Debt Linking Family to an Outside World…………………214 Family Entanglements………………………………………………….227 Investing in Land and Improvements…………………………………..233 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...239 CODA: BACK INTO THE SHADOWS?..........................................................240 BIBLIOGRAPHY………,……………………………………………………..243 vii ABSTRACT This study argues that the early American economy and the early American household rested upon women’s unpaid and unrecognized economic and social labor, and that there was often no strong delineation between the economy and the household. It moves away from studies of household authority to instead consider household responsibility: Whose labor ensured the household’s economic and social stability, allowed for engagement with the market, and pressed consumer goods into the service of household needs? If this labor failed to gain recognition when it was done well, who garnered blame when it was done badly? Most women lacked meaningful control over household finances, purchasing decisions, and labor arrangements. However, they were given major responsibilities, such as managing household accounts and dependent labor, creating resources, building family credit, and exercising skill in purchasing to bring needed goods into the home. Single white women were freed from some of these constraints, but their activities were still submerged under the heading of the family in a way that single white men’s endeavors were not.1 1 For ways that women’s agency was diminished by placing it within the context of the family, see Linda L. Sturtz, Within Her Power: Propertied Women in Colonial Virginia (New York: Routledge, 2002), 9. viii By focusing on responsibility rather than authority, we leave room to recognize women’s economic competencies without insisting these abilities garnered them power. In contrast to earlier studies, I have found widespread economic competence among women of various backgrounds in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Mid- Atlantic.2 Their lack of control over household finances did not mean these women lacked responsibility for maintaining them. Women acquired economic competence both inside and outside marriage. While widows may have had incomplete knowledge of their husbands’ businesses, they were rarely completely ignorant of household finances. Wives, servants, and other female dependents were expected to use credit instruments, control small sums of money, settle debts, and seek out and purchase consumer goods, all of which required economic knowledge.3 A large portion of women’s economic efforts in this period revolved around consumption, which I describe as a type of shadow labor. Although it involved cultivated knowledge, legwork, management of scarce resources, and decision-making skills, consumption was often abridged into the exchange of male-owned resources for finished consumer goods