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Sets And Sensibilities: The Excavation Of Ideology In Upstate New York, Christopher P. Barton, Kyle Somerville

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A growing literature on the archaeology of farmsteads and rural domestic sites has examined commodity consumption as the means by which rural families created and maintained social networks and identities. During the nineteenth century, rural areas were increasingly influenced by the practices and values of the urban middle classes, although not every farmstead would, or could, participate in the same way. This paper examines a matching teacup and saucer recovered from the Spring House, a former commercial farmstead and hotel located southeastern Monroe County, Western New York State. The tea set is decorated with transfer print depictions of Faith, Hope, …