Date of Award

Spring 5-28-2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Historical Archaeology

First Advisor

Dr. Stephen Mrozowski

Second Advisor

Dr. Christa Beranek

Third Advisor

Dr. Heather Trigg

Abstract

Industrialization rapidly changed the cultural and socioeconomic landscape of Central Massachusetts in the mid-19th century, shifting the region from a primarily agricultural society into one increasingly focused on industrial manufacturing. This, combined with the emerging middle class, created new class structures and expressions that were ever more defined by labor, ethnicity, and consumption habits and behaviors. Due to their location on the outskirts of town, the types of labor they performed, and in some cases their status as immigrants, those living at the Hassanamesit Woods Augustus Salisbury (HWAS) site in Grafton, Massachusetts from 1850 to 1890 would have likely been seen as working-class by their contemporaries. This thesis analyzes the bottle glass from HWAS to examine the occupants’ experiences of being working-class and the ways they navigated these class perceptions amidst rapid cultural and economic change. Interrogating HWAS residents’ consumption of bottled products such as alcohol and proprietary medicines offers insights into their labor experiences, their engagements with or resistance to the temperance movement, their healthcare practices and ethnomedical beliefs, and their expressions of class identity. Additionally, documentary research and identification of specific branded bottled products with tight date ranges allow for attribution of artifacts to particular individuals and family groups. This creates opportunities to gain evocative insights into the experiences of those such as Civil War veteran shoemakers, immigrant factory workers, and even a single mother with eight children. Thus, this work reveals the myriad ways working-class people of varying backgrounds navigated their position during this context of change and uncertainty brought by industrialization.

Comments

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