Chapter subtitles: Wm Penn founds a new world "Experiment " --- Penn's Philadelphia becomes a living community -- Business and community grow together-- Medicine and progress didn't always march hand in hand -- Philadelphia loved the theater, but not all Philadelphians -- Music calmed many a savage Philadelphian -- The painter's brush found fertile ground in Penn's model city -- The battle between good andevil is well fought in Philadelphia -- Pleasure was where theyfound it, and often in a noggin -- Love wasn't always brotherly in Philadelphia -- Philadelphia's press reflected the growing Colonial metropolis -- Politics, as everywhere, consumed the "Holy Experiment"
Summary
The author says that he wished to portray a more realistic view of 18th century Philadelphia, rather than the often seen, romanticized version of the city. He wanted to show the down to earth life in a bustling, but less than perfect, community.
Chapters: The Puritan Ordinary // Old-time Taverns // The Tavern Landlord // Tavern Fare and Tavern Ways // Kill-devil and its Affines // Small Drink // Signs and Symbols // The Tavern in War // The Tavern Panorama // .From Path to Turnpike // Packhorse and Conestoga Wagon // Early Stage-coaches and Other Vehicles // Two Stage Veterans of Massachusetts // A Staging Centre // The Stage-driver // The Romance of the Road // The Pains of Stage-coach Travel // Knights of the Road // Tavern Ghosts
First published in 1977 and expanded in 1995, James Deetz’s "In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life" begins with a memorable anecdote of a New England appraiser who in 1658 included as his final entry to an estate’s listing—“In small things forgotten, eight shillings six penceâ€â€” in which Deetz calls attention to the appraiser’s acknowledgment that “things that he may have overlooked...nevertheless have valueâ€. Drawing from a variety of sources including ceramic dishes, funerary art on gravestones, earthfast foundation construction, shot gun houses, and tobacco pipe diameters, and with the aid of clear sketches and diagrams by Amy Elizabeth Grey, Deetz demonstrates how historical archaeology offers a fruitful lens for conducting history as an engaging and insightful alternative to textual analysis. As a colleague and friend of Henry Glassie as admitted to in his introduction, Deetz also points out how “not all the people [of modern history] were able to read and write†and thus material culture analysis—particularly historical archaeology—has the potential for a more accurate and democratic representation of history. He speaks directly to this point with his chapter entitled “the African American past†that among other points contends that historical archaeological evidence as well as textual sources suggest that the veranda, or porch, that became such a pervasive feature in the architecture of the American South during the late eighteenth century most likely came from West Africa influences rather than European traditions. Deetz reveals how rather than simply reading American slave history as one dominant culture forcing its “superior†ways upon the captive, the small everyday common objects left behind and discarded tell a very different story of how both European and African cultural traditions contributed to the distinctive Southern culture shared by both races despite written narratives contending for their separateness. Historical corrections, especially ones that restore the contributions of oppressed minorities, are prime examples of the importance and potential of looking first to material culture before turning to the written record that tends to speak less honestly than objects do. [from goodreads.com]
