SELECTED MATERIAL CULTURE  STUDIES

CITY LIFE ON THE MIDWESTERN FRONTIER 1820-1840

Salvage excavations at several sites within the antebellum limits of St. Louis have provided an impressive sample of refined ceramic vessels (pearlware and whiteware) as well unrefined wares, container glass, faunal remains, and the first examples of French faience recovered archaeologically in the city. Taken together, these assemblages paint a detailed picture of material culture consumption in this urban environment during the American frontier period of the central Mississippi Valley.

CROCKERY OF TWO RIVER CITIES 1840-1870

Dozens of redware and stoneware vessels have been recovered from a number of pre-1870 features in the river cities of St. Louis and Quincy, Illinois. Included in the redware samples is a significant number of special function vessels such as pipkins and bean pots, made by regional potters.

EUROPEAN POTTERY ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI 1800-1850

Salvage excavations at several pre-1840 sites within St. Louis and New Orleans have encountered a number of assemblages containing a surprising array of European coarse earthenwares and stonewares, in use during the post colonial period in the Mississippi Valley. Included in the collections are French, Spanish and coarse earthenwares, French and German stonewares, as well as an important sample of early nineteenth century French faience.

FRONTIER BLACKSMITHING IN ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN

The Center has conducted archaeological testing at four pre-1840 blacksmith shops in Illinois and Wisconsin. Additionally, our primary documents collection recently acquired a copy of a blacksmith's daybook dating to the 1840s. Together, these materials offer an important glimpse into the blacksmith's craft on the Midwestern frontier.

CURES FOR ANTEBELLUM ILLINOIS

Ongoing tabulating of pre-1860 archaeological assemblages housed at the SAC and other institutions, as well as interviews conducted with regional bottle collectors, is generating an index of medicinal products (both regional and national), found archaeologically in Illinois and St. Louis. Goals of this project include the charting of  the growth and diversification of these products within the Illinois market during the early 19th century, as well as the interplay between regional and national products of the period.

IMPORTERS' MARKS OF ST. LOUIS 1825-1870

Extensive salvage excavations in urban centers such as St. Louis over the past 15 years have resulted in a large collection regional and non-local importers' marks on whiteware and ironstone ceramics. Additionally, our primary documents collection recently acquired a copy of a massive inventory (1850) of ceramics stocked by a Queensware importer and wholesaler in St. Louis. Such materials highlight the rapid growth of the queensware trade in St. Louis after 1830, and the importing practices of several large wholesale firms in the city before 1870.

TOBACCO PIPES  OF THE CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 1800-1860

A large number of smoking pipes from a wide range of domestic and European makers have been recovered in the Mississippi Valley region. These include the traditional white clay, long stem pipes of England, as well figural pipes from France, decorative stoneware elbow pipes of the Ohio valley, anthropomorphic redware pipes from the south, and those associated with recently discovered makers in Louisville and St. Louis.