Consumer Practices and the Visibility of Identity in Antebellum St. Louis: A 1,200-Vessel Archaeological Sample from an Irish and German Neighborhood, 1845–65

Abstract

This study examines a large sample of ceramic and glass artifacts from ten privy-vault features in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, dating circa 1845–65. The features were associated with a neighborhood populated primarily by recently-arrived Irish and German immigrants. Minimum vessel counts from the samples are employed to establish the basic consumer patterning of a number of products, ranging from ceramic tablewares to bottled foods. Also examined is the frequency and character of more “folk” associated artifacts, such as regionally made crockery and smoking pipes. The visibility of cultural identity is considered in the context of large samples of domestic debris, retrieved from rarified social settings but also dominated by mass produced and mass marketed goods.