Meaning in Artifacts: Hall Furnishings in Victorian America

Abstract

Meaning in Artifacts: Hall Furnishings in Victorian America Most people agree that Independence Hall, the statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge are important. Unique and heroic artifacts known to millions, they can be viewed as material culture counterparts of great individuals like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Edison. There is probably less agreement about the significance of Victorian hall stands, hall chairs, and card receivers. Yet the commonplace artifacts of everyday life mirror a society's values as accurately as its great monuments.1 This article extends our understanding of Victorian America by analyzing hall furnishings typical of that era. By examining artifacts such as these one can gain insights into the past not readily accessible by conventional verbal approaches. Hall furnishings have usually been outside the scope of historical inquiry. So have the majority of their users. Today, however, many historians are looking at ordinary people rather than traditional heroes and asking new sets of questions. By concentrating less on the unique and more on the typical they hope to compile an account of the past which is more responsive to contemporary needs. Reflecting both this changing orientation of history and the growing intellectual prestige of the social sciences, material culture studies are becoming more varied, rigorous, and suggestive.2 Once dominated by historians of art and technology, the field is being invaded by scholars from many different disci-