Aaron Chapman // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 The button. In the eighteenth century, buttons were an essential part of some articles of clothing, though not the same ones we might see today. On women’s clothing, buttons were an unlikely sight.[1] Primarily, you would expect to find buttons prominently featured on a man’s […]
Read MoreCasey Wolf // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 On 22 November 1761, death had come to the Gunston Hall Plantation in Fairfax County, Virginia. The deceased was Sempha Rosa Enfield Mason Dinwiddie Bronaugh—mother to Captain William Bronaugh and the daughter of George Mason II.[1] Prior to marrying Jeremiah Bronaugh, she was the widow of John Dinwiddie—a […]
Read MoreAndrew Abbott // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 It is 1761 in Fairfax County, Virginia. You feel a pain in your abdomen that will not go away. What can you do to make the pain go away? You can go see a physician to get your ailment diagnosed and treated, if you can afford it. Alternatively, you […]
Read MoreCaroline Cook // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 Before currency was regulated in America, purchasing items on debit and credit was a common practice. This not only eliminated currency conversion between colonies, but would also spread out different types of goods within different areas. Many items fluctuated in popularity and could be seasonal, […]
Read MoreJoel McCrickard // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Among the many items bought and sold at the Colchester store (1760-1761) in Fairfax County, Virginia, was a rather timeless piece, an almanac.[1] Almanacs were yearly books that kept records of the special events happening each year, of statistical or important information, and of weather patterns. For this […]
Read MoreBrandon Plumlee // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Nowadays, we say that money doesn’t grow on trees. In colonial Virginia it didn’t grow on trees either, but it did grow on gold-green shrubs. As can be seen in the Glassford and Henderson accounts, clients to the Colchester store (1760-1761) overwhelmingly used tobacco to purchase their goods and […]
Read MoreRhiannon O’Neil // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Throughout much of their domesticated history, horses have been considered expensive animals to own. Many societies considered the animal as a mark of status.[1] That was true even in British colonial America. Not native to the American continent, horses were introduced by Europeans who ventured across the ocean. […]
Read MoreDanielle Roper // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 Calamanco shoes were a women’s shoe in the 18th century that were often purchased and worn by members of the upper class. Calamanco is a glossy woolen cloth that is checkered on one side. Lower class women’s shoes would be made of a more durable […]
Read MoreJoseph Swiderski // AMH 4110.0M01—Colonial America, 1607-1763 In colonial America, tobacco was one of the most influential crops in cultivation. Colonies like Virginia profited heavily from its agricultural success. The successful cultivation of tobacco began when John Rolfe planted South American tobacco seeds called Nicotiana tobacum in 1612. From there, “tobacco production spread from the Tidewater area […]
Read MoreRobyn Doran // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 When one thinks of the world of the eighteenth century, especially related to trade and commerce, one may think of small stores with raw goods, the sale of tobacco, or gold and silver coins being scooped up by a store merchant. What one might not consider […]
Read MoreJennifer Markowitz // AMH 4110.0M01– Colonial America, 1607-1763 Bridles, a device still used on horses today, played a huge role even in colonial times. Horses were the fastest source of land transportation during colonial times, which meant that bridles were extremely important to help control and direct the horse. Essentially, everyone who owned a horse had to […]
Read MoreJohn Lancaster // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Though largely grown in the West Indies, sugar became an important good for both colonial Americans and British subjects across the Atlantic. Though Virginians like Alexander Henderson—who owned a general store in Colchester—understood their climate was unsuitable for growing sugar at the same rates the West Indies […]
Read MoreEdwin Velez // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Firearms played a pivotal role in the maintenance and defense of the North American colonies. After a slow start, guns became more common in colonial households and would come to play a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War.[1] Guns were first introduced to America by the Spanish […]
Read MoreJeremy M. Bell // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 If you had a hogshead, what would you do with it? Would you drink out of your hogshead? How about pack it full of tobacco to save for later? Would you pack it full of sugar maybe? Well, if you were living in colonial America […]
Read MoreJason Bernstein // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Whenever we look back on the colonial period of American history, we always look to the relationships amongst the Native Americans, the colonial economy, and the events leading up to the American Revolution. But there are several aspects that go under the radar, such as diet, […]
Read MoreAmanda Eversz // AMH 4110.0M01—Colonial America, 1607-1763 We can gain some insight into the economic priorities of those living in colonial Virginia from an account ledger from John Glassford and Alexander Henderson’s Colchester store in Fairfax County dating back to 1760-1761 which contained an accounting record for the overseer, Jeremiah Thomas, of Colonel Thomas Lee’s […]
Read MoreJoseph Lolli // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 When looking at any documents from the past, you must understand that the words used in their time may mean something completely different than they mean today. Depending on how far back you go, you will also have to become patient with simple things like spelling because […]
Read MoreGriffin Bixler // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 In the mid-eighteenth century, several stores in Fairfax County, Virginia, were owned by two men, John Glassford and Alexander Henderson. Their store ledgers contain vast amounts of information about their customers, their credit, and the goods they bought. One interesting case within the ledger for the Colchester […]
Read MoreAustin Browning // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 As many may already know, water wasn’t always clean or fit for human consumption in colonial America which required another source for beverages: alcohol. By the 1750s, rum became a large import to the colonies as the primary beverage of choice.[1] We saw this consumption […]
Read MoreJordi Pelayo // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Clothing is a status symbol. If you have the nicest pants on the block, chances are they were expensive, and you bought them to show off. The clothing people buy tells us about who they are and for what purpose the clothing is intended. Cotton is […]
Read MoreChristopher José // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 To find answers from the past, historians search endlessly through documents of all types, even store ledgers. These answers result in the researcher being able to glimpse into the past and learn from it. In the end, we better understand the culture and methods of those who […]
Read MoreMatthew Gray // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 Imagine you wake up one day in colonial America, with no idea why you are there or how you got there. What is the first thing you need to do? Get some clothes so that you fit in and not draw people’s unwanted attention. You […]
Read MoreJason FitzGerald // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 The concept of colonial America being a rural environment when compared to a richly expanding British empire probably sticks in most people’s minds when discussing the finer things of life and items made with elaborate materials. The comb, a very common instrument, holds little value […]
Read MoreCanon Jones // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 You never hear salt talked about like other spices used in the 18th century. You never hear some high-class socialite talking in his diary about the shipment of salt he got from some exotic place and how expensive it was. No, you do not hear […]
Read MoreChristain Ragar // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 The commodities of gunpowder and shot (lead ammunition) were not only common staples in eighteenth-century American households. These two items were versatile and pragmatic. Gunpowder and shot were certainly used to place food on the table; however, they also were significant for personal protection in an […]
Read MoreSarah Green // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 For most, silks are a fabric associated with the finer things. Silk is a rich, luxury fabric by today’s standards but what about in eighteenth-century America? Silk was as favored back then as it is now. While examining ledger pages from the Glassford and Henderson Colchester […]
Read MoreKayla Davis // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 When reading about colonial life in the British colonies during the mid-eighteenth century, it is easy to think of their consumer habits as idyllic or self-reliant, as we often reference the homespun movement preceding the American Revolution.[1] Beginning in 1765, after the implementation of the Townshend Acts, this […]
Read MoreJames Wilson // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 After looking through the Ready Money account (1760-1761) of Glassford and Henderson’s Colchester store in Virginia, there were a few items that stuck out to me because I had no idea what they were. One of which was Osnaburg, having never heard of this, I […]
Read MoreNoelle Robison // AMH 4110.0M01 – Colonial America, 1607-1763 Alcohol, rum specifically, was consumed regularly and at all times of the day in the British colonies of North America. The Colchester store ledger from 1760-1761 in Fairfax, Virginia, shed light on this observation. Almost every account listed in the folios have entries regarding the purchase of […]
Read MoreAyla Lupien // AMH 4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 By looking back on the ledgers written by Alexander Henderson, a merchant for a store in Colchester, Virginia, in the 1700s, we can learn a lot about the way people lived, the necessities that they purchased, and luxuries that only the wealthy could afford.[1] We […]
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