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Reviews
| Rockingham Ware in American Culture, 1830–1930: Reading Historical Artifacts. By Jane Perkins Claney. Hanover, N.H.: Univ. Press of New England, 2004. xviii+184 pp., illus., tables, appen., notes, bibl., index. $39.95 pb (ISBN 1-58465-412-0).
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During the 19th century, British ceramics dominated the American market. Domestic production of Rockingham ware, however, soon ousted the competition by merging British designs with American iconography. In Rockingham Ware in American Culture, 1830–1930, Jane Perkins Claney provides a comprehensive study of the sustained use of this ware, its production and marketing, the contexts in which it is found, and examination of its historical artifacts.
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1
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Claney's first approach was to understand Rockingham ware's market, particularly the people who considered it meaningful, and to identify any differences in its use between class and gender. Modifying the methodology of historical archaeologists, she began with a study of the people who used Rockingham ware and explored outward to the vessel itself, including its contexts and uses. As the dataset developed, new patterns emerged showing the variation between the popularity of certain forms and preferences among classes as well as variation between urban and rural settings. With this information, she was able to identify the meanings of the images on the vessels within a cultural context and among those who used the items.
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2
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Using a suite of historical resources, including catalogs, collectors' guides, manufacturer's price lists, census records, and probate information, Claney's work is well researched and contains numerous pictures, including 14 color plates, each well captioned and integrated with the text. The text itself traces the development of Claney's ideas and her discoveries about the use of Rockingham ware, resulting in an important resource for those doing any type of material culture study, whether they are historical archaeologists, industrial archaeologists, or those interested in learning how to interpret everyday items. More than that, she illustrates how any item has the potential to reveal meaningful interpretations about those who used it.
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3
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In chapter 1, Claney reviews her methodology: gathering documentary sources, examining the archaeological record, and formulating questions. During her research, Claney encountered a number of problems, including the lack of a consistent name for the ware and even its identification in the archaeological record. Claney ultimately determined that people used only certain forms of Rockingham ware and that preferences differed among classes and between urban and rural settings. Taking this information, she focused on finding functional or cultural links for using this ware.
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4
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In chapter 2, Claney provides a much-needed history of Rockingham ware production. This leads into chapter 3's discussion of the decline of the British product in the American market and domestic production and the use of American iconography.
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5
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In the fourth chapter, Claney argues that although an item may show up sparingly in the archaeological record, that does not mean the item lacks significance. Rather, this study shows that initially Rockingham ware was produced in a wide variety of forms. Through time variety decreased, illustrating the popularity and pervasive nature of the remaining forms. These particular vessel forms, as covered in chapters 5 and 6, have strong links to gender, location, and class. One particularly brilliant example is how pitchers that are associated with women portray serving the family, while pitchers that are associated with men represent self-fulfillment and excess. Claney's research also demonstrates how working-class women favored one type of Rockingham ware vessel, middle-class men in cities preferred another, and rural people yet another. Vessel forms differed along class lines as well, with teapots predominantly found in lower-class households and pitchers in middle-class households.
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6
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In Chapter 7, Claney continues her explanation of the differences between rural and urban communities in vessel use and describes how these varying forms reveal social change and cultural meanings. Although her sample size is small, the archaeology suggests those farm families who could afford to imitate the middle class by using separate cooking and serving vessels often did so. This was not always the case, and some families who could afford to imitate middle-class life simply chose not to do so.
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7
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| Perhaps the only shortcoming of this book is the conclusion. This two-page chapter does not do justice to the research covered in the preceding pages and barely glosses over some of the important discoveries Claney made. Otherwise, this book is an exemplar of its kind, useful to material cultural specialists and archaeology or material culture teachers—not just for its information on Rockingham ware but also for its detailed explanation of methodology and its use of patterns in analysis. Moreover, this book illustrates how difficult it is to correctly identify a type of ceramic, especially when the manufacturers and the sellers use different names. Finally, Claney does a great service by writing about the value of using artifacts and documents interactively to get full use of both sources. This book is a terrific resource and a good example of data-driven research. |
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