Scholars in Action: Analyzing an 1804 Inventory
Scholars In Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This 1804 inventory lists the possessions of Thomas Springer of New Castle County, Delaware. Legal documents, such as tax records or probate inventories, often provide our only information about the lifestyles of ordinary people during the colonial and early national periods. Such listings of household possessions, from a time when household goods were not widely mass produced, can illuminate a fair amount about a family's routines, rituals, and social relations, as well as about a region's economy and its connections to larger markets. This inventory also contains items that suggest attitudes and policies toward slavery in the Mid-Atlantic states.
Producer History Matters
Website: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/inventory.htm