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Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations pp 45–62Cite as

Domestic Production for Public Markets: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Deerfield, Massachusetts, c.1850–c.1911

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Part of the book series: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology ((CGHA))

Abstract

The prescriptive separation of gender roles during the Victorian era in America idealized domestic spaces as a “woman’s sphere.” The household was codified as a private locus for raising children, a space for the production of goods for family use, and a place that served as a cultural counterpoint to the public economic sphere of men (Wall 1994). Distinctions between public and private spaces did exist, but these separations were rarely as complete as social prescriptions advocated. At least until the mid-nineteenth century, rural women produced farm products for public markets, from eggs, butter, and cheese to textiles (McMurry 1988; Spencer-Wood 1991a: 237, 2007: 41).

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Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without the assistance of David Bosse, Abbott Lowell Cummings, Bill Flynt, Suzanne Flynt, Will Garrison, Christine Granat, Mary Hawks, Anne Lanning, Judy Lawrence, Shirley Majewski, Susan McGowan, Amelia Miller, Marla Miller, Martha Noblick, Bob Paynter, Sharmain Prouty, and Heather Van Wormer. I am especially grateful to Susan Hautaniemi Leonard and Elizabeth Harlow, whose work in Deerfield has greatly enhanced my own understandings of gendered social relations in the village. I am also indebted to Evelyn Blackwood, Benjamin Orlove, and four anonymous reviewers who provided productive suggestions on these ideas as part of an earlier essay in Current Anthropology. Their insights significantly strengthened this manuscript. Historic Deerfield, Inc. and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst provided financial and logistical support for the archaeological research that served as an integral part of this study. Agustín Fuentes and Suzanne Spencer-Wood also provided feedback on an early draft of this book chapter, which was very helpful in refining the arguments within.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, 233 Geddes Hall, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Deborah L. Rotman

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  1. Deborah L. Rotman
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Correspondence to Deborah L. Rotman .

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  1. Harvard University, Cambridge MA, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Oakland University, Rochester MI and Pea, N. Squirrel Road 2200, Rochester, 48309-4401, Michigan, USA

    Suzanne M. Spencer-Wood

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Rotman, D.L. (2013). Domestic Production for Public Markets: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Deerfield, Massachusetts, c.1850–c.1911. In: Spencer-Wood, S. (eds) Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Gender Transformations. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4863-1_3

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