Material
Culture
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Consumerism and the New Economy
The diverse assemblage of artifacts
collected from the Monroe Street neighborhood,
including several types of foodstuff wares,
household items, medicines, and decorated
ceramic wares, demonstrates that a significant
part of life in this working class neighborhood
was the purchase of commercially available
consumer goods and the increasing role that
mass consumerism was beginning to play in
peoples lives at that time. |
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During the late-19th- and early-20th-centuries,
many people who were disenfranchised by
the economic and political systems of the
time turned to a new economy built on mass
consumerism as a way to voice their preferences,
opinions, develop identities, and to exert
some force on the controlling factions of
society. By using acquisition of commercial
goods as part of their collective voice,
African-Americans were able to form a national
identity and influence the development of
consumerism, one of the dominant forces
in modern society. |
Fifty-four manufacturers and retailers
have been identified from the artifacts
collected at BRVB. These businesses
represent four countries, fifteen
states, and thirty-two cities. Although
not the tightly woven global economy
we know today, the material culture
from the 19th- and early-20th-century
Monroe Street neighborhood demonstrates
a strong connection to the eastern
United States and to Europe.
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European countries
were especially prevalent in the manufacture
of non-essential luxury goods such
as decorated ceramics and toiletry
items. However, the eastern states
of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,
and the Midwest states of Ohio and
Illinois account for the majority
of American manufacturers and retailers
that produced a wide range of commercial
goods found in the BRVB collection.
At the start of the 20th century,
these areas represented the dominant
commercial industrial base of the
country. Because of their location
and access to waterways and rail systems
these areas were more competitive
at national and global levels.
Regional market influence is also
evident at BRVB with many goods from
regional market centers such as Kansas
City, Topeka, St. Louis, and Minneapolis
represented in the collection. These
market centers were less able to compete
at the national market scale and therefore
operated primarily within regional
areas, where costs to get products
from the factory to the consumer were
lower.
Similar to many small towns at the
turn of the century, Topeka and the
Monroe School neighborhood show both
connections to the local community
and larger, more widespread economic
networks throughout the United States
and Europe. The materials collected
from BRVB are seemingly dominated
by national market brands. However,
regional and local brands are also
present in sufficient numbers representing
a significant part of the consumer
economy. Based on this information,
it is evident that the inhabitants
of the Monroe School neighborhood
were participating in consumer activities
which were part of the market developments
and interactions on local, regional,
national, and global scales. By participating
in these economic arenas, neighborhood
inhabitants were beginning to play
a more prominent role in American
life. This role would continue to
increase and began to influence larger
social issues such as school segregation
and the fight for civil rights. NEXT
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