From the Boston Tea Party to Disposable Lids, February 2005
Dr. Kasey Grier, Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina, came to the TAHSC Midyear Retreat to talk about things . . . literally. Interested in the study of Material Culture, Dr. Grier shared methods to learn about society from ordinary objects whether encountered in the present or the past.
Objects can be difficult to incorporate into the classroom and so the group participated in their own material culture study based on disposable hot beverage lids. Dr. Grier encouraged the group to analyze the lids' physical forms and to ask questions their use, manufacture, design, and significance. By working with a familiar object the teachers learned that material goods do reflect society. Similar questions can be used on historical artifacts to find out more about the people who encountered them at some point in the past.
The Boston Tea Party provides a case study in which using objects to tell the story can help students to understand the historical event. The paraphernalia associated with tea in the 18th Century reveals a culture that placed values of refinement and status on the ability to properly consume and serve the beverage. Looking at portraits of tea drinkers, tea services, tea caddies, and probate inventories reveals a tea-obsessed society through which students can begin to understand that the Boston Tea Party had greater cultural significance than the loss of goods intended for sale.