Part 4

In 1859, drillers in Pennsylvania brought in the nation’s first producing oil well, an event that was to alter radically the lives of generations of Americans. The first revolution achieved by this versatile new fuel was not in mechanical power, but in lighting. A working oil field made possible the manufacture of kerosene, a promising coal and petroleum-based illuminant that had been patented in New York in 1854 but had not been put into production because of the scarcity of one of its principal ingredients. Kerosene burned more brightly, steadily, and efficiently than almost any known fuel except gas, which suffered from the twin disadvantages of requiring immovable fixtures in the wall or ceiling, and of being generally unavailable outside large urban areas. The abundance of petroleum from the Pennsylvania fields made kerosene one of the cheapest fuels available, and by the mid-1860s, its use had far outstripped that of gas lighting. In many rural areas, it remained the only practical form of household lighting until electrification of these areas in the 1930s.

Early kerosene lamps often resembled the oil lamps of the first half of the century, and many were oil lamps converted to kerosene. Among the new designs that became popular in the 1870s was the adjustable student or reading lamp (Figs. 26 and 27), an 1863 Prussian invention used through the early twentieth century. In the 1880s decorated lamp chimneys came into fashion. One of the earliest, simplest, and most enduring of these styles was the familiar “pearl top” chimney rim, patented by the George A. Macbeth Company in 1883 (Fig. 28). Similar crimped rims were produced by the Thomas Evans Company, which in 1899 merged with Macbeth to become, by virtue of a semiautomatic lamp chimney machine, the nation’s largest glass chimney manufacturer. Demand for glass lamp chimneys was curtailed by the spread of electric power in the early twentieth century, and, although it continued in production, the lamp chimney industry did not fully mechanize until after the 1920s.

LABORATORY GLASS

Figure 29 is a laboratory beaker of a type manufactured in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, probably a relic of William and Susan Middleton’s inventor son Henry. It is free-blown in lead glass, one of many glass compositions used for American laboratory equipment before Corning Glass Works introduced low-expansion Pyrex glass in 1915.

Henry lived at Middleton Place with his parents until the 1870s, when he went to study at Cambridge University under the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Henry lived in England until his death in 1932.

CONCLUSIONS

The artifacts from the Middleton Place privy present a unique opportunity to observe one aspect of this plantation’s past. This collection of ceramics, bottles, and other items constitute the refuse discarded by the occupants of Middleton Place following the Civil War. It reflects their needs and tastes and represents an unconscious record of activities a century ago. Artifacts in the collection include items from an earlier time as well as things purchased throughout the last half of the nineteenth century.

These materials also reveal much about the privy’s history. When compared with collections discarded around contemporary buildings, the artifacts from Middleton Place are similar to those often associated with abandoned buildings. The artifacts in the Middleton Place privy, then, are likely to have been deposited there, not as the result of day-to-day living, but as a consequence of cleaning out the rubbish of the house’s earlier occupants. We may identify the privy artifacts as a collection of items accumulated during a time of refurbishing as in the 1920s when J. J. Pringle Smith moved into the family residence and began restoring it.

Although interesting and informative as individual objects, the privy artifacts are much more informative as an “assemblage” resulting from past activities. The archeologist must study assemblages, like pieces of a puzzle, to reconstruct, interpret, and explain past events that produced them. It is important to record carefully all the artifacts found together as well as their relationships to one another and to the deposit from which they were removed. Artifacts taken from the ground without proper recording are removed from their archeological context, and the information they hold is forever lost. Aimless “treasure” digging has destroyed much of our historical heritage. The Middleton Place privy collection illustrates how proper care, recording, and analysis can reveal new information. With foresight and planning, archeology can increase knowledge of the past for ourselves and for future generations.

APPENDIX I CERAMIC MANUFACTURERS’ MARKS

A. Arthur J. Wilkinson, Royal Staffordshire Pottery, Burslem, Staffordshire. White ironstone plate, 1891-1896. B. John Edwards, Fenton, Staffordshire. White ironstone plate, c. 1891-1900. C. John Maddock and Sons, Burslem, Staffordshire. White ironstone plate, 1891-1896. D. C. C. Thompson & Co., East Liverpool, Ohio. White ironstone nappy, 1884-1889. E. Limoges, France. White porcelain saucer, c. 1875. F. Haviland & Co., Limoges, France. White porcelain plate, c. 1876-1891. G. Unidentified mark, decal-printed porcelain plate. H. John and George Alcock, Cobridge, Staffordshire. Light blue, transfer-printed bowl, 1839-1846. I. Josiah Wedgwood, Burslem, Staffordshire. Impressed on creamware sauce tureen, 1769 to present. J. Unidentified impressed mark, white porcelain platter.

APPENDIX II SIGNIFICANT DATES IN THE AMERICAN GLASS INDUSTRY

First three-piece hinged mold c. 1808 Two-piece hinged mold first used in America by 1809 First widespread use of slanting collar finish c. 1820 Ricketts patent for three-piece mold with lettered base 1821 First side-lever glass press late 1820s “Lacy” pressed glass 1820s-1840s Popularity of smooth-patterned pressed glass tableware c. 1840s-1880s sets Development of jawed lipping tool for bottles pre-1840 Amasa Stone receives first U.S. patent for lipping tool 1856 Introduction into U.S. of non-pontil holding devices late 1840s-1850s for bottles Formula for kerosene patented by Abraham Gesner 1854 Development of two-piece mold with separate post base pre-1858 Mason jar patent 1858 Blow-back mold in general use c. 1858-1900 First oil well in Pennsylvania leads to widespread use 1859 of kerosene fueled lamps Introduction of French Square pharmacy bottles early 1860s Student lamp patented in Prussia 1863 Leighton formula for improved lime glass 1864 Development of plate mold for embossed bottles pre-1867 Widespread embossing of bottles 1860s-1920s Empontilling of bottles almost entirely replaced by 1870s use of holding devices Greatest popularity of turn-molded bottles 1870s-1920s Student lamp introduced in U.S. 1870s Louis Pasteur developed sterilization techniques for 1870 beer Anheuser-Busch begins first commercial bottling of early 1870s American beer Heavily embossed and colored poison bottles 1872-1930s Improved finishing processes result in smoother and by 1880 more uniformly applied bottle finishes Argobast patent for semiautomatic press-and-blow 1881 machine for wide-mouthed jars H. W. Putnam acquires patent rights for lightning 1882 stopper Borosilicate glass developed in Germany 1883 Macbeth-Evans Co. patents “pearl top” lamp chimney 1883 William Painter patents crown cap 1892 Enterprise Glass Co. puts Argobast semiautomatic into 1893 commercial production South Carolina dispensary system 1893-1907 Michael Owens patents semiautomatic turn-molding 1894 machine for light bulbs, tumblers, and lamp chimneys First lamp chimney and tumbler production on Owens 1898 turn-mold machine Most wide-mouthed jars produced on semiautomatic by 1901 machines Owens automatic bottle machine patented 1903 Owens machine put into commercial production: first 1904 narrow-necked machine-made bottles First production of narrow-necked bottles on _c._ 1907 semiautomatic machines Corning Glass Works develops Pyrex heat-resistant glass 1915 Use of manganese to decolor glass 1917 State prohibition law goes into effect in South 1916 Carolina National beer and wine production halted under Wartime 1918-1920 Food Control Act and Volstead Act National prohibition of alcohol under eighteenth 1920-1933 amendment and Volstead Act Machine-made bottles comprise 90% of total United 1925 States production

APPENDIX III MARKS LEFT BY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES OF BOTTLE MANUFACTURE

Free-blown bottles usually date before the second half of the nineteenth century and are characterized by an absence of mold lines of any sort. Because no molds were used, these bottles are often asymmetrical. Dip-molded bottles, or bottles molded for basic body shape below the shoulder, are also generally pre-Civil War and can only tentatively be distinguished from free-blown bottles by their symmetry below the shoulder and a slight tapering from shoulder to base. Bottles blown in a two-piece mold have mold lines extending up two opposite sides, usually to just below the tooled lip. On early nineteenth century bottles of this sort, the mold lines continue across the center of the base, but after the 1850s, most two-piece molds had a separate base part, either a cup bottom, in which the seam encircled the outer edge of the base, or a post bottom, which left a circular seam on the bottom of the bottle. Most bottles from the Middleton Place privy were blown in two-piece molds with cup bottoms.

The three-piece mold leaves a single horizontal line around the shoulder of the bottle, and vertical lines extending up either side of the shoulder. The height of these lines can vary from partway up the shoulder to nearly to the top of the neck. A turn-molded bottle has been rotated in the mold to erase mold marks and will exhibit faint horizontal scratches and striations on the body and neck.

Embossing, very popular after the Civil War, usually consists of the name of a company or product printed in raised letters on the sides or base of the bottle. Isolated numbers and letters on or just above the base are usually, but not always, mold numbers used by the manufacturer for identification. Embossed letters are sometimes carved into the body of the mold, but for smaller runs a plate mold, with a removable lettered plate on one or more sides, was used.

Mold lines on bottles finished with a specialized lipping tool are usually obliterated by faint horizontal striations extending to about a quarter inch below the lip. The two-piece blow-back mold, however, leaves mold seams to the very edge of the lip, and a lip surface that has been ground smooth rather than shaped with a lipping tool.

A pontil mark is a circular scar left on the base by the iron rod used to hold the bottle for finishing the neck and lip. Although there are many different methods of empontilling, only two types of marks were found on bottles from the Middleton Place privy. One is a “sand pontil mark,” a roughened grainy area covering most of the base, apparently the result of dipping the glasscoated pontil iron in sand before attaching it. The other is a “blow-pipe pontil mark,” which results from empontilling a bottle with the same pipe that was used to blow it. A blow-pipe mark is a distinct ring of glass the same size as the bottle neck.

Pressed glass is formed with a plunger in a mold on one or more pieces. Pressed glass items are comparatively thick-walled, have smooth molded lips, usually with mold seams, and often are distinguished by a short, straight shear mark, like an isolated mold line, on the inside base. This mark is from the severing of the “gob” of glass before it is dropped into the mold. Bottles that are made on either automatic or semi-automatic machines will have mold lines encircling the top of the lip, as well as on the sides and base.

APPENDIX IV ARTIFACT CATALOGUE FROM THE MIDDLETON PLACE PRIVY EXCAVATION

_Artifacts_ _No. of _Minimum Fragments_ No. of Whole Items_

Ceramics Porcelain Undecorated Haviland & Co. plate 9 1 Undecorated saucer, D & Co., Limoges 5 1 Undecorated saucer 6 1 Undecorated plates 17 2 Undecorated platter 13 2 Gold-banded cup 9 1 “Cornflower” pattern tea or bread plate 4 1 Decal-printed tea plate or saucer, hallmark Alice / 5 1 Austria Decal-printed Austrian teacup 11 1 British meat dish, hand-painted oriental design 16 1 Chinese export porcelain serving dishes 4 4 Creamware Banded Wedgwood sauce tureen 1 1 Undecorated baker 1 1 Whiteware J & G Alcock “Tyrol” pattern transfer-printed bowl 5 1 Blue transfer-printed mug, rural English scene 6 1 Fragment of blue transfer-printed cup or bowl, 1 1 bucolic scene Undecorated ironstone or graniteware nappy 5 1 Undecorated ironstone or graniteware plates 23 4 Undecorated ironstone or graniteware cup 1 1 Molded white ironstone chamber pot 4 1 English majolica pitcher handle 1 1 Glass Tableware “Four Band” style pressed glass tumbler 1 1 Fluted pressed glass tumbler 2 1 “Thumbprint” style pressed glass tumbler 5 1 Engraved tumbler, floral design 1 1 Wheel-cut champagne flute glass 2 1 “Almond Thumbprint” pressed wine glass 1 1 “Mascotte” pattern pressed wine glass 1 1 Pressed glass lid 2 1 Cut glass pitcher 9 1 Fluted cut glass decanters 8 2 Free-blown bowls 75 2 Bottles and Jars Food Containers Armour & Co. beef extract jar, white milk glass 1 1 Olive oil bottles, aquamarine glass 2 2 American preserve jar, clear glass 4 1 Alcohol Bottles Palmetto Brewing Co. champagne beer bottle, 1 1 aquamarine glass Export beer bottles, amber glass 2 2 South Carolina Dispensary Jo-Jo flask, clear glass 4 1 South Carolina Dispensary Jo-Jo flask, aquamarine 3 1 glass South Carolina Dispensary cylindrical whiskey 2 1 bottle, clear glass Unembossed Union flasks, amber glass 15 2 Unembossed Union flask, aquamarine glass 1 1 Rhine Wine sample bottle, amber glass 1 1 Dark Green wine or spirits bottles 21 4 Medicine Bottles Panknin Apothecary plate-molded prescription 3 3 bottles, French Square shape, clear glass Panknin Apothecary plate-molded prescription 4 4 bottles. Philadelphia oval shape, clear glass Unembossed French square prescription bottles, clear 20 14 glass Narrow-mouthed round prescription bottles, clear 2 2 glass Narrow-mouthed round prescription bottles, 3 3 aquamarine glass Narrow-mouthed round prescription bottles, light 1 1 green glass Wide-mouthed round prescription bottles, clear glass 3 3 Unembossed Baltimore oval prescription bottle, clear 1 1 glass Unembossed Philadelphia oval prescription bottles, 2 2 clear glass Unembossed taper neck oval prescription bottles, 2 2 clear glass Neck fragment from round or oval prescription 1 1 bottle, clear glass Paneled pharmacy bottles, clear glass 26 3 Paneled pharmacy bottle aquamarine glass 1 1 Free-blown apothecary vials, aquamarine glass 8 4 Maltine Mf’g Co. bottle, double Philadelphia oval 1 1 shape, amber glass Keasbey & Mattison Bromo-Caffeine bottle, round, 1 1 cobalt blue Rumford Chemical Works Horsford Acid Phosphate 1 1 bottle, octagonal, blue-green glass Bullock & Crenshaw decagonal vial, clear lead glass 1 1 Unidentified embossed French square bottle, amber 5 1 glass Whitall Tatum quilted poison bottle, cobalt blue 1 1 Ointment or Cosmetic Jars White milk glass patch box with lid 2 1 Aubry Sisters white milk glass screw top ointment pot 1 1 Pharmaceutical Accessories Corks 2 2 Clear glass Lubin stopper 1 1 Clear glass medicine dropper 2 1 Ink, Glue, and Polish Bottles Clear glass conical ink bottles, machine-made, 1 1 Carter’s Ink Co. Clear glass cylinder ink bottle, machine-made 1 1 Amber glass conical ink bottle, blow-molded 1 1 Bell mucilage bottle, aquamarine glass 2 1 British brown stoneware blacking or master ink bottle 1 1 Tappan’s Relucent gold and silver polish bottle 1 1 Ink bottle cork 1 1 Lamp Glass Student lamp chimney 2 1 “Pearl top” and crimped lamp chimney 19 4 Laboratory Glass Pontil-marked beaker 2 1 Metal Pewter Spoon 1 1 Brass curtain rings 7 7 Pill box with lid 1 1 Square-cut spike 1 1 Machine-cut nails 4 4 Hand-wrought nails 3 3 Hazel hoe 1 1 Coins Liberty head quarters 5 5 Liberty head nickel 1 1 Personal Items French toothbrushes 2 2 Lady’s leather shoe heel 2 1 White clay pipestem 1 1 Other Isinglass stove windows 3 3 Delft tile fragment 1 1 Terracotta drainpipe fragment 1 1 Window glass 1 1 Slate tile fragment 1 1 TOTAL 473 164

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The information contained in this booklet is a partial synopsis of archeological reports published by the Institute of Archeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, as Numbers 148 and 174 of the _Research Manuscript Series_. For a detailed treatment of the history and archeology of Middleton Place, and a complete listing of bibliographic sources, the reader is referred to _Middleton Place: initial archeological investigations at an Ashley River rice plantation_ by Kenneth E. Lewis and Donald L. Hardesty (1979), and _The Middleton Place privy: disposal behavior and the archeological record_ by Kenneth E. Lewis and Helen W. Haskell (1981). General reference works on historical archeology and artifacts are listed below.