Small, Household Objects

Written by Kate Hughes

When considering the objects that may have populated the interior of Christian David’s house, archaeology is one of our first and best resources. The archaeological excavation conducted behind the main house of Lot 7 in 1977 revealed the stone foundation of Christian David’s house for the first time in decades, but it also unearthed many layers of artifacts. Although archaeology has its shortcomings, such as the loss and deterioration of certain materials, and potential mixture of time periods, we can use this archaeological evidence to assist in determining the types of objects Christian David may have had in and around his small house, and add to the interpretation of this man as a living individual. 

Ceramics are a prime archaeological find, because pottery does not deteriorate like other materials, even after many years. It is also largely datable to specific time periods. Many pottery sherds, of a variety of types, glazes, and forms were found by the archaeologists in 1977. These ranged from high-end porcelain to experimental faience to basic unglazed earthenware. Pottery was an important part of Salem’s commercial life in the 18th and 19th centuries, and there were a number of potters and potteries located in Salem and the surrounding area throughout these years. Moravians were best known for making (and selling) decorative slip-glazed redware. 

What can some of the excavated ceramic materials tell us about Christian David’s life, however? Pottery has many uses, and the wide variety of sherds found in the dig at lot 07 suggest myriad possibilities. This virtual interpretation of Christian David’s house includes some of the items suggested archaeologically that are also supported by other types of evidence such as period inventories and historical knowledge of the region. The earthenware single-handled bowl decorated with manganese and copper slip and the brown-glazed redware mug are reproduction items currently used in the interpretation of Old Salem. Both items reference specific ceramic sherds excavated in the 1977 dig. Both are items that conceivably could have been used by Christian David for eating and drinking.

We have also explored two spoon options—one of carved wood, and one made of horn. These are items that would have deteriorated archaeologically but were used in the period. All four of these items could have been used by Christian David to take food to his house from the nearby kitchen in the main house, which was easily accessible to him. 

One example of a period record that was available to the project team was the 1810 listing of the sale of Peter Oliver’s estate. Peter Oliver (1766-1810), an African American man born into slavery and later freed, was a notable figure in the Moravian community in and around Salem, both as a respected Moravian church-member and a highly skilled potter. Oliver’s life story is quite different from Christian David’s in two significant ways: that he was recognized as a skilled craftsman and that he became a free man during his lifetime. The 1810 document gives us insight into the belongings of an African American man in early 19th-century Salem, but it is imperative to recognize the differences in class, status, access, and freedoms between freeman Oliver and the enslaved Christian David.

Pottery can be used for many things other than food and we know this was the case in Salem. A green-glazed earthenware sherd excavated in 1977 is suggestive of the green-glazed flowerpots that were a popular commodity in Salem’s mercantile pottery production. White Moravian potter Rudolph Christ was known to use this type of green glaze on his wares and Peter Oliver worked in Christ’s pottery. Could it have been that Peter Oliver, a fellow Black Moravian, but a free man, created the vessel which this sherd came from? 

While Oliver was known for his skill as a craftsman, it is important to remember that Christian David held expertise of his own, despite his enslaved status. As you can read in Object Essay 3 by Meggan McCarthy, Christian David was recognized for his horticultural skills, working the vineyard at lot 07 and assisting von Schweinitz with his botanical collecting. The green-glazed sherd found at Christian David’s house site is a tantalizing suggestion of Christian David’s own interests and skills, as well as the larger Moravian community of 19th-century Salem. Other excavated unglazed earthenware sherds were suggestive of an object such as the small flowerpot found in OSMG’s collection.   

Yet another archeological find was a pair of silver sugar nippers. Sugar nippers were a popular kitchen tool in the 18th century, when they were used to cut (or “nip”) off a small bit of white sugar, which was packaged and stored in paper-covered cones.  A simple internet search of “sugar and slavery” will produce dozens of books about the slave trade and its connection with sugar as a modern commodity, and so this object’s presence at Christian David’s house site forces one to think about the connections of slavery and sugar. Their presence also raises many questions – did the sugar nippers belong to Christian David? Did he store them at his house? Or did they come from the nearby main house kitchen, or possibly the wash/bakehouse, both only a short distance away? Why were they found in the archaeological excavation here? Were they dropped by Christian David and forgotten about? Or perhaps lost by someone else? While this style was quite high-end in the 18th century…were they out of style by the late 1830s when Christian David was living at the site, and that could be how he ended up with them? Or were they dropped at a different time altogether? The presence of the sugar nippers is indicative of the mysteries we cannot know, the lived experiences we cannot know, and the questions that are left unanswered.  

Two other archaeological sherds that pose tantalizing questions were those of the base of a small earthenware ointment jar, and a shard of what may have been a glass apothecary bottle. As discussed in Meggan’s essay, a medicinal garden was present on Lot 07 when Dr. Vierling lived in the Administrator’s House. As we consider Christian David as an aging older man – in his late 50s during the time he lived in his small house – and think about the physical labor he performed throughout his life, we can infer a high degree of knowledge of medicinal plants and recipes, due to his proximity to botanical knowledge and the medical profession. Might he have kept his own salves, balms, or tinctures in his dwelling space to ease the aches and pains of age? We cannot know for certain – but it is likely. 

It is imperative to remember that this virtual representation is only one interpretation of Christian David’s house. This particular interpretation is subject to the flaws that are inherent in any research project. It also suffers from the inherent bias that exists within museum collections. The need to use physical objects for the 3D object scans results in only using objects that a) exist within the museum collection, which is biased due to the types of objects that survive and are kept in museum collections (things that are unique, original, high-end, highly-decorative, and/or “special” in some way) and b) accessible to us during the time of our visit, leaving out objects that are currently in storage or were unable to be located or moved. The creation of this virtual interpretive exhibit of Christian David’s house is only possible because of the work of interpreters, curators, and researchers at Old Salem over the years. Also imperative to our digital work is the physical museum collection of the tangible objects of eighteenth and nineteenth century Salem, including the decorative arts, tools, houses, and architectural elements; alongside the deep knowledge of decades of museum professionals, historians, independent scholars, collectors, and the lived experience of the local community.