19th centuary bedroom

In class the other day we were asked to furnish a 19th centuary room.  My partner and founded about 12 items to furnish the room totaling 96$. During this time period the average factory worker would make around 1.00$ to a 1.50$ a day. We calculated that at 1.50$ it would take approximately 62.3 days to afford to furnish this room if all the money was put towards only this purpose. In reality one person would also have to pay for food and clothing and other necessities so this time would be much longer.  Above are 3 images of the main necessities of the bedroom.  There is the bed dresser and vanity set posted to be around 15$, the mattress to be around 10$ and the lamp being 5.90$. These items are not the only things required to furnish a classy room but i choose to blog about them because it really wouldn't be a bedroom without them. Not included in the photographs but included in the total was  wall paper, carpet, blankets, an overstuffed chair and a lounge. Most of these items are required in a bedroom however those such as the overstuffed chair and lounge would be found in a more upperclass residence and arn't really necessary. However, for a factory worker in this time period to furnish a room in such a manner would be next to impossible because despite the fact that classy rooms were very desirable family sizes were also very large so this would have to be done around 5-10 times.  These antiques would still be valued today as upperclass items and would be at an equivalent value for todays currency.

Reba Gagne

Professor Rainville

Y1: 19^th century economies

Assignment #5

Sweet Briar Slave Cabin

             The Sweet Briar Slave Cabin is a historically significant building to Sweet Briar College. It represents the colleges founding history and changing values. It has been used to a large number of different things ranging from a dance studio to a slave cabin.  Currently research is being done about the cabin to help us decipher its past and how we should best preserve this cabin and all the history associated with it.

            Before the class discussion, I really knew nothing about the slave cabin other than knowing of its existence. I knew that the college had been a former plantation and that there had been slaves on this plantation because they were buried in the cemetery. After further reading and discussion of the cabin I learned a lot about it. I learned that the cabin still standing is the only one of an estimated 22 still standing. It had a multitude of uses. It started as a slave cabin somewhere between 1840 and emancipation. It then served as a house for Sterling Jones Jr. and his family after Sweet Briar College was founded.  After what is estimated to be around the mid twenties the slave cabin was used for a variety of things such as an Alumnae Office, a classroom a coffee shop and a chapel. In the 1980’s the farm tool museum was set up and displayed in the cabin and this is the way it has been used up until today. Only recently has Sweet Briar been awarded a grant to be able to reinterpret the history of this building.

            This now brings up the pressing issue of how do we value this cabin and how do we want to use it? It clearly has potential to be used in many different ways.  Knowing what I do about the cabin I think that its value is in its original use as a slave plantation. Not only is it one of the few left in the country but also it is the only one at a college. Sweet Briar was originally a plantation and was founded on the backs of the slave laborers.  I think that this then should be exhibited in the cabin itself. The former plantation house is decorated in the time period of when the college was founded. I think that if this half of the college history is represented we should equally represent the not so beautiful part and restore the slave cabin to its original state. In doing so we will be preserving part of not just American history but our own as well.

            However, there are still a few questions I have concerning the slave cabin and this plantation. First I would like to know why such an important part of history wasn’t originally preserved to begin with. Secondly I would like to know more about the cabin in general. Who built it? How exactly was it used? How were slaves treated on this plantation?  

            I believe that if questions such as the one’s I have listed above are answered than this would spark and interest in current students. I think that if we use this slave cabin to educate students about Sweet Briar College and America it will serve as a museum, a historical building and therefore a natural classroom.  I know that most Sweet Briar students are interested in Sweet Briar history and the story of Daisy and Indiana Fletcher. If we incorporate the slave cabin into these stories I feel it will greatly benefit the Sweet Briar Community.

My artwork as requested

Hope my big at sweet briar likes this!!!!

Clifford Geertz a Short Biography

One of the Anthropologists talked about in Graeber's book: Toward an anthropological theory of Value, was Clifford Geertz. Clifford Geertz was born on august 23rd 1926 in San Fransisco. His work focused on interpreting symbols that he believed gave both meaning and order to peoples lives. Most of His theories focused mostly on culture and cultural interpretation. he is "considered the founder of interpretive and symbolic anthropology" according to the NY times. His writing has been given numerous awards and is considered to be valuable beyond just the field of cultural sciences and anthropology. Geertz was influenced heavily by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Max Weber and this is clear in many of his works. Geertz's theory of understanding others' understandings and his examining of public meanings or symbols is what he takes away from Wittgenstein. Geerts also uses Weberian framework (use of culture religion and ideals to explain modernization), in a few of his writings such as Agricultural Involution and Peddlers and Princes. Geertz attended grad school at Harvard University  and finished with a philosophy major and a PHD in anthropology.  He continued on to teach a Harvard, University of California, University of Chicago and Oxford University. Geertz did field work in Indonesia and Morocco during this time as well. It is clear in all aspects of his work that the term value to him is referring to how the symbols of a culture are an expression of the underlying principles, values, and behaviors of the culture. Geertz died at age 80 from complications with heart surgery.

Assignment #3

Reba Gagne

Professor Rainville

Assignment #3

The New Sweet Briar Currency

            Barter systems have been used for hundreds of years. Ancient cultures used food such as coco beans to trade for more valuable items. In times of economic struggles people tend to invest in items that will retain their value even if the current currency is worthless. For example in Romania during the presidency of Nicolae Ceausescu the money had no value even though they had an abundance of it. To compensate the people paid for everything in cartons and boxes of cigarettes. In the new sweet briar currency I am taking this same concept and applying it to ramen noodles.

            This new currency is reliable because there are identical parts of measure for each unit. This means that all have the same weight and if opened the currency has then lost its value as currency however still can maintain its value as a delicious food source for college students.

            To relate the values of this resource to modern American currency each individual pack of ramen would be worth approximately $2 to make math straightforward and because that is what you would pay now for an individual package of ramen. That means that the 12 pack boxes of ramen would then be worth $24, and 2 of these boxes (i.e. a crate of ramen) would be worth $48 in traditional American currency. However when $5 is needed you would need to have the Cup o Noodle’s   (ramen in a cup with veggies in it) because that would be equivalent to one pack of ramen plus the extra nutrients and vegetation.  These different values can then be mixed and matched to come up with the value needed for any particular item. (i.e. 1 box and 2 packages would equal $16 of traditional American currency). 

Each value was calculated by its nutritional value and how it can be used as food. Obviously ramen noodles are not the healthiest food in the world therefore, individually wrapped packages are worth less than the cup of noodles that contains actual vegetables. Each unit after this is proportionally valued based on weight amount and nutrition as explained in previous paragraphs.

The theory of value behind the ramen noodles is already in place and therefore a new one does not need to come about. Ramen is not difficult to cook and has an extremely long shelf life therefore; it is already valued by most college students who like to eat or who get sick of eating at Prothro or the Bistro. However because it is still food, it can be traded with others for say either better food or other items of value such as books or school supplies. 

In conclusion I predict that this form of currency would produce new social classes. The people with the most value would not only have the most items of value but also would not go hungry and have a lot of ramen on hand. This new money system is flawed because it is not convenient to carry around. However, a possible solution could be to barter ramen for items of higher value that are easier to carry and can then be traded for something else.

Artwork

This is a picture I found in the art gallery of Benedict. It is entitled "Woods in the Snow" and was painted by Elizabeth Hunt Barrett. It is an oil painting and I like it because I have used this same medium for art and it reminds me of home.

This is a photo of a beautiful archway of Benedict. The style of the archway is a corinthian style featuring daisies