An historical archaeology of the Irish proletarian diaspora: The material manifestations of Irish identity in America, 1850--1910

This dissertation locates the material manifestation of an Irish-American identity within the context of the Irish Diaspora. The archaeological data reflect broad shifts in experiences of alienation from and gradual incorporation into American society, as well as a sustained connection to Ireland. The Irish data set consists of three pre-Famine cabin sites dating from 1800 to 1848. One cabin belonged to a landless laboring family, and two cabins were occupied by the Nary family. In America the archaeological sites include privy deposits associated with two Irish immigrant tenements at the Five Points in Lower Manhattan (ca.1850--ca.1870), and privy deposits from two single-family houses owned by Irish and Irish-American families in the Dublin section of Paterson, New Jersey (ca.1880--ca.1910). The material culture analyzed and interpreted here includes ceramic and glass tea, table, and serving forms, ethical and proprietary medicinal bottles, and Irish and American symbolism on white clay tobacco pipe bowls and stems. Historical archaeology is important to diaspora studies because it provides the most concrete illustration of how heritage within a diasporic context is created and transformed. The material culture, not readily visible in the countless travelers' accounts, missionary reports, and historical literature, interpreted in conjunction with the social historical context documents the daily lives of rural farmer and laborer families in Ireland and the Irish immigrant working class in communities throughout America. In order to understand the broad social context structuring Irish diasporic identity, I employ the analytical categories created in the interdisciplinary field of diaspora studies to identify the multiplicity of groups within the Irish Diaspora. The importance of this study is its transnational approach. Understanding the use and meaning of archaeologically recovered objects in Ireland provides a foundation for identifying and comparing diachronic material transformations in America. In the archaeological study of Irish diasporic communities, this research represents the first attempt to bring together existing site information into a comparative database to interpret continuities and changes in material culture over space and time. The database provides a definitive basis for in-depth transnational studies of the diversity and transformation of Irish and Irish-American social identities.