To Supply a Nation: Origins and Impacts of Everyday Things

This exhibit analyzes the effects of early consumerism and explores the origins and impacts of household goods in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It is a myth that early Americans were self-sufficient and produced everything they needed themselves. From the earliest days of colonial settlement, trade in goods from around the world supplied the wants and needs of early American consumers, augmented by items produced in workshops by local, skilled craftspeople. By understanding where these products came from and how they were produced, we learn the impacts of their creation and consumption.

Probate inventories, a list of assets made after a person dies, are vital to our understanding of what goods were desirable or necessary to early consumers. Such records open a window into the homes of a diverse range of Americans. This deeper examination into the origins and consumption of goods between 1750 and 1820 reveals the impact it had on people and the environment.