Beyond the Mansion: Digitizing Thirty Years of Archaeological Research on Slavery at the Hermitage

FAIN: PW-50172-08

Monticello (Charlottesville, VA 22902-0316)
Kevin Michael Bartoy (Project Director: July 2007 to August 2009)
Jillian E. Galle (Project Director: August 2009 to December 2012)

The completion of the cataloging of 800,000 artifacts from areas occupied from 1804 to 1858 by enslaved African Americans on Andrew Jackson's residence and plantation.

The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson, was the home to over 250 enslaved African Americans. Since 1970, archaeological research at The Hermitage has resulted in the collection of over 800,000 artifacts. These artifacts represent one of the largest archaeological collections which document the history of a single community of enslaved people in the New World. The Hermitage Department of Archaeology, in collaboration with the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS), requests NEH funding to allow for the completion of analysis, cataloguing, and uploading to the Internet of the existing Hermitage archaeological collection. In so doing, the Hermitage collection will further advance the comparative study of slavery in the New World.

Associated Products

Building a chronology for domestic slave sites at The Hermitage. (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Building a chronology for domestic slave sites at The Hermitage.
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Leslie Cooper
Author: Jesse Sawyer
Author: Lynsey Bates
Author: Elizabeth Bollwerk
Abstract: Nearly three decades of archaeological research at The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s plantation just east of Nashville, has made it one of the most thoroughly excavated sites of slavery in North America. Until recently, the vast quantities of recovered artifacts remained unanalyzed. With funding from NEH, The Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery has made accessible archaeological data from nine domestic units once home to enslaved laborers. Here we use correspondence analysis of ware-type frequencies, mean ceramic dates, and frequency seriation to provide for the first time an accurate chronological sequence for the occupation of The Hermitage.
Date: 04/19/2012
Conference Name: Society for American Archaeology

Beyond the Mansion: Digitizing Thirty Years of Archaeological Research on Slavery at The Hermitage. (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Beyond the Mansion: Digitizing Thirty Years of Archaeological Research on Slavery at The Hermitage.
Abstract: The Hermitage is pleased to announce a major milestone in the history of our archaeology program. On Thursday, April 12th at 7 p.m., Dr. Jillian Galle of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello will reveal the results of important research into the Hermitage archaeology collection. Focusing on the story our archaeological artifacts tell about slavery at the Hermitage and how that compares to slavery sites along the East Coast and in the Caribbean, Dr. Galle’s presentation will be held in the Andrew Jackson Visitor Center Auditorium at The Hermitage: Home of President Andrew Jackson.
Author: Jillian Galle
Date: 04/12/2012
Location: Andrew Jackson Visitor Center Auditorium at The Hermitage: Home of President Andrew Jackson.

Ceramic Variation Among Slave Sites at the Hermitage, TN (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Ceramic Variation Among Slave Sites at the Hermitage, TN
Author: Lynsey A. Bates
Author: Beatrix Arendt
Author: Leslie Cooper
Abstract: Variation in enslaved people’s access to goods has been interpreted spatially as a result of proximity or distance from the owner’s main house. In this poster, we evaluate these conclusions with data from Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage plantation. Recent analysis by DAACS of the collections excavated from slave quarter assemblages indicates five phases of occupation across the Hermitage property. In light of this fine-grained chronology, we explore the influence of Jackson’s program of housing standardization and the proximity of domestic contexts to the mansion on enslaved people’s access to market goods. Specifically, we examine whether diversity in the decorative techniques and elements on ceramics acquired by enslaved people shifts as a result of these two variables. This detailed temporal and spatial analysis is possible through the specific, attribute-based recording of decoration called for in DAACS protocols.
Date: 04/03/2014
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Ceramic-Variation-Among-Slave-Sites-at-the-Hermitage-TN.pdf
Primary URL Description: A direct link to the scientific poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in April 2014, Austin, Texas.
Secondary URL: http://www.daacs.org/research/papers-manuscripts/
Secondary URL Description: DAACS Research Page provides links to manuscripts, conference papers and posters.
Conference Name: Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology

Field Quarter Cabin 1: Archaeological Sites Pages (Web Resource)
Title: Field Quarter Cabin 1: Archaeological Sites Pages
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Elizabeth Bollwerk
Author: Larry McKee
Abstract: Discursive background, chronological information, and images from Cabin 1, from The Hermitage's Field Quarter, is available through a suite of seven webpages access through Cabin 1's "home page": http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-1/#home.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-1/#home

Field Quarter Cabin 2: Archaeological Sites Pages (Web Resource)
Title: Field Quarter Cabin 2: Archaeological Sites Pages
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Elizabeth Bollwerk
Author: Larry McKee
Abstract: Discursive background, chronological information, and images from Cabin 2, from The Hermitage's Field Quarter, is available through a suite of seven webpages access through Cabin 2's "home page": http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-2/.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-2/

Field Quarter Cabin 3: Archaeological Sites Pages (Web Resource)
Title: Field Quarter Cabin 3: Archaeological Sites Pages
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Larry McKee
Author: Leslie Cooper
Abstract: Discursive background, chronological information, and images from Cabin 3, from The Hermitage's Field Quarter, is available through a suite of seven webpages access through Cabin 3's "home page": .http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-3/#home
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-3/#home

Field Quarter Cabin 4: Archaeological Sites Page (Web Resource)
Title: Field Quarter Cabin 4: Archaeological Sites Page
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Larry McKee
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Jesse Sawyer
Abstract: Discursive background, chronological information, and images from Cabin 4, from The Hermitage's Field Quarter, is available through a suite of seven webpages access through Cabin 4's "home page": http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-4/#home.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-cabin-4/#home

Field Quarter KES: Archaeological Sites Pages (Web Resource)
Title: Field Quarter KES: Archaeological Sites Pages
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Lynsey Bates
Author: Larry McKee
Author: Jillian Galle
Abstract: Discursive background, chronological information, and images from the KES site, located at The Hermitage's Field Quarter, is available through a suite of seven webpages access through KES's "home page": http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-kes/#home.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/sites/field-quarter-kes/#home

Query the Database: Direct Access to all Archaeological Data from The Hermitage Field Quarter (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Query the Database: Direct Access to all Archaeological Data from The Hermitage Field Quarter
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Leslie Cooper
Author: Lynsey Bates
Author: Elizabeth Bollwerk
Author: Jesse Sawyer
Abstract: The Query the Database section of the DAACS website provides users with direct access to data on tens of thousands of artifacts excavated from The Hermitage between 1975 and 2000.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/query-the-database/
Access Model: Open Access. Freely accessible to all.

The Triplex Gallery (Web Resource)
Title: The Triplex Gallery
Author: DAACS Staff
Author: Jillian Galle
Author: Leslie Cooper
Author: Lynsey Bates
Author: Elizabeth Bollwerk
Abstract: A highly visual gallery of personal items recovered from the Triplex site at Andrew Jackson’s the Hermitage.
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.daacs.org/galleries/triplex/

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