In the Crawford County Cemeteries monograph that Robert  Mainfort and I did 
through the Arkansas Archeological Survey (published in  2006), I have a rather 
extensive history and dating criteria for several classes  of utilitarian 
buttons, including the various forms of 2 part metal pants  buttons, etc, using 
U.S. Patent Office records, and 19th century  catalogues from my collection.  I 
 also include a detailed chronology of safety pins and pants/vest cinch 
buckles  (i.e., the very common 1855 Hartshorn buckle, in both forms).   
The citation is below; the monograph can be purchased  from the survey at: 
http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/archinfo/Publications.pdf   
Davidson, James M. 
2006            Chapter 6: Material Culture, Chronology, and socioeconomics. 
In Two  Historic Cemeteries in Crawford County, Arkansas, Robert C. Mainfort, 
Jr. and  James M. Davidson, editors, pp. 97-218. Research  Series No. 62.  
Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville. 
James  Davidson 
University of  Florida



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