I started with Plymouth in a seminar with Jim Deetz--we worked out
methods over a period of about 2 years. I then added Maryland when I was
working with Archaeology in Annapolis--that seemed like a really nice
comparison since I am interested in cross-regional comparisons. The
Maryland inventories were already transcribed as were the Plymouth ones.
 
Then it turned out that Marley Brown was doing a project in Bermuda
comparing the lifestyles of two brothers--one in Bermuda and one in
Williamsburg (actually, the one in Williamsburg was a friend of the
brother...). Dell Upton had also been to Bermuda and seen the quality of
the inventories there, so I knew the data was available. Bermuda also
makes a nice comparison because it is a small (24 sq. miles) island
without the influence of Native cultures (except those brought in as
slaves) and the room for expansion that flavors the mainland clonial
settlement. Bermuda is also more cosmopolitan than the other two colonies
and had a great deal more contact with England. Unfortunately, the
inventories there were not already transcribed, so I had to do it--boy
was that ever a pain!
 
Anyway, the three way comparison reveals a lot more than the two way one
would have....
 
Mary Ellin D'Agostino
dagostin @qal.berkeley.edu
 
 
 
On Sat, 11 Jun 1994, Anita Cohen-Williams wrote:
 
> Mary Ellin, why Plymouth and Bermuda?
>
> Anita Cohen-Williams; Reference Services; Hayden Library
> Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ  85287-1006
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