Suzanne,
 
Thanks much for your response; it's exactly the sort of thing I was
looking for. I have been working on completing a chapter for my book,
"Reading Rocketts: Essays in Archaeology, Culture History and
Interpretation," which is a series of readings based on my
excavations at the 18th and 19thcent. port of Rocketts, in Richmond.
Rocketts is exceptionally well illustrated with drawings, paintings
and photographs for the period ca. 1790-1900, and I was struck by a
few observations. As open space and ornmental vegetation was cleared,
or replaced by buildings and industrial features, flower pots became
more common. Likewse, I feel there is some archaeological
justification is positing a contextual opposition between the
association of flower pots with domestic artifacts, versus, for
instance, many tools and other items apparetnly associated with
certain work areas and commercial features materials. I am a little
reluctant to dredge up the domestic/public feminine/masculine
stereotype uncritically, but I do feel--and was looking for data to
justify--flower pots in this instance as "feminine" artifacts. This
contrasts, for example, with highly decorative pots found on
plantation sites where, I think, enlightenment values of men may be
more responsible.
 
I was aware of, and have used Beecher and Stowe, but your other
references were welcome. I would like to see your papers, if you
don't mind send them. My address:
 
L. Daniel Mouer
Archaeological Research Center
Box 843029
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Va. 23284
 
I was also fishing for some specific info about the earliest uses of
flower pots, besides by elites in their plantation gardens,
orangeries, etc. We have pots in rather early contexts--1780s-90s--in
middling and working-class contexts. Because Rocketts was a port,
there is a higher-than-average amount of "exotic" material.
Composition of the commuity at the time included many recent
immigrants, free blacks, hired-out slaves, and, mostly, young
families from rural homes who were "pioneering" urban life. I can't
help but feel that some of the "glorification of nature" was as much
an attempt to conserve some rural values or experiences as was "home
canning" nearly a century later. Thanks again, and I look forward to
seeing your papers.
 
Dan