Something Borrowed, Something Remembered: African-

American Patterns of Adaptation to Plantation Life in the

New World

CONCENTRATIONS

Historical Archaeology 17^th, 18^th, 19^th Centuries

Eastern United States Consumption

Material Culture Dynamics of Class and Race

Oral History Social Construction of Knowledge

DOCTORAL RESEARCH

My dissertation investigated questions of ambition, priority, hierarchy, and social relations in historic Virginia by studying agricultural and domestic material culture. The project centered on four archaeological sites in the Virginia piedmont and on 405 probate inventories recorded between 1700 and 1900 in the piedmont and tidewater. I also incorporated architectural analysis of surviving historic buildings, oral history interviews, and analysis of deeds, wills, tax records, and other primary sources for this research.

The primary contention of the study was that a dynamic of conspicuous agricultural production was more central to the creation, maintenance, and alteration of social identity in rural Virginia than was the conspicuous consumption of luxury goods. Close analysis of material assemblages showed this trend to persist across social levels and through time, despite the dawning of the consumer revolution. The trend also appeared in both geographic regions of Virginia I considered, in the well-established eastern tidewater as well as in the piedmont frontier.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2002- Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology,

Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. Courses include Introduction to

Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistic Anthropology, Physical Anthropology,

The Anthropology of American History, Historical Archaeology and Field Methods

in Historical Archaeology.

2000-2002 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York,

College at Oneonta. Four courses per semester, including Introduction to Archaeology,

World Cultures, North American Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Laboratory

Methods in Historical Archaeology.

2000 Acting Archaeology Laboratory Manager, Monticello (Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Foundation) in Charlottesville, Virginia. Managed the processing, cataloguing, and

analysis of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artifacts excavated at Monticello. April–

June.

1999 Intern, Institute for Public History and Ash Lawn-Highland, nineteenth-century farm of

President James Monroe in Charlottesville, Virginia. Researched historic African-

American communities through ethnohistoric sources (deeds, wills, census records, and

farm journals), as well as archaeological and architectural reports. July-September.

1998 Instructor, Department of Historic Preservation, Mary Washington College,

Fredericksburg, Virginia. Taught Field Methods in Historical Archaeology, an

introduction to site excavation, recording, and interpretation at Stratford Hall Plantation

(Westmoreland County, Virginia). June–July.

1996-1999 Instructor (part-time), Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Washington and

Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. Taught Introduction to Anthropology (usually two

sections per semester) and Archaeology. Also co-taught with Dr. John McDaniel Field

Methods in Historical Archaeology, an introduction to excavation, recording, and

interpretation of nineteenth-century domestic sites associated with a mining company

(Allegheny County, Virginia).

1995-1997 Instructor, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia. Taught

Introduction to Anthropology (Spring 1997), and Field Methods in Historical

Archaeology (Spring 1996, Summer 1996, Summer 1997). The latter was an introduction

to survey, excavation, recording, and interpretation at the Dickenson Site (Louisa County,

Virginia).

1995 Coordinator of University of Virginia’s archaeological survey for a colonial domestic site

in Louisa County, Virginia. Fall semester.

Coordinator of University of Virginia’s archaeological and ethnohistorical investigation

of the Moore and Martin Houses, two nineteenth-century domestic sites in Louisa

County, Virginia. Spring semester.

1994 Field Assistant, Flowerdew Hundred Foundation in Hopewell, Virginia during the joint

University of Virginia and University of California at Berkeley field schools. Under the

direction of James Deetz, excavation of a seventeenth-century industrial and domestic

site. June summer session.

Coordinator of University of Virginia’s archaeological and ethnohistorical investigations

of the Dabney House, a domestic site c. 1770s-1920s in Louisa County, Virginia. Spring.

1993 Field Technician, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia. Testing

and excavation of seventeenth-century sites on Jamestown Island. July–August.

Field Assistant, Flowerdew Hundred Foundation, Hopewell, Virginia during the

University of California at Berkeley field school. Under the direction of James Deetz,

excavated an eighteenth-century domestic yard and garden. June summer session.

1992 Interpreter and Ranger, South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism,

Lancaster, South Carolina. Renovated historical museum, developed interpretive

programs, and aided in maintenance at Andrew Jackson State Park.

1991-1992 Instructor, Department of English, Armstrong State College (now Armstrong

Atlantic State University) in Savannah, Georgia. Taught Introductory English, an

overview of effective writing techniques. Fall 1991 and Winter 1992.

1991 Survey Archaeologist, Savannah River Project, Savannah, Georgia. Under the direction

of Larry Babits, survey of Savannah River banks for archaeological remains of historic

and prehistoric sites. November–December

1990 Laboratory Assistant, Lubbock Lake Landmark, Museum of Texas Tech, Lubbock,

Texas. Identified, preserved, and catalogued artifacts from bison slaughter site (7000

y.b.p.) under the direction of Eileen Johnson. July–August

Field Archaeologist, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, Hermitage, Tennessee. Under the

direction of Larry McKee, excavation of three nineteenth-century slave houses. June

1988 Survey Archaeologist, Kootenai National Forest, Libby, Montana. Surveyed federal land

to identify prehistoric and historic sites; tested and recorded sites found; prepared site

reports. June–August

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-Reviewed Journals

2005 White Ethnogenesis and Gradual Capitalism: Perspectives from Colonial Archaeological

Sites in the Chesapeake. American Anthropologist, Vol. 107, No.3 (forthcoming in

September).

2002 Emulation and Empowerment: Material, Social and Economic Dynamics in Eighteenth-

and Nineteenth-Century Virginia. International Journal of Historical Archaeology

6(4):253-298.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Forthcoming “Consumption in a Company Town: Conspicuous Display, Restraint, and

Pleasure in a Nineteenth-Century Virginia Iron-Mining Community.” Symposium on

Upland Archeology in the East. Michael B. Barber, editor. Richmond, Virginia:

Archeological Society of Virginia Press.

1995 Widows, 'Free Sisters,' and 'Independent Girls': Historic Models and an Archaeology of

Post-Medieval English Gender Systems, The Written and the Wrought: Complementary

Sources in Historical Anthropology - Essays in Honor of James Deetz, eds. Mary Ellin

D'Agostino, et al. University of California at Berkeley's Kroeber Anthropological

Society Papers 79 (1995):17-32.

Book Reviews

2004 Matthew B. Reeves Dropped and Fired: Archaeological Patterns of Militaria from Two

Civil War Battles, Manassas National Battlefield Park , Manassas, Virginia . Occasional

Report Series of the Regional Archaeology Program, National Capital Region, National

Park Service, 2001. 300 pp., 79 fig., tables. The review is published in Historical

Archaeology 2004 38(4).

2003 Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology, edited by Charles Orser (Routledge, 2002).

Historical Archaeology 2003, 37(4):115-117.

Other Publications

2000 Culture of Food Consumption. Anthropology News 41(4):22.

2000 Post-Colonial Conspicuous Consumption. Anthropology News 41(3):17-18.

1996 Historic Sites Archaeology in Louisa County : Recent Investigations, Louisa County

Historical Magazine 27(2): 57-70.

1995 James Deetz and Alison Bell: Folk Housing Revisited, Louisa County Historical Magazine,

26(2):59-71.

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND OTHER PRESENTATIONS

(single-authored by Alison Bell unless otherwise noted)

2005 Alison Bell and Laura J. Galke, “Traces of Negotiation: Archaeological, Archival and

Oral Historical Investigations into the Dynamics of Labor and Management at the

Longdale Mining Complex, c. 1827-1911,” by Alison Bell and Laura Galke. Presented at

the Shenandoah Valley Regional Studies Seminar, James Madison University,

Harrisonburg, Virginia.

2004 Alison Bell and Laura J. Galke with Joe Franzen and Jill Waity, “Forging Quality Iron,

Forging a Quality of Life: Strategies of Company Agents and of Laborers in the Longdale

Iron Mining Community of Western Virginia.” Invited lecture presented to the Council of

Virginia Archaeologists’ meeting in Lexington, Virginia (October).

“Conspicuous Consumption Evident Restraint: Material Culture and Social Dynamics at

Longdale: a 19^th-Century Iron-Mining Community in Allegheny County, Virginia."

Alison Bell and Laura J. Galke, authors. Presented at the Uplands Symposium, James Madison

University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

“The Corporate Mine Set: Material Culture and Social Dynamics within the Longdale Iron Mining

Community in Allegheny County, Virginia." Laura J. Galke and Alison Bell, authors.

Presented at the Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

“Consumption in a Company Town: Conspicuous Display, Restraint, and Pleasure in a Nineteenth-

Century Virginia Iron-Mining Community.” Alison Bell and Laura J. Galke, authors.

Presented at the Society for American Archaeology meeting, Montreal, Canada.

2003 “Articulations of Ceramic Use and Socio-Economic Circumstance: Investigations of Late

18^th-century Virginia Sites using the Digital Archaeological Archive of Chesapeake

Slavery,” presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology meeting, Providence,

Rhode Island.

“Assessing Ceramic Variability on African- and European-American Historic Sites Using

the Digital Archaeological Archive of Chesapeake Slavery: Methodological and

Substantive Considerations,” presented at the Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference,

Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“‘Clines are Everywhere’: An 18^th-Century Virginia Domestic Site as a Moment in the

Formation of Capitalist Cultural and Socio-Economic Systems,” presented at the Society

for American Archaeology meeting, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

2002 "In Medias Res: An Early Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake Domestic Site in Long-Term Material

and Socio-Economic Context," presented at the Council for Northeastern Historical Archaeology

meeting, Wilmington, Delaware.

2001 “Emulation and Social Identity: Perspectives from Historic Virginia,” presented at the

Society for American Archaeology meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana.

“‘The Strong Prejudice of Propinquity’: Inheritance Patterns and Women’s

Empowerment in 19^th-Century Virginia,” presented at the Society for Historical

Archaeology meeting, Long Beach, California.

“Introduction to Historic Ceramics,” invited speaker, Cooperstown Graduate Program,

Cooperstown, New York.

2000 “Consumption and Production in Historic Virginia,” invited speaker, Cooperstown

Graduate Program, Cooperstown, New York.

1999 “Contextualizing Post-Colonial ‘Conspicuous Consumption,’” presented at the American

Anthropological Association meeting, Chicago, Illinois.

“Material Culture on the Virginia Piedmont Frontier: Archaeological and Archival

Comparisons with Tidewater Settlements,” presented at the Society for Historical

Archaeology meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. Co-Chair of session (with Derek Wheeler)

“Material Life and Social Relations in Eastern Frontier Settlements.”

Invited panelist in workshop, “Communication and Consultation: Working toward an

Informed Archaeology,” sponsored by the Student Affairs Committee. Society for

American Archaeology meeting, Chicago, Illinois.

1998 “’The Nature of Trophy’: Conspicuous Consumption and Plantation Architecture in Early

Virginia,” presented at the Eleventh Annual Symposium on Architectural History

sponsored by the Department of Architectural History and the Institute for Public

History, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Space and Status, Time and Form: Issues from Recent Investigations of Historic

Virginia Sites,” presented at the Society for American Archaeology meeting, Seattle,

Washington.

1997 "Folk Housing Revisited: The Search for Piedmont Virginia's Colonials," presented at the

Society for Historical Archaeology meeting, Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Archaeology and Local Memory: Examples from Louisa County, Virginia,” invited

speaker, Hereford College, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

1996 "On Virginia's Colonial Piedmont: Archaeological Investigations in Louisa County,

Virginia," presented at the Archeology Society of Virginia meeting, Ashland, Virginia.

With James Deetz, "Houses as Cultural Chronicles: Anthropological Approaches to

Buildings," presented to the University of Virginia's Society of Architectural Historians,

Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Introduction to Historical Archaeology in Virginia,” invited speaker, Germanna

Community College, Locust Grove, Virginia.

“Material Culture and Social History: Issues Raised by Excavation in the Virginia

Piedmont,” invited speaker, Louisa County Historical Society, Louisa, Virginia.

1994 With Maria Franklin: "On the Medieval Side of the Georgian Threshold: Excavations of

an Eighteenth-Century Post Building at Flowerdew Hundred, Virginia," presented at the

Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference, Ocean City, Maryland.

"Logics of the Dead: Shapes, Spaces and Structures at Flowerdew Hundred's Site 98,"

presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Washington, D.C..

1993 “The Past is a Foreign Country: They Do Things Differently There,” invited speaker,

Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.

"Widows, 'Free Sisters,' and 'Independent Girls': Female Workers in England, 1600 –

1920," presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Vancouver,

British Columbia.

"'The Ruins, The Lost Cities, and The Bones': Constructing Historical Archaeological

Sites as Texts," presented at the Cultural Bodies/Cultural Texts Interdisciplinary

Graduate Student Conference, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

1992 "African-American Patterns of Adaptation to Plantation Life in the New World,"

presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Kingston, Jamaica.

SERVICE

2003 – present at Washington and Lee University:

Shepard Poverty Program

Alumni Committee

Getty Steering Committee

2002-2005 Faculty advisor for Kappa Delta sorority, Washington and Lee University

2000-present Member of Steering Committee, Digital Archaeological Archive of Chesapeake

Slavery, sponsored by the Mellon Foundation and Monticello

http://www.daacs.org/

2000-2003 Associate Editor, Journal of the Jamestown Rediscovery Center

http://www.apva.org/resource/jjrc

2000-2002 Advisor to Office of Senator Strom Thurmond , United States Capitol Preservation

Committee

2000-2001 At the State University of New York , College at Oneonta

Member of Provost’s Advisory Group

Search Committee for a Dean of Behavioral and Applied Science

Faculty Advisor to Anthropology Club

College Library Committee

GRANTS AND AWARDS

2003 Council on Undergraduate Research Summer Research Fellowship in Science and Math to

support research with undergraduate Sociology/Anthropology major

Washington and Lee University Robert E. Lee Research Grant for summer archaeological

analysis with undergraduate Sociology/Anthropology major

2000 State University of New York, College at Oneonta Faculty Development Grant

State University of New York, College at Oneonta Outstanding Faculty Service

Award, Pan Hellenic Association

1997, 1999 University of Virginia Dissertation Grant

1993-1996 National Science Foundation Pre-Dissertation Graduate Fellowship

1992-1993 University of California at Berkeley Non-Resident Tuition Scholarship

1987-1991 At Washington and Lee University:

University Scholars Academic Honors Program, 1988-1991

Maxwell P. Wilkinson Scholarship, 1991

Francis P. Gaines Scholarship, 1988-1991

Emory J. Kimbrough Award in Anthropology/Sociology, 1991

Academy of American Poets' Award, 1990 and 1991

Mahan Award for Writing, 1991

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Anthropological Association Council for New England Historical Archaeology

Society for American Archaeology Northeastern Anthropological Association

Society for Historical Archaeology Women in Archaeology Interest Group