By Eleanor Breen / Project Manager, Archaeological Collections Online
Late eighteenth-century portrait of a woman holding an umbrella. Notice the 6 small shiny brass (copper alloy) tips.
After some additional research, we believe the case of the mystery artifact is solved! In an earlier blog edition, we introduced you to the case. Was a small copper alloy artifact a pin sheath or a parasol tip? We enlisted a team of experts – archaeologists and museum curators – and uncovered new evidence that proves our suspicion, that the South Grove Midden has evidence of a parasol or umbrella and not a pin holder.
Archaeologists often consult “Diderot” when trying to identify parts of a whole object. Denis Diderot was one of the editors of an illustrated Encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772. The illustration entered under boursier or bag maker (who also made umbrellas) depicts the parts of an umbrella including the metal tip.
Plate showing umbrella parts from Diderot. Look closely at fig.5 m.
First, the museum evidence. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has in their collections an umbrella frame from the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century. Though this umbrella is missing its cover, the tips that would have attached the cover to the frame look similar to the midden example and match in terms of length.
Turn of the eighteenth century umbrella frame in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection. Photo credit: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1947-347, www.history.org.
Colonial Williamsburg’s umbrella frame showing the size of the tip. Photo credit: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1947-347, photograph by Linda Baumgarten, www.history.org.
Now, the archaeological evidence. It turns out that other sites not too far away from Mount Vernon yielded similar artifacts. A site with a close connection to Mount Vernon is Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of George Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The umbrella tip in their collection comes from a mid-1800s plowzone context and is identical to one pictured in Kathleen Deagan’s book complete with the ball-tipped end.
Parasol tip from Ferry Farm. Photo credit: The George Washington Foundation, www.kenmore.org.
Just across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, archaeologists working in the 1980s discovered evidence of a manor house once belonging to the Addison family. Within the artifact assemblage are two parasol tips, which look very similar to ours with the holes on opposing sides.
Parasol tips from the Addison’s Oxon Hill Manor. Photo credit: MAC Lab/JPPM, www.jefpat.org.
Another view provides the smoking gun that these could not have functioned as pin holders or sheaths – they are open at the tip!
Parasol tips from the Addison’s Oxon Hill Manor, view of the tips. Photo credit: MAC Lab/JPPM, www.jefpat.org.
So, now that we think we can be sure of the identification of this mystery artifact, look forward to an upcoming blog that delves into the cultural history of umbrellas in the eighteenth century.
