Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 2 Questions/Comments"
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McGaw’s comment that our image of colonial America’s technology is distorted really stood out to me. It’s not just colonial America’s technology that is distorted or stereotyped; we all do this every day with virtually every topic. I once asked a student from Germany to tell me about their history classes, and to them WWII was just a conflict, not a huge war. As far as colonial America is concerned, it’s no wonder we have a distorted view when Disney produces movies like Pocahontas and we all grow up watching them. | McGaw’s comment that our image of colonial America’s technology is distorted really stood out to me. It’s not just colonial America’s technology that is distorted or stereotyped; we all do this every day with virtually every topic. I once asked a student from Germany to tell me about their history classes, and to them WWII was just a conflict, not a huge war. As far as colonial America is concerned, it’s no wonder we have a distorted view when Disney produces movies like Pocahontas and we all grow up watching them. | ||
Also, she discusses the artifacts that farmers in colonial America had and comments that many had the means to produce goods, and in fact did produce, but very few had the materials to process these goods. Is it possible that trading, or the beginning of the market system, was in the works? It was probably easier to send all your wool to somebody who was really good at spinning it than to sit in your house and try to become extremely efficient at multiple tasks. If you have neighbors that can cut down on your work, why not utilize them. --Meagan B. | Also, she discusses the artifacts that farmers in colonial America had and comments that many had the means to produce goods, and in fact did produce, but very few had the materials to process these goods. Is it possible that trading, or the beginning of the market system, was in the works? It was probably easier to send all your wool to somebody who was really good at spinning it than to sit in your house and try to become extremely efficient at multiple tasks. If you have neighbors that can cut down on your work, why not utilize them. --Meagan B. | ||
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| + | I also was intrigued by the theory that our image of colonial history, and really any history, is distorted. McGaw made an interesting point with her references to the poem about the wheelbarrow and chickens in the garden and how we need to actually be able to point to something to say, yes this person had this object. Her research into inventories seemed like a good place, but I wonder if those are always entirely truthful records. Are there other places to look at what a person owns? What about inventory or sales records for shops of the time? Another important issue is that all these ownerships can greatly vary by region, even by town. When she brought up about how farmers may not have necessarily owned their own tools, I thought that it’s important to remember that they likely couldn’t afford all the tools and borrowed from friends and neighbors, so they might have been at least technologically savvy. | ||
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| + | Also, one of her example areas was York County, Pennsylvania, which is where I’m from, so that was pretty exciting to read examples from. I interned at the county museum, and I know we had A LOT of farm tools. --Sara Krechel | ||
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