In Small Things Forgotten

A fascinating study of American life and an explanation of how American life is studied through the everyday details of ordinary living, colorfully depicting a world hundreds of years in the past.

History is recorded in many ways. According to  author James Deetz, the past can be seen most fully by studying the small things so often forgotten.  Objects such as doorways, gravestones, musical  instruments, and even shards of pottery fill in the  cracks between large historical events and depict the intricacies of daily life. In his completely revised and expanded edition of In Small Things Forgotten, Deetz has added new sections that more fully acknowledge the presence of women and African Americans in Colonial America. New interpretations of archaeological finds detail how minorities influenced and were affected by the development of the Anglo-American tradition in the years following the settlers' arrival in  Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Among Deetz's  observations:

Subtle changes in building long before the Revolutionary War hinted at the growing independence of the American colonies and their desire to be  less like the  British.

Records of estate auctions show that many  households in Colonial America contained only one  chair—underscoring the patriarchal nature of the  early American family. All other members of the  household sat on stools or the  floor.

The excavation of a tiny community of  freed slaves in Massachusetts reveals evidence of  the transplantation of African culture to North  America.JAMES DEETZ died in November 2000. Patricia Scott Deetz is a cultural historian with an MA in history from Rhodes University, South Africa. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.