Field School

Home

University main page

Carolyn L. White (Ph.D. Boston University 2002) Assistant Professor - Historical archaeology, material culture, museum studies, archaeological method and theory, North America

Research Interests:

My research interests center on historical archaeology in the Americas and as a global endeavor, material culture, the construction of identity, gender, and archaeological method and theory. I am interested in engaging new theoretical and methodological perspectives to understand material culture and to approach the past. My recent research explores personal adornment as a class of material culture and as a means for exploring the construction of identity along gender, class, age, and ethnicity. I am currently engaged in several projects: the trans-Atlantic trade in personal adornment, the exploration of individuality in the archaeological record, shoes as a class of material culture, the archaeology of the Depression in the West, and ranching in Hawaii.

I am co-editor of the Guides to American Artifacts Series (with Timothy J. Scarlett, Michigan Tech). This series presents comprehensive guides to classes of historical artifacts commonly found in excavations, archives, museums, and private collections in North America. The Guides to American Artifacts Series is accompanied by a second series, Identifying American Artifacts, a set of compact identification and research guides on more narrowly-focused types of American material culture. Read more about the series here: http://lcoastpress.com/books_series.php?id=1

Teaching:
I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in archaeology, including Historical Archaeology, Archaeological Laboratory Methods, Archaeological Methods, Collections Research, Museum Studies, and Cultural Resource Management.

Selected Publications:

Forthcoming:“Small Finds at the Cape,” in The Material Culture of the VOC at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652-1800. Carmel Schrire, editor, in preparation for Left Coast Press. Scheduled for publication, 2008.

Forthcoming: “Artifacts and Personal Identity” (co-authored with Mary C. Beaudry), in The International Handbook of Historical Archaeology, Teresita Majewski and David Gaimster, eds., Springer Press. 2008 release.

Forthcoming:  The Guides to American Artifacts Series (series senior editor, with Timothy J. Scarlett). In preparation for Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA.

2007   “Methods (Practice of Archaeology): Archaeology of the Individual in Prehistory,” in Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Deborah Pearsall, ed., Academic Press, pp. 1508-1510.

2006   “Personal Adornment from the Warner House: The Archaeological Evidence,” in The Warner House: A Rich and Colorful History, edited by Joyce Volk, Warner House Association, pp. 97-99.

2005   American Items of Personal Adornment, 1680-1820: A Guide to Identification and Interpretation. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA, April 2005.

2004   “What the Warners Wore: An Archaeological Investigation of Visual Appearance.” Northeast Historical Archaeology, pp. 39-66.

2004   The Mill Creek Shoe Project. Prepared for the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research, Boston, MA.

2002   “Buttons.” In Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology, edited by Charles E. Orser, Jr., pp. 74–75. Routledge, London.

2002   “Dress.” In Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology, edited by Charles E. Orser, Jr., pp. 160–161. Routledge, London.