“Customs and Habits Interwoven with the Very Fibers of Things”

Abstract

During the early nineteenth century, American consumption patterns changed dramatically. Industrial behavior became the norm in urban areas, and households no longer relied upon home production and barter for their everyday needs. Instead, they increasingly relied upon monetary exchange for labor and goods for their everyday necessities. Acquiring new and fashionable goods became part of the new Romantic consumer culture. These transformations were felt in the small industrial town of Harpers Ferry. Craftsmen were often forced to substitute their means of production for wage-paying jobs. Goods that were once generated by the family unit were now purchased, since family providers spent an increasing number of hours laboring to the rhythms and motions of machinery.