Goldenview Library's List: colonies

Pictures and descriptions of different instruments

Pictures and descriptions of many different colonial toys

Great overview of popular cultural throughout all the colonies. Very readable

Long, academic article. This starts where it begins to talk about sports and recreation

This article about the Southern Colonies provides facts and information at a glance in respect of:

Religion in the Southern Colonies
Government in the Southern Colonies
Trade and Economic activity in the Southern Colonies
History Timeline of the Southern Colonies
Maps of the Southern Colonies
Facts and info about the Southern Colonies

This article about the Middle Colonies provides facts and information at a glance in respect of:

Religion in the Middle Colonies
Government in the Middle Colonies
Trade and Economic activity in the Middle Colonies - see Triangular Trade
History Timeline of the Middle Colonies
Maps of the Middle Colonies

This article about the New England Colonies provides facts and information at a glance in respect of:

Religion in the New England Colonies
Government in the New England Colonies
Trade and Economic activity in the New England Colonies
History Timeline of the New England Colonies
Maps of the New England Colonies

This article provides an overview of American Colonial Life providing facts and information at a glance in respect of:

American colonial life in the late 1700s
Introduction to American Colonial Life
The establishment of the first 13 colonies and American Colonial Life in the 1700's
The History of American Colonial Life
American Colonial Life from the first colonists and settlers to the American Revolutionary War

Enslaved black and free white craftsmen worked side by side across the southern landscape. Over the past thirty years, researchers at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) have identified nearly 6,500 slave-owning craftsmen, whose slaves worked alongside them on building sites, at the potters' wheels, in cabinet shops, at iron foundries, behind the counters of silversmiths' shops, and at dozens of other trades.

Archaeological research shows us that slavery in the early eighteenth century was very different from the view we have of antebellum slavery.

There are two kinds of Colonial era American furniture. The pieces made by very skilled craftsmen, and pieces made by local village craftsmen or the homeowners themselves.

The earliest European settlers in America arrived with only the most basic provisions to re-create their material existence. Most brought little in the way of furniture beyond a chest, small boxes, and other simple storage containers. Plentiful American timber made it unnecessary to ship bulky furniture across the Atlantic at a great expense: thus, from the beginning, furniture making was an essential trade in the colonies.

This is a long paper. At least read the Abstract (one paragraph)

Wooden and metal tableware (treen and tole) were a means of practical yet creative expression in early America and are now antique collectibles.

The wide variety of ceramics made at potteries in Europe, Asia, the Spanish colonies in Mexico, and the United States, are represented by nearly 35,000 sherds from the Dog River site.

To a degree, the material conditions of slave life were predetermined by the status of the slave. During the early colonial period, slaves and indentured servants enjoyed greater freedoms than black slaves would in later periods. But even then, they belonged to the lowest, poorest ranks of society.

From their food traditions Africans contributed greatly to the culinary taste of America. Southern cooking is a cultural experience to which both blacks and whites contributed.

This article provides facts and information about the different types of Colonial Food that was eaten in the first 13 colonies and the methods of cooking that were used.

The recipes of Colonial America are quite diverse, going well beyond "Boston Baked Beans" or venison and turkey. And, given their limited supply of resources -- the supermarket did not yet exist -- they used their ingenuity to create a wide range of palatable dishes.