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"Of Colonial And Historic Flavor": Food And Memory In Williamsburg, Virginia
Pellissier, Marie
Pellissier, Marie
Abstract
This dissertation explores the relationship between food and memory in Williamsburg, Virginia. Williamsburg itself has a unique relationship to historical memory. It was the capital of the colony of Virginia from 1699 to 1780. After the capital moved to Richmond, Williamsburg did not develop into a major city, unlike other colonial capitals like Boston or Philadelphia. Consequently, the eighteenth-century city plan, and many of the buildings, survived. In 1926, John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin established Colonial Williamsburg, which today is the largest living history museum in the country. Colonial Williamsburg is not just a museum; it is an experience, where visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the eighteenth century. Using letters, diaries, account books, postcards, menus, and other ephemera, this dissertation argues that food has been an essential part of creating historical memory and identity in Williamsburg from the eighteenth century to the present. It connected eighteenth-century residents with each other and with their cultural identity. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century residents of Williamsburg used food to reinforce visions of the city’s glorious colonial past. In the twentieth century, Colonial Williamsburg used food as an important tool to connect visitors to the eighteenth-century past, and citizens of Williamsburg used it to put forth their own interpretations and understandings of the past, separate from those promoted by Colonial Williamsburg. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that food has a central and compelling role in the public historiography in Williamsburg, one which enables new understandings of how historical interpretation in the city has changed over time.
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2024-01-01
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History
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.21220/s2-9rem-d935