Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Industrial Archaeology (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Social Sciences
Advisor 1
LouAnn Wurst
Committee Member 1
Steven A. Walton
Committee Member 2
M. Bartley Seigel
Abstract
Archaeological and historical literature neglects music and sound. The quantity and distribution of musical remains found during archaeological excavations at Coalwood, a Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company (CCI) logging camp active from 1901-1912 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, addresses the importance of music to the people that lived there. Musical reed plates from harmonicas, concertinas, and accordions were recovered and examined. These musical remains have traditionally been ignored as a diagnostic artifact, but here, I use them as primary evidence to access the daily lives of people in the northern woods. To do this, I will present how CCI developed Coalwood as a lumber camp and some of the people that lived there. Then, I will explore the soundscape through artifacts and bring attention to formal and informal music ensembles and the music they play. I will demystify the reed plate and present a typology of reed plates.
Recommended Citation
Durocher, Matthew, "Music in the Northern Woods: An Archaeological Exploration of Musical Instrument Remains", Open Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2018.