Accession Number: 1903.0002
What introduces Whig or Tory,
And reconciles them in their story,
When each is boasting in his glory?
A pinch of
snuff.
Where speech and tongue together fail,
What helps old ladies in their tale,
And adds fresh canvas to their sail?
A pinch of
snuff.
From the
seventeenth century through the mid-nineteenth century, the consumption of
snuff played an important role in the social lives of men and women. As implied
by the preceding poem, snuff stimulated conversation at social gatherings or
allowed for a point of contact for those of different backgrounds. An 1863
article in Harper’s Weekly claimed
snuff was consumed to prevent infections and “amuse the vacant mind” in the
presence of dull company. Snuff also created moments of surprise and cultural
difference, such as the shock many eighteenth century northerners experienced
when encountering elite southern women regularly using snuff.
Clearly it was an important part of
colonial and early American life, but what is snuff? Snuff was made by curing
tobacco leaves and then grinding the leaves by hand or with a mortar and
pestle, a method initially adopted from Native Americans. With the wide variety
of tobacco leaves available in colonial and early America, snuff came in a
variety of types and flavors. For example, a common type of snuff called
“Maroco” called for “forty parts of French or St. Omar tobacco with twenty
parts of fermented Virginia stalks in the powder.” Usually a pinch of snuff was
inhaled through the nose, sometimes as often as every hour.
Snuff users developed distinctive
mannerisms and technologies associated with the production and intake of snuff.
Of particular interest was the emergence of small, pocket-sized containers used
for carrying snuff known as snuff boxes. These boxes were made of materials
including shells, paper-mache, wood, and silver and were often decorated with
engravings, portrait miniatures, or jewels. Snuffboxes functioned as an
accessory for many men and women, therefore demonstrating their social class
based on the materials used to construct the box or the beauty of the piece. Paper-mache
boxes were common and less ornate, while boxes made of shells or jewels were more
rare and associated with the upper class.
The collection at Wilton House Museum contains a mid-eighteenth century brown and white cowrie shell snuffbox with
silver hinges and a silver bottom engraved with “E.T” in script. Although the
original owner of the snuffbox is unknown, the Randolph family likely owned an
object similar to the cowrie shell snuff box because of their great wealth. Cowrie
shells were associated with womanhood, fertility, birth, and wealth. Since
cowrie shells were only found in Africa and Asia, Europeans and American
colonists typically acquired cowrie shells through their involvement with the
West African slave trade. Cowrie shell snuff boxes were quite rare compared to
other types of boxes and it is exciting, and unique, that Wilton has one in
their collection!
This blog entry is by Caitlin Foltz, a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University studying 19th and 20th century American history. Listen to the podcast version here.
Bibliography
Betts, Vicki. “The ‘Social Dip:’ Tobacco Use by Mid-19th
Century Southern Women.” (Accessed Feb. 2, 2014), http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/snuff.htm.
“Cowrie Shell.” Thomas
Jefferson Encyclopedia. (Accessed Feb. 7, 2014), http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/cowrie-shell.
Curtis, Mattoon M. The
Book of Snuff and Snuff Boxes. (USA: Van Rees Press, 1935).
“You Say Six Reasons Are Enough.” Harpers Weekly. (Sept. 28, 1867, p. 619).
