Collective Identities, the Catholic Temperance Movement,and Father Mathew: The Social History of a Teacup

Abstract

Symbols found on various objects signify and express group identity. They reflect the larger history or collective social relations and e x p e r i e n c e s o f a p a r t i c u l a r g ro u p . Archeological study linking objects, decorative types, and symbols is especially significant in socio-historical contexts that involve the exile and migration of people from their homeland and their subsequent alienation in the new place of settlement. The structure of group formation consists of the people's memory (real or imaginary) of their homeland, their worldview, and their current experiences of injustice. The symbolism conveys the meaning of injustice and hope. The 19th century was a dynamic and contentious period in Irish immigrant history in the United States. The large numbers of Irish Catholics arriving daily to the United States caused fear and mistrust among the non-Irish, American-born Protestants. In this manuscript, I address the materialization of 19th-century class and religious conflict and the negotiation between the Irish immigrant community and mainstream native-born Americans in New York City by exploring the meaning embedded within a refined white earthenware teacup decorated with the image of Father Theobald Mathew. The cup was discovered during the excavation of a midto late-19th-century, predominantly Irish immigrant section of New York City known as the Five Points (fig. 1). The cup was recovered from a privy deposit dating between 1850-1870. The privy is associated with a tenement housing Irish immigrant families and boarders at 472 Pearl Street. The image of Father Mathew and the accompanying symbols provide a unique insight into the social history of and relations between Irish Catholic immigrants and mainstream Americans. To the Irish immigrant community, this image reflects social relations within the Catholic community, perceptions of temperance, and various paths towards acceptance in American society.