Barbara Johnson's Album: Material Literacy and Consumer Practice, 1746‐1823. (20th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dyer, Serena
• Is Part Of: Journal for eighteenth-century studies. Volume 42:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 263
• Page End: 282
• Publication Date: 2019-03-20
• Subjects: consumption -- material culture -- dress -- fashion -- material knowledge -- material literacy -- accounting -- account book; Eighteenth century -- Periodicals; Europe -- Civilization -- 18th century -- Periodicals; Dix-huitième siècle -- Périodiques; Civilisation -- 18e siècle -- Périodiques; 940.25305
• DOI: 10.1111/1754-0208.12616
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-0194

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines Barbara Johnson's Album, a prolific record of the dress consumption of a vicar's daughter. The album contains over a hundred samples of dress fabrics acquired by Johnson between the ages of eight and eighty‐five. Interrogated alongside the Johnson family correspondence and didactic tools produced by Johnson's mother, this article argues that the album acted as a material form of account book, conceived as a moral, financial and material regulator. Considered within the emerging framework of material knowledge and consumer skill, the album provides important evidence of how consumers maintained and developed their material literacy.