Colonial Children Topic of Sept. 7 Talk

Join the St. Mary’s County Historical Society for the next installment of Historically Speaking: The Role of Children in the Colonial Chesapeake.

The event will be held from 7 to 8:30 pm Wednesday, September 7, at The Inn at Leonardtown at 41655 Park Ave.

Children are an understudied group of people historically, especially in archaeology. Where children have been studied, it is typically in relation to mortality rates.

Join St. Mary’s College of Maryland graduate Catherine Dye for an in-depth look into the lives of children in the Virginia and Maryland colonies through an archaeological lens. Her analysis shed important light on the experience of childhood in the Colonial Chesapeake. In addition to providing an archaeological examination of childhood mortality, the study of child bodies can reflect attitudes toward children at that time. Material culture in combination with burial conditions of children indicates the emotional value these children had, complicating the notion that children were valued primarily for their economic contribution to family or community life.

The St. Mary’s County Historical Society is the repository of a unique collection of Maryland memorabilia and museum pieces displayed on the first floor of Tudor Hall and in the Old Jail Museum at 41625 Courthouse Drive. The 18th-century Tudor Hall also serves as headquarters of the society and houses the Historical Society’s Research Center.

To learn more about the St. Mary’s Historical Society, visit its Leader member page.