"Black gold": a provisional guide of vulcanized rubber ornaments in the United States, 1850-1898

Abstract

Ornamental hair combs and jewelry fabricated from the novel industrial-made material vulcanite emerged around 1850 as part of a growing market for vulcanized rubber goods manufactured in the United States. From roughly 1850 until the end of the century, dozens of rubber companies made ornaments in large quantities for mainstream consumption. Their vast output ranged from three-dimensional sculptural objects to flat, geometric pieces that appealed to fashionable consumers from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, California. However, despite their high cultural value in mid-to-late nineteenth-century material culture, these objects have thus far been overlooked. The popularity of these adornments begs questions about their material origins, production, marketing, and consumption of hard rubber combs and jewelry. To answer these questions, this thesis offers a material and cultural guide to vulcanized rubber ornaments, ranging from bold cable chain necklaces to understated hair pins, that emerged during the first wave of the industrial production of ornamental hard rubber products. In essence, this thesis reintroduces the subject to students and researchers of Victorian America through surviving pieces in the holdings of the Butler Museum, Historic New England, and the Winterthur Museum, as well as textual and visual materials culled from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library