The Graham affair: the role of artifacts in the definition of culture: Monterey, California, 1840

Abstract

The agency of artifacts to illustrate cultural definition of groups in California, evident in the incident of the arrest and exile of Isaac Graham in 1840, is explored using patterns of purchases from the store of Thomas O. Larkin. Some groups yielded institutional ideology to maintain a public face while retaining traditional foods and ceramics. Others constructed an environment which enabled them to define themselves in opposition to those around them. The differences generated conflict which were sustained with the advent of the American era in California.