Title Consumers in the bush : shopping in rural Upper Canada / Douglas McCalla

Published Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2015] ©2015

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Description 1 online resource (xv, 296 pages) : illustrations Series McGill-Queen's rural, wildland, and resource studies series ; 3 McGill-Queen's rural, wildland, and resource studies series ; 3. Contents Preamble : consumers in the bush -- Crusoe in Upper Canada? Stories of rural consumption -- Places, stores, and people : village stores and their customers -- Fashion in the countryside? Textile and clothing purchases -- A world without chocolate : purchases of groceries and medications -- Iron in a "wooden age" : hardware and related purchases -- Local goods : importers and the market for local products -- Household goods, footwear, and other purchases -- Conclusion : "essentials" and everyday life Summary General stores are essential to the image of a colonial village. Many historians, however, still base their stories of settlement on the notion of rural self-sufficiency, begging the question: if general stores were so common, who were their customers? To answer this, Consumers in the Bush draws on the account books of country stores, rich evidence that has rarely been used. Douglas McCalla considers more than 30,000 transactions on the accounts of 750 families at seven Upper Canadian stores between 1808 and 1861. These customers were typical of rural society - farmers, artisans, labourers, and often women. At village stores they found a wide variety of products, most imported from Britain, a few from the United States, and a surprising number that were produced locally. Three chapters focus on the major product categories of dry goods, groceries, and hardware; a fourth considers local products, and a fifth addresses a variety of items - from household goods to footwear to school books. In telling us about the goods colonists bought, this book explores what they were used for and the stories they allow us to tell about rural lives and experience. By seeing rural Upper Canadians as consumers, Consumers in the Bush reveals them as full participants in the rapidly changing nineteenth-century global world of goods Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-286) and index Notes Text in English Subject Consumers -- Ontario -- History -- 19th century Shopping -- Ontario -- History -- 19th century General stores -- Ontario -- History -- 19th century Consumption (Economics) -- Ontario -- History -- 19th century BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Commerce. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Marketing -- General. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Sales & Selling -- General. HISTORY -- Canada -- Pre-Confederation (to 1867) Consumers Consumption (Economics) Economic history General stores Manners and customs Rural conditions Shopping SUBJECT Ontario -- Economic conditions -- 19th century Ontario -- Social life and customs -- 19th century Ontario -- Rural conditions Subject Ontario Genre/Form Electronic books History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780773544994 0773544992 9780773545007 077354500X 0773597093 9780773597099 0773597107 9780773597105

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