ABSTRACT
Scholarship that avails itself of the evidence embedded in probate inventories ranges from a passing reference to intensive manipulation, from a localized focus to trans-Atlantic comparison, and/or from a small sample to total coverage. Probate records, when intelligently meshed with archaeological findings, have been shown to explicate the life of a totally unknown Afro-American, Black Lucy. The literature pertaining to probate inventories—whether advising on their use or mining them as historical repositories—regularly counsels and acknowledges the exercise of scholarly caution. Probate inventories can be demonstrably incomplete in coverage—and inconsistent in valuation—of assets. Probate records lend themselves to a multiplicity of scholarly objectives and methods, all dependent upon the strictures of depth and breadth inherent in these historical sources. Telling evidence in probate inventories about the diversity of household appointments and differences in apparel contributes to an understanding of the disparity in daily lives in 1774.
