Butter, Milk, and a “Spare Ribb”: Women's Work and the Transatlantic Economic Transition in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts

Exploring the generally unappreciated connection between local economic behavior and the emergence of larger commercial endeavors in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, the article demonstrates, through a close analysis of contemporary account books, that “women's work” was a vital element in the colony's pivotal transition to a transatlantic economy.