Coffee Mill c. 1941

Archie Thompson made this watercolor painting of a coffee mill some time between 1855 and 1995. It is a still-life of a domestic object. But the painting is also a social document that alludes to a much wider world. Coffee grinders like this one evoke the rise of coffee culture and the systems of trade and labor that underpinned it. As coffee became a popular drink, new social spaces like coffee houses emerged, where people gathered to exchange ideas and conduct business. Yet, the pleasurable experience of drinking coffee also came at a cost. It was made possible through international trade and the exploitation of labor in colonized countries. These systems of colonial exploitation became the foundation for the global capitalist economy. To better understand Thompson's painting, we might investigate such sources as historical market data, trade statistics, or even plantation inventories. These can tell us about the social context in which the coffee mill was produced, used, and represented.