| Making Do is commonly associated with people's responses to the economic crisis of the 1930s and early 1940s. Historical archaeology in the Rabbithole Mining District in Pershing County, Nevada, suggests that miners relied on Making Do to survive and make a living in the district. Through Making Do, they adapted their lifeways to three interrelated challenges of their physical environment, national and local economic problems, and mineralogical conditions that made profitable placer mining difficult. Building on folk classifications of activities that comprise Making Do, this thesis operationalizes the practice in a way that untangles its varied colloquial meanings and identifies its material expressions. Using this framework, Making Do is shown to have played an important role in adapting to the three challenges faced by miners in the Rabbithole Mining District. |
