Despite much excellent work on the historical evolution of the concepts of time and time-discipline, little is known about the incidence of clock and watch ownership in what have been perceived as `task-oriented' societies. This article attempts to expand our historical knowledge of mechanical timepiece ownership in both urban and rural areas of the antebellum South (pre-1865) in the USA. Moreover, it speculates as to what it meant to own a clock or watch in that society.
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