Bookends: What We’ve Learned in the Twenty-two Years Separating Archaeological Excavations of the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

From 1878 through 1974 Milwaukee County utilized four locations on the Milwaukee County Grounds for burial of more than 7000 individuals. Two archaeological excavations in 1991 and 1992 and again in 2013 resulted in the recovery of over 2400 individuals from one of those cemetery locations. Changes in the questions asked of these data sets, acquired 20 years apart, and our ability to answer those questions, mirror the changes in the discipline of historical archaeology. While the earlier research was geared toward primary documentation of the human remains and associated grave goods, our recent work focuses on situating the individuals interred in the cemetery within a more nuanced understanding of the historical, social, and economic context in which they lived and died. Specific paper topics include historical, archaeological and osteological research related to both excavations.

Other Keywords
Cemetery • Historic Cemetery • Osteology • demography • Archival Research • Material Culture • Medicine • Zooarchaeology • Dog Burial • Historic Cemeteries

Temporal Keywords
Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century • late 19th and early 20th centuries • Late nineteenth and early twentieth centur

Geographic Keywords
North America • Coahuila (State / Territory) • New Mexico (State / Territory) • Oklahoma (State / Territory) • Arizona (State / Territory) • Texas (State / Territory) • Sonora (State / Territory) • United States of America (Country) • Chihuahua (State / Territory) • Nuevo Leon (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-11 of 11)

Documents

Approaches to Sample Selection for Strontium Isotope Testing Within Historic Cemetery Contexts: An Illustrative Example from the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Project (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Shannon Freire.
Strontium isotope analyses have become a vibrant frontier for historic cemetery research in the United States. Isotopic analyses can make vital contributions to our understanding of the past, particularly in the categories of demographics, temporal refinements, and individual identifications. This analytical method can be understood as a catalyst for research- similar to a catalyst in a chemical reaction. When utilized in combination with multiple lines of evidence, strontium analyses become a...
Changes in Bone Density During the Post-Mortem Interval for the Individuals of the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Helen Werner.
Quantitative techniques for estimating age and sex at death are becoming more popular with the increased use of computed tomography scans and radiographs on forensic human remains. A gap in the research makes practical applications of post mortem imaging limited to those individuals whose time since death is known, as there has yet to be a parallel study examining changes in bone density during the post-mortem interval. This study examines archaeological human remains from the Milwaukee County...
Living Tactically: Postmortem Agency and Individual Identity in Institutional Burials (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessica Skinner.
Structure and institutional durability often play a role in the manifestation of identity by shaping the avenues available to human actors and by creating the landscape in which these actions are carried out. However, through durable institutions move volatile agents who have the ability to act tactically within often immobile institutional environments. These constraints and freedoms of individuals within institutional settings often culminate in the representation of an individual in death,...
Medical Practices and Teaching Specimens: A Review of Skeletal Modifications Associated with Medical Intervention and the Educational Use of Human Remains, with Application to Subadult Individuals from the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Brianne E Charles.
From life to death and beyond the grave, the bodies of the individuals buried at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery have been vulnerable to the actions and authority of medical professionals. Medical procedures and the implementation of human remains for training purposes are two forms of culturally-sanctioned skeletal modifications detected among the juvenile remains recovered from the 1991-1992 Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery excavations. This paper presents the results of a...
Milwaukee's Common Grave: Spatial Distribution and Compositional Characteristics of Multiple Interments in a Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Potter's Field (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Catherine Jones.
Initially established for burial of the city’s unclaimed, indigent, and institutionalized, the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery quickly became a convenient disposal venue for city institutions such as the Milwaukee Medical College, Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Milwaukee County Coroner’s Office. Excavations at the site in 1991-1992 and 2013 revealed a unique subset of burials containing the partial remains of multiple individuals, many of whom show evidence of autopsy and...
Paper Tiger: Historic Newspaper Text from the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Material Culture Collection (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Eric Burant. Nicholas W. Richards.
The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) is located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. This historic cemetery was in use from 1878 to 1974 and interred Milwaukee County’s indigent. The individuals represented consist mostly of poor European immigrants, subsequent generations, institutionalized residents, and the unclaimed deceased. Included in the array material culture recovered during 1991-1992 and 2013 archaeological excavations are newspaper fragments. These primary documents survive in varying...
There is Nothing Like Looking if You Want to Find Something: The Emerging Accessibility of Historic Documents and the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexander Anthony.
Since the foundation of the Society for Historic Archaeology 50 years ago changing technology has dramatically transformed historic document research. Historical data that would’ve taken countless hours of research to uncover is now available through a few clicks of a mouse. Modern technology cannot be relied upon for all historic research; it can, however, lead the researcher down previously undiscovered paths. Document research initiated in 2013 has aided in the reinterpretation of the...
Through the Lens: Photographic Recordation of the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Excavations (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Emma D. Richards. Willa C. Richards.
Photography is an integral part of the archeological recordation process. This paper compares and contrasts the photographic methods of the 1991/1992 Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) excavations and the 2013 MCPFC excavations. In each case, the photographic record preserves the original burial context and is useful for analysis after that context is destroyed. The differences between the photographic methods of the 1991/92 excavations and the 2013 excavations represent not only...
"The Time Has Come," the Walrus Said, "To Talk of Many Things: Of Shoes and Ships - and Sealing Wax - of Cabbages and Kings" and Twenty-five Years of the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Project. (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Patricia B. Richards.
This paper provides a retrospective look at the political, regulatory, methodological, and ethical conundrums that characterize ongoing research that emerged from an archeological recovery contract completed in 1992. Today, the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) project has developed into a multifaceted research initiative focused on one of the largest systematically excavated and permanently curated collections of osteological and material culture remains in the United States. Since...
Unnoticed All His Worth, a Dog Burial at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Emily Epstein. Patricia B. Richards.
One dog (Canis lupus familiaris) was recovered from a six-sided wooden coffin among the human interments identified during the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery Removal Project of 2013. Milwaukee County used the cemetery (ca. 1880 – 1920) to bury people who died at institutions located on the country grounds or to bury individuals with survivors unable to afford burial elsewhere. The cemetery is contemporaneous with the establishment of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to...
What We Knew Then and What We Know Now: How New Archival Research Has Changed Our Understanding of the Milwaukee County Institution Grounds Cemetery Population (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Brooke L. Drew.
During the initial Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery investigation, the most significant documentary source was the Register of Burials at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery, believed to account for all burials between 1882 and 1974. Preliminary research based on the Register of Burials, Milwaukee County Death certificates, and the spatial analysis of grave goods recovered from excavations conducted in 1991 and 1992 resulted in the tentative identification of 190 individuals. We now...