You Sleep Alone, Away from People: Understanding the Movement of Hobos and Other Transient Laborers (ca. 1880 – 1940)

Summary

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hobos and other transient workers crisscrossed the nation, taking temporary jobs wherever capital demanded labor that exceeded local resources. Despite their contingent status as surplus laborers, hobos were cast as morally bankrupt deviants, insane, and sexually ambiguous men by media outlets across the nation. State laws and county and town ordinances were summarily passed barring hobos from entering towns, cities, and otherwise populous areas. As a result, hobos were effectively pushed into the margins. Yet, their labor was still a requisite factor in the continued functioning and expansion of U.S. economic networks.

In this paper, we utilize ArcGIS platform to build on the results of excavations conducted in the summer of 2016 at a Great Depression Era hobo camp in South Central Pennsylvania—the Delta Trestle Hobo Jungle. In particular, we use GIS to explore the formation of a transient community in proximity to an expanding railroad network that not only linked industrial centers and natural resources across the Mid-Atlantic, but facilitated the mobility of laboring individuals to sources of employment and sustenance at the turn of the 20th century.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17366