The Can: Clandestine Infant Burials in Plain Sight

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "In Small Things Remembered II: An Archaeology of Affective Objects and Other Narratives", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Mortuary treatment in a capitalist society can be cost-prohibitive and a source of shame or guilt for those unable to pay for a proper burial. Coroner reports from Milwaukee County describe the recovery of miscarried, stillborn, or infant remains from outdoor locations, often concealed inside of everyday items such as tin cans, newspapers, and shoe boxes. As the designated burial grounds for unidentified remains, the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) received the contents of these clandestine primary burials and provided a publicly funded secondary burial. The living may be relieved of the financial, if not emotional burdens that disproportionately affected women following stillborn or neonatal death. This paper combines historical research with archaeological evidence of primary disposal practices contained within secondary infant burials from the MCPFC to disentangle common heteronormative narratives about infanticide, mortuary treatment, and the criminalization of women.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• In Small Things Remembered II: An Archaeology of Affective Objects and Other Narratives

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow