The Anatomization and Medicalization of Females Buried at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery
Author(s): Katharine C. Woollen; Kathleen D. Stansbury
Year: 2025
Summary
This is a poster submission presented at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Wisconsin approved “An Act to Legalize Dissection” in 1868, which declared unclaimed bodies could be sent to medical societies for anatomical examination. In Milwaukee, cadavers could be buried at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC). Based on osteological assessment, a total of 28/160 (17.5%) females have documented craniotomies and/or postcranial cut marks. To further contextualize these results, archival data from the Register of Burials at the MCPFC (RBMC) was analyzed for postmortem alterations (e.g., autopsy and/or medical cadaver) to female bodies. In total, 139/609 (22.8%) females were used as medical cadavers, 22/609 (3.61%) had an autopsy, and 3/609 (0.49%) had both. The objectification of marginalized women’s bodies is an increasingly visible contemporary issue. By studying the treatment of female cadavers in historic Milwaukee, anthropologists can highlight the role of western medicine in shaping this objectification.
Cite this Record
The Anatomization and Medicalization of Females Buried at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery. Katharine C. Woollen, Kathleen D. Stansbury. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2025 ( tDAR id: 508641)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Anatomization
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medicalization
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women
Geographic Keywords
United States
Spatial Coverage
min long: -178.217; min lat: 18.925 ; max long: 179.769; max lat: 71.351 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Nicole Haddow