Summary Findings of Nonadult Osteological Analyses of the 1991 and 1992 Archaeological Excavations at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery 2

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Operating under the Wisconsin Burial Site Preservation Statute 157.70, two archaeological excavations occurred at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) 2 (1882 – 1925). Recently awarded grant funding has facilitated the completion of osteological documentation at the level of the archaeological individual for over 500 nonadults from the first excavation cohort. This poster presents a summary of our findings, integrating osteological data with previously reported archaeological data. Nonadults and their burials are under-represented in discussions of both Milwaukee’s history and archaeological pauper cemeteries. Our objective is to generate holistic insights and understandings of the individuals, histories, and narratives of those interred at the MCPFC 2. Further, the completion of this data collection provides critical information for our work to produce provisional identifications of nonadults, associating archaeological individuals with historical records.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• 2025 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow