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11 The Early Poor in Philadelphia: A Preliminary Report on the Philadelphia City Almshouse Privy Excavation Mara Kaktins and Sharon Allitt Introduction This paper presents preliminary findings from the excavation of a privy associated with the first Philadelphia City Almshouse, in operation from 1732–1767. Excavations conducted by Temple University students recovered a wealth of artifacts relating to diet, task work, care of the infirm, and even recreation at the almshouse, providing information on colonial treatment of the poor and the daily lives of some of early Philadelphia’s least documented citizens. The assemblage contains numerous artifacts, which would be expected from an institution of this nature, as well as many that were not, such as musical instruments, evidence of a surprisingly varied diet including tea consumption by inmates, and some intriguing initialed redware pots. The documentary and archaeological evidence suggest this short-lived almshouse was caught between the traditional methods of poor relief, which relied heavily on “outrelief ” such as firewood or small amounts of money, and reforms that advocated the full institutionalization of the poor. Ultimately, the relatively small complex rapidly became overcrowded, and in the second half of the eighteenth century was replaced by a much larger structure called the Bettering House. few colonial-period institutions for the treatment of the poor have been examined archaeologically. The principal focus of archaeologists has thus far has been on late-eighteenth and nineteenth-century institutions. These include: the falmouth , Massachusetts Almshouse, in operation from 1814 into the twentieth century (spencer-Wood 2009); the Uxbridge and Hudson poor farm cemeteries of Uxbridge, also in Massachusetts (Bell 1990; Elia and Wesolowsky 1995); the cemetery of the Blockley Almshouse located in Philadelphia, which operated from 1835 until the twentieth century (Kimberly Morell, personal communication 2010); the Magdalen society for the reformation of wayward women, also in Philadelphia (De Cunzo 1995); the 1886 schuyler Mansion orphanage in Albany (feister 1991, 2009); and the Destitute Asylum of Adelaide, Australia, which ran from 1849–1917 (Casella 2009). Two colonial American almshouses have been excavated to date: the relatively small 1696 Dutch-built Albany Almshouse (Huey 1991, 2001; Pena 2001) and the 1736–1797 new york City Municipal Almshouse complex (Baugher and lenik 1997, 2001). 250 The Early Poor in Philadelphia Brief Historical Background of the Philadelphia City Almshouse and Colonial Period Treatment of the Poor The Philadelphia City Almshouse, operating from 1732 until 1767, was the city’s first public poorhouse—although the city’s Quakers had built their own private almshouse in 1713. located in a section of Philadelphia now known as society Hill, on the block bounded by spruce and Pine and 3rd and 4th streets, the City Almshouse was designed to house the city’s poor, infirm, and insane. Construction began in 1730 after a suitable block of clear meadow ground was purchased from Alden Allen for£200, and the first inmates were accepted in 1732 (lawrence 1905). little is known of the almshouse building and complex itself. few maps depict the almshouse; the most informative, by Clarkson and Biddle (1762), shows the main building’s footprint and its orientation on the block, fronting on Third street. no outbuildings are shown on the map, but there is a large building located at each end of the main structure. These do not appear to be connected to the main building although it is unclear if this reflects the actual layout of the complex or if it is only a function of the map being drawn as a “schematic” depiction. Errors contained within the original map make it somewhat difficult to know precisely how the almshouse complex was laid out with respect to the present block; however, when the 1762 map is scaled and superimposed over a modern aerial photograph, the excavated privy is seen to be located just within the northeast corner of the enclosure surrounding the complex (figure 11.1). There is but a single known possible image of this almshouse, a watercolor painted by David Kennedy in the nineteenth century based on of a now-lost sketch by Thomas Birch drawn in 1798. Given that even the original image was completed 31 years after the decommissioning of the Almshouse, which was torn down well before 1798, the accuracy of the depiction is in question (Hunter 1977). The almshouse provided much in the way of out-relief in the form of money, clothes, and firewood (Wulf 2004). At least initially, this was likely the Philadelphia Almshouse’s primary function, with only orphans...

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