Artisans and Archaeology:

Alexander Turnbull, Thomas Ogle, Benjamin Humphries, and Clarence Klinedinst

presentation by Rebecca Yamin

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Rebecca is a Philadelphia-based historical and urban archaeologist. Now retired, she worked for John Milner Associates for 20 years as a principal archaeologist/project manager and as te head of the Philadelphia office.

Urban archaeology is not just about finding neat stuff.  The artifacts lead to people and the people fill gaps in the historical record.  I have met many otherwise unknown people on my archaeological projects in Philadelphia.  Many were artisans whose work contributed to the vitality of the city as it grew from a fledgling port to a thriving metropolis.  In this lecture you will meet a coach maker who worked across from the State House in the decade when the federal government was seated in Philadelphia, a cabinet maker who made fine furniture in the first decade of the nineteenth century, a cutler who gave up his craft to run an illegal tavern during Revolutionary War times, and a mason who dug an escape tunnel from Eastern State Penitentiary in 1945.  They were all skilled and their stories bring the past to life in a different way than the stories of the founding fathers.  Urban archaeology is, more often than not, about the common people because we get to dig where they lived and worked.  They may not have written biographies or diaries, but they left us their possessions to interpret.