Making the Museum

[Making the Museum]

From August-October, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) explored the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. The excavation phase is over, but the analysis has only just begun! Lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin is back with new discoveries being made in her group’s lab:

Since finishing excavation on October 24th, we have been busy cleaning, organizing, and inventorying the artifacts in our West Chester laboratory. About 60,000 artifacts have been entered into a computer database and we are beginning the mending process. When possible, found fragments are mended together to form the vessels they used to be—cups, plates, glasses, flower pots, etc. 

Our last field report announced the discovery of the Success to the Triphena punch bowl. Many more sherds have been found in the lab and when taped together they form an almost complete bowl. We’ve also pieced together some beautiful redware plates made by Philadelphia potters who we will make every effort to identify. A surprise artifact that we didn’t notice when it was covered with dirt in the field included a bottle seal bearing the initials “S. M.,’ probably for its owner, Sarah Merrick, who lived at No. 32 Carter’s Alley in 1791. (The punch bowl was found next door at No. 30.)

In addition to mending artifacts, another part of the analysis process is tracing the owners and occupants of the properties where the artifact-filled features (privies) were found. Fortunately, many primary documents with this information, including deeds and directories, are now online, but we will also be visiting the City Archives and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. So far, from deeds we have learned that the block was occupied by many different kinds of artisans. For instance, in the 1790s there was a shoemaker, a bookbinder, a printer, a carpenter, a paper manufacturer, a blacksmith, a stay maker, a tallow chandler, a coachmaker, a cutler, and a cordwainer on Carter’s Alley.  A clerk in the Treasury department lived at No. 76 Chestnut Street in 1794, which would have been convenient to the First Bank of the United States located on the other side of Third Street. A shoemaker and cordwainer were at that address a few years earlier and a gilder was there in 1810.  It will be interesting to see if any artifacts relating to these particular occupations turn up in the lab.  

Once the artifacts are mended we will match them to their probable owners and address research questions that relate to domestic life in early Philadelphia and industrial activities that co-existed with private houses in this neighborhood. The site includes a material record of the development of the city in microcosm and we will trace the changes over time from the late 17th century up to the second decade of the 20th century.

Pictured above (from top) are two images of archaeology team members piecing together artifacts; a more complete look at the Success to the Triphena bowl from the inside and the outside; an assortment of sherds; and a beautiful example of Philadelphia redware.

We’re looking forward to hearing more about the team’s findings in the new year. Many thanks to Rebecca and her team for their hard work and to you for following along!

Image Credits: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

Archaeology may be over, but construction has only just begun! To track our progress, we set up a time-lapse camera that documents our construction site every 15 minutes. Check it out for live updates! 

[Making the Museum]

For nearly three months, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) have been exploring the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. Each week lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin shares her team’s discoveries. Today she recaps her team’s last week of site work, and announces a special discovery!

Friday, October 24, was the last day archaeologists needed to be in the field until spring, when the ramp covering William Hudson’s property at the corner of Chestnut and Third Streets will be lifted. The rest of the site has been excavated to depths below which any cultural remains would be expected.   

It is both sad and exciting to finish an archaeological investigation—sad because excavation, especially urban excavation, is so full of surprising finds that make every minute in the field interesting, and exciting because now we get to figure out what all those finds mean. Who did the artifacts belong to? What was life like on this block during the Revolutionary War? What was it like during the 19th century? What can we learn about the tanning industry, the printing industry, and button making from the physical remains?

In all, we excavated a well and twelve brick-lined privies, most of them brimming with artifacts. One of the largest assemblages of artifacts came from an 18th-century privy in the southeast corner of the site, located behind a house that would have faced Carter’s Alley. Among them was one of our most treasured findings: the pieces of an English delftware punch bowl.

When these sherds were pieced together in the lab, we were delighted to see a resplendent ship flying British flags with the words “Success to the Triphena” below. (“Triphena” is the name of the ship depicted.) We were the first people to lay eyes on this object since it was broken and discarded around the time of the American Revolution.

American colonists drank enormous quantities of alcoholic beverages, including beer, cider, wine, brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey. One particularly popular beverage during the era of the American Revolution was punch, which combined various ingredients like sugar, citrus juice, spices and liquor, and was commonly served in ceramic “punch bowls” like the “Success to the Triphena” bowl found on our site. (If you’d like to try a classic punch, check out Ben Franklin’s recipe for Milk Punch here.)

During the 18th century, many of the punch bowls that were exported to the American colonies were produced by potters in Liverpool, England. The collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England includes an example that is a very close match to the Triphena bowl. (See above.) Such bowls were likely produced to commemorate the launch of a new ship or to mark a voyage.

Thanks to the digitization of 18th-century American and British newspapers, we have been able to piece together some fascinating details about the original Triphena. (“Triphena” is Greek for delicate or dainty). The December 1, 1763 edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette carried an advertisement for merchants Robert Lewis and Son, located on Front Street in Philadelphia, where they offered an assortment of goods just imported on the “Triphena, Captain Smith, from Liverpool.” It is certainly no coincidence that Captain Smith’s travels on the Triphena over the next few years regularly carried him to Liverpool, the place where the punch bowl was made, as well as Philadelphia, Charleston, and the West Indies.

In addition to plying the Atlantic and Caribbean waters, the Triphena played an interesting role in the American colonial protest movement against the Stamp Act. In late 1765, Captain Smith carried a memorial from the merchants and traders of Philadelphia addressed to the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain, asking them to pressure Parliament to repeal the odious act.

Like many of the items discovered on our site, the “Success to the Triphena” bowl is not simply an object—it is also a witness to and product of the rich and fascinating history of our corner of the world as a new nation was being formed. We look forward to making additional discoveries in the archaeology lab and sharing them with you in the coming months. Thank you for following this project!

Pictured above are fragments of the “Success to the Triphena” bowl found by our archaeologists.

Special thanks to the Museum’s Director of Collections, R. Scott Stephenson, for researching the history of the punch bowl.

Image Credit: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

For nearly three months, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) have been exploring the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. Each week lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin shares her team’s discoveries. As archaeology begins to wind down, she reveals what are likely to be some of her team’s last findings for the season:

We’re approaching the last week of archaeology until spring. When I left the field on Thursday, the other archaeologists were clearing button-making debris off a cellar floor that probably belonged to a wing of the Jayne Building. Among the debris were iron tools that may relate to Lippencott’s innovative button manufacturing process and some mysterious chunks of white porcelain—though not the sanitary kind. Once that cellar floor is taken up there will be only one more cellar floor to explore before we wrap up for the winter.

When we return in the spring, we’ll be digging under the ramp that trucks use to get in and out of the site. It covers one of the most potentially important properties in the project area—the lot that belonged to William Hudson and his descendants. The house, described as a “mansion” in the documentary record, stood at the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets. It had a view of the Delaware River from a garden that sloped southeast towards Dock Creek, and there were stables and servants quarters in “the rear of the court-yard.” We are hoping that remnants of them have survived later construction.

As expected, the privy found last week in the southwest corner of the site contained artifacts dating to the second half of the 19th century. Fragments of embossed medicine bottles and a sweet little redware dish that may have been used for mixing potions were among them, but best of all was a complete pewter spoon. Other artifacts found include the heavy plain white ironstone ceramics that were popular in the late 19th century and the leather sole of a shoe.

Pictured above is the spoon, the shoe sole, and the button factory machine part found on site.

Image Credit: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

For nearly three months, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) have been exploring the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. Each week lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin shares her team’s discoveries. Today she reveals some unexpected findings:

Just as we thought there was nothing left to find, another brick-lined shaft showed up in the southwestern corner of the site. The artifacts coming out of it appear to be from the second half of the 19th century, but once we get deeper we will know more.

At the beginning of the week we completed the excavation of two nearby features: a small diameter circular shaft and an incomplete brick circle. The incomplete circle was very shallow and didn’t yield much more than cinders, but the complete shaft was about six feet deep and contained late 19th-century artifacts, including lots of printers’ type.

The type is particularly interesting because it represents a later technological development in the industry than was found earlier in the project at Carter’s Alley. One aspect of our analysis will focus on the evolution of the printing industry, which was very significant in Philadelphia.

The northern half of the site is now being cleared and we are recording foundation walls as they are exposed. The foundations belong to buildings that once lined Chestnut Street. Many of the 19th-century buildings along the street front had basements plus sub-basements and it is unlikely that any backyard features from the 18th century survived beneath them, but you never know until you look under the basement floors. Time will tell!

Pictured above is a handful of the printers’ type found on site. Also pictured (below) is one of the building foundations described by Dr. Yamin. 

Every Thursday between 10am-2pm the archaeologists are available to take your questions in person from the steps of the First Bank of the United States, which is across the street from the construction site. Not local? You can submit archaeology questions to editor@amrevmuseum.org and we will answer them in a future post.

Image Credit: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

This summer, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) began excavating the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. Each week lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin shares a dispatch about her team’s discoveries. Today, she reports on their newest findings:

Last week, all of our efforts went into the east side of the site, which meant finishing up the two privies in the line of six that had been found a couple of weeks ago. It also meant finishing up the well that was found during the first week of the project. This well had been tricky because of water present, and couldn’t be worked on until DeAngelo, the contractor, supplied a pump.

Tim Mancl, JMA’s field director, excavated the shaft down to the bottom, exposing the brick superstructure and the pump shaft that, for a while at least, was free standing. The wooden pump shaft was composed of two parts: a tapered upper cylinder that fit into a larger diameter shaft that had an intake hole near the bottom. An iron, octagonal ring was present at the point the two parts joined and metal straps on either side connected one part to the other.  DeAngelo used an excavator to lift out the pump, which will be kept wet until a decision has been made about conserving it.

The northernmost privy in the line of six produced an unusual assemblage of artifacts. Among them were bale seals, weights (for a scale), gun flints, clay “marbles” that actually may be gaming pieces,  glass beads, and lots of pipe stems, as well as a few marked pipe bowls. While there were many fragments of Chinese porcelain teacups, English slip-decorated posset cups, and large pieces of local utilitarian redware in the assemblage,  the usual dinner plates and wine bottles were missing. The artifacts appear to date to the early 18th century and may have come from a commercial enterprise on Chestnut Street.  

Pictured above are some of this week’s small finds, including straight pins, bone buttons, beads, pencil, clay marble, and lead shot. Also pictured (below) is the well described by Dr. Yamin. 

UPDATE: The archaeologists’ Thursday, October 9, Q&A is cancelled, but they’ll be back next Thursday between 10am-2pm on the steps of the First Bank of the United States across the street from the construction site. In the meantime, submit any archaeology questions to editor@amrevmuseum.org.

Image Credit: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

In 1974, when the first Independence National Historical Park Visitor Center was being built on our project site, its construction crew unearthed a trove of shells, along with an assortment of buttons and button blanks made from them. 40 years later, our archaeology team has discovered even more shells and buttons. Most likely, they belong to George A. Lippincott’s button factory, which stood at 34 Carter’s Alley in the early- to mid-20th century.

We were thrilled that the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum recently named this assortment of shells and buttons as its “Artifact of the Month.” On October 4, archaeologist Tim Mancl will be talking about these items and the history of the button factory at the Forum’s event “Explore Philadelphia’s Buried Past,” an annual celebration held in honor of Philadelphia’s Archaeology Month. The event is free and open to the public, and will also feature lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin discussing the remains found from the famous Jayne building, among other local archaeologists who’ve made fascinating discoveries beneath the soil in the past year.

Pictured above are just a few of the shells dug up from our site.

Have questions for our archaeology team? They’ll be available to talk about their work every Thursday between 10am-2pm on the steps of the First Bank of the United States across the street from the construction site. Or submit your questions to editor@amrevmuseum.org and we’ll answer them in a future post.

Image Credit: Museum of the American Revolution

[Making the Museum]

This summer, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) began excavating the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. Each week lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin shares a dispatch about her team’s discoveries. Today, she reports on their newest findings:

Much to everyone’s surprise, six more privies turned up along the eastern edge of the site right next to (or west of) American Street. It is not clear yet whether these privies were located in the backyards of houses that originally faced Third Street or ones that faced Second Street before the alley that eventually became American Street was put through. In fact, the two furthest to the north may have belonged to property owners on Chestnut Street.

Only four of the six privies had been investigated by the end of the week. The one furthest to the south included a substantial number of cattle horns and bones probably deriving from one or more of the tanneries once located on Dock Creek. (William Hudson, one of the block’s earliest residents, owned a tannery on the creek.) The artifacts recovered from a layer below the tanning remains appears to date to the late 17th century. Among them were a heavy ceramic goblet, beautifully hand-painted tin-glazed earthenware, curious large discs made of stoneware, and glass bottle bases that once belonged to an early type of bottle described as onion shaped.

The team also cleared and recorded a basement floor at the southwest corner of the site. The contractor will lift the floor this week so we can look for truncated backyard features that might lie below.

Pictured above are two newly-uncovered privy pits.

Have questions for Dr. Yamin and her team? She’ll be available to talk about their work every Thursday between 10am-2pm on the steps of the First Bank of the United States across the street from the construction site. Or submit your questions to editor@amrevmuseum.org and we’ll answer them in a future post.

Image Credit: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

This summer, archaeologists from John Milner Associates (JMA) began excavating the site where the Museum of the American Revolution will be built. Each week lead archaeologist Rebecca Yamin shares a dispatch about her team’s discoveries. Today, we were thrilled to hear her report on a trove of buried treasures:

Artifacts! Artifacts! Artifacts!

Confined to the southeast corner of the site by construction activities, last week we put all of our efforts into excavating the two privies that had first been uncovered during the second week of the project. The largest of the privies—almost eight feet in diameter—contained at least two layers of fill. A railroad token was found in the upper layer and the thick lower layer was full of domestic artifacts, many of them dating to the late 1830s. These include many different ceramic vessels decorated with transfer-printed designs showing landscapes with castles and mansions and even a lighthouse. A set of glass tumblers was also found.

The other privy—about six feet in diameter—had been filled in the 18th century. Even more artifacts were recovered from its fill, including elegant glassware, locally made redware, beautifully hand-painted English ceramics, and a bowl decorated with a sailing ship flying the flag of Great Britain. Anna Coxe Toogood’s map reconstruction of the block in 1787 shows “Benjamin Humphreys, Gentleman” as the owner of the lot. By 1800, Widow Humphries was the occupant. The Humphreys surely set an elegant table. From the many food remains recovered we will be able to figure out what they ate as well as what they ate it on. 

Pictured above is a collection of items found in the 8’ privy (top), as well as items found in the 6’ privy (bottom). 

Have questions for Dr. Yamin and her team? She’ll be available to talk about their work every Thursday between 10am-2pm on the steps of the First Bank of the United States across the street from the construction site. Or submit your questions to editor@amrevmuseum.org and we’ll answer them in a future post.

Image Credit: John Milner Associates, Inc.

[Making the Museum]

Among the most remarkable structures to have once lived on our site is the Jayne Building. Built in the mid-19th century, architectural historian Charles Peterson called it the prototype of skyscraper design in the United States—and it stood right here in Philadelphia.

The building name references Dr. David Jayne, a physician whose wildly successful business sold patent medicines and health advice almanacs. Jayne hired local architect William Johnson to design this revolutionary building, and construction began in 1848. When Johnson passed away in 1849 the project was taken over by Thomas U. Walter, the architect of Girard College and the Capitol Dome.

The finished product was spectacular: an elegant eight-story building, flanked on both sides by six-story wings, topped with an ornate tower that marked the building’s height at an impressive 133 feet.

Its grandeur, unfortunately, was marred by a 1872 fire that gutted much of the building. While the interior was restored, the tower was not.

Nevertheless, the Jayne Building stood tall until 1958, when it was demolished to make room for Independence National Historical Park. Remnants of the building continue to be uncovered by our archaeology team.

Image Credits: Top, view looking east. Stereoscope via the New York Public Library. Below, view looking west. Photograph via PhillyHistory.org/The Library Company of Philadelphia.