And learn about the history of philadelphia from the 18th century up to the 1840s. Im Scott Stevenson, vice at the museum of the American Revolution in philadelphia. I was the principal archaeologist of excavation of the site for the building itself. Scott we are actually standing surface feet below land if you are walking down Chestnut Street to Independence Hall toward the Delaware River and come to the corner of third and Chestnut Streets, we are about 20 or 30 feet underground right now. This is the site where the excavations were done for the new museum. Rebecca and i spent plenty of time in the dirt on this very same site, so its fascinating existsthis building that that we were out there with our shovels and trials and screens and the whole shebang. That is what archaeology is. Some shovels and trowels scott this is the earliest engraved map that shows the town for out by william penn philadelphia, the capital of pennsylvania, and this little is actually the footprint of the building were standing in here. As you can see, these are the original lots that were sold in the 16 80s by william penn. This site has been intensely occupied. It has had human occupation for tens of thousands of years way back to native americans. Also, going back to the colonial andod, buildings torn down doug and built and moved, so it is a rich neighborhood for doing urban archaeology to uncover the material culture of generations veryericans, so its also complex. Rebecca except because there have been all those buildings and because it has been occupied there many centuries, should have been nothing here. In the 19ths built century had very neat basements. Some of them had double basements. They had the usual eightfoot this meant, and then they were moved and had regular basements under the 19th century buildings, and the green shows where there were double basements, sub basements, so there were particularly deep holes that had been dug where there used to be backyards. We did not know if once we started to do the archaeology here, if those the basements would have destroyed everything that was in the backyard, and of course, it was in the backyard where holes were dug that we were looking for because of urban archaeology. It is these what we call features that produced the assemblages of artifacts that we then try to connect as people, and the purpose is to be able to tell stories of the people who lived here over time. Scott in a complex, urban site like this where you have all these complex campaigns of building and tearing down and dug, its being done was interesting to me to see that even in these places where these deep easements occurred, we were still able to recover artifacts, so a little bit of the kinds of features, like what likee holes in the ground, all the things that come out of the ground as pieces and would put them together and see what they were like before they were thrown away as trash. Garbage disposal of the 18th century. Rebecca there was no garbage collection in the 18th century, so people had to get rid of their garbage some way. You have the hole in the garden to the outhouse, which is called a privy when we excavate it, or an old picture that had been collecting water that was no longer being used for water. Any of those empty holds you might throw your trash in. When they built these holes to have these deep basements, they would have sliced off the top of. Hose holes, those shafts these shafts in philadelphia mines were lined with britt, but not always the case. Or stone,with wood but in philadelphia, they are aligned with britt. These long, narrow shafts mind with brick lined with brick have been built over the original backyard, so we are looking at the trash concentrated in the bottom, and we take it layer by layer because its not clear that it all belonged to one family. We have to date the layers just the way we do archaeology anywhere in the world, strata graphically. You see a change in either in the content of the layer or the color of the layer, the texture of the layer, so you did layer by layer. All these things came out of one layer. All these things came out of one layer. The layer is what we linked up to who was living here when the stuff was thrown out. Scott fortunately, fashions change, so that allows us to date an object from generation to generation. Archaeology is pretty dangerous because you are going down and these deep shafts, and we have to dismantle the shaft in order to comply with osha regulations. We need heavy machinery to help us move the dirt back, move the dirt out of the way, take the bricks away, move the granite, so it is complicated and exciting that you have all these people with different skills. All those Machine Operators who usually are moving big stuff, we ask them, i just want an inch off here because i think there might be a privy ring, and they do it. They move an inch. They are so skilled that they can do anything. The smallest thing. Scott surgery with a backhoe. Rebecca that is really part of the fun of doing urban archaeology. You are working with people who have so many skills. Drivers, the various operators out there may never have been exposed to an archaeological site, so it is always a learning process. At first, they just want you to get out of their way. Get, as they see what we they get interested, even if it is broken up into pieces. One of the things they like to weis to bring back things have linked together so they can see that we have these objects. The person who was out there supervising the construction wanted one of the reports because he was so excited to find out that all of those fragments had, you know, made a story, had been pieced together to construct a story. That is very rewarding when people appreciate that. So we, surprisingly enough, as i was when we started the project, i was told there would not be anything there, but happily and a lot of the site was disturbed, especially around the edges. In this area where we did not basemente had been any , this was the richest area because it had not been disturbed. We found stuff over here, too. These artifacts tell the story chronologically that we were able to reconstruct out of the fines finds. So we can start telling the story. Would you like me to do that . Ok, so, one of the things about tos site is it slopes down the center of the tanning. Ndustry its one of the First Industries in philadelphia. Scott this is actually tanning leather. Tanning leather, thats right. A very foul industry. It fouled the creek, and people complained about it. It was smelly and awful. One of the people on the site was william cochran, an early mayor of philadelphia, and he was a tenor. We had hoped we would be able to excavate his site. That was one of the sites that was completely destroyed by one of those deep they smiths i talked about. On the other side, there was another privy whole full of that i talked about. That was one of the sites that was completely destroyed by one of those deep basements i talked about. We know that this remained from the tanning industry. A muchably related to less rich guy, who lived in a tiny little house on an alley on the east edge of the site. Was ahis possessions beautiful jug made in germany of stoneware. We can connect with this man who was probably walking down the slope, going to his job at the tannery, coming home, having a beer, whatever it was, some group, in his big, beautiful jug , that probably reminded him of home because he probably came from germany. One of the first immigrant groups the first immigrants of philadelphia were german. It is kind of neat to come upon this persons life. Another feature with there were loads of pits from cherries. We suspect that somebody was baking or making some kind of ur. Lique live here someone came to me the other night and talked about a member of the Carter Family who actually was a baker, so we may be able to Say Something about the carters being involved in setting up a bakery at this house that was also part of the tanning industry. Beginning with the artifacts, it just leads us into places into peoples lives. Scott we should mention a lot were fromeatures a lot ofses these houses were not on the big , main streets of philadelphia. It is almost like its own little world between walnut and chestnut and second and 3rd street. I love objects like this western because they are a reminder of how connected rest ofphia is to the the world. We think of roadways as barriers, but of course, it was easier to ship something from rotterdam to philadelphia than it was to take a load of goods from here to what is now pittsburgh. It was so easy to move goods. Someone in philadelphia even as early as the 18th century could not have something as early as someone in london. They are dazzled at how quickly new fashions have been adapted. A lot of these durable things that have survived, these ceramics. Rebecca and of course, we are so close to the delaware here, just a couple of locks up from the river. We are close to the port. Very exciting. We are so close to the delaware here, a couple of blocks up from the river. Were also behind a house that would have saved Chestnut Street. What was interesting about this the house. Who owned one of the earliest property owners, carter, who owned the property. William smith owned the property, and next to him was a man named samuel kerrigan. What we expected when we found this feature was to have things that related to those mens households, but we got all of these things. Pot ite prophet was something served in, some kind of milk with some kind of liquor put in it. Sounds perfectly awful. These, ande a lot of we have 37, i think, or maybe more. We suspect that this is a cap ring. They dont need 37 of these in anyones private household. We suspect that this is a tavern. Each one is slightly different. This decorative technique is not completely controlled. Some of it is by chance, so we have this wonderful collection that shows the variation in decoration that can appear on the pot. William smith and samuel garrigas lived here. We also have this red slipdecorated dish. These are all made by local potters, and we can identify the locations of the potteries, so these are now very valuable, especially the big ones. If you wanted to buy one in an antique store, it would cost you a lot of money. However, when they were used in it was the cheapest stuff in available. Stuff available. Instead of importing from england or germany, they were just made down the block. We just happen to find them very beautiful. Joseph had run a tavern not on our site, but across the street, so the come fromappear to his tavern across the street and from the two households. You knowr instance what these are, right . They are wheat curlers. And these are lead weights. It turns out one of these men, samuel garrigus, had a weights and measures shop, so we think the weights and measures came from his shop. Very wealthy landowner, probably in the tanninger industry. We have a mixture of tavern stuff, complicated, but that is typical of urban archaeology. We are also always wishing that those guys would just appear in my dreams and tell me what the story was. We think the reason we have the mixture is that in the 1760s, which all of this stuff dates to, the people who owned the site that is part of the museum were selling property, so they were fixing it up. We have records of hiring carpenters and painters. They appear to have been inviting people to throw stuff privyre pretty in the so they can close it out and cover it up and make the property more salable. So that is good. And how lucky for us because this is one of the most interesting and beautiful collections that you are going to display in your museum. Scott right. In the museum, we will have a Family Discovery Center that will include a tavern, meetinghouse, and a domestic , and that will be for School Groups and families to be able to have a handson experience, learn about those in thist spaces neighborhood during the era of the American Revolution. We will use a lot of these thects to go on display in Family Discovery Center, so people will really be able to see things that were used within probably 20 or 30 feet of where they are standing and that actually came out of the ground literally where the museum is. Rebecca i cannot tell you how excited i am. Whoever hired us to do the excavation is not a museum. They are just tried to get their dawn building built their darn building built and have nothing to do with the artifacts. They just send them to a state repository, so having the artifacts actually be useful to the museum and get interpreted on the site is really special and really warms my heart. Im so glad scar scott had archaeological background before he was here, so he was sensitive to the fact that archaeology could mean something and could contribute, which makes me happy. Scott because i have a background in archaeology, is a great story connected to the discovery of one of our most exciting objects, actually. Working as a historian and the curating of exhibitions, there is a very famous teapot similar to this one that maybe people would have seen from school. A few of them have survived in museums, but inscribed on the side of these teapots, it says, no stamp act, referring to the american protest, 1765, 1766, first britishhe tax on colonial americans. It is such an iconic object. We thought that being able to display that would be great, but i stopped at the site one day and went to the field director and asked if i could put in an order of assent it would even be broken and we would put it back together. Text s later, i got a asked if i could put in an order and said that it could even be broken and we would put it back together. Two hours later, i got a text. Rebecca that brings us to this. It was owned by a cutler and his wife. A cutler makes flatware and ax es and things like that. It looks like a tavern. Again, what is this site . There was no tavern license, no tavern owner in the record. We really wanted to know. We want to see how we get to this bowl, so we finally did find an arrest warrant or whatever it was called for mrs. Cutler mrs. Cutler mrs. Humphries. Humphries was the name of the cutlers wife. She was made to do hard labor for three months and put in jail for running this tavern on this back alley parallel to Chestnut Street. There is a tavern on Chestnut Street and a tavern on the back alley. Scott a revolutionary speakeasy. Rebecca during the revolutionary war. Pretty fantastic. This artifact came from that privy. When we were in the field, catherine is down on her knees with her trowel at the bottom of the pretty, and she starts finding these shirts that have words on them these shards that have words on them. Crew,lls over the whole and she is excavating one after another. Of course, when they got them what itogether, we see says. We have to go to the newspaper. It is this interweaving of these ,rison records, primary records secondary records, the artifacts. We go to the newspaper we told scott we had a pretty special artifact, so he went to the newspaper and he found the best information of all. Scott to start off, the reference was to a merchant ship based in philadelphia that sailed between philadelphia and liverpool. It would travel from South Carolina occasionally to the west indies. The bowl, we know, is made in liverpool. Bowls were often commissioned to celebrate a voyage or the building of a new ship, so they were often given to voyagers or captains of these new ships. We found looking through colonial newspapers in philadelphia and of course, the digitization made this so much easier than the old days when we had to go through microfilm, but still a couple of hours of searching, we were able to establish that it begins appearing in advertisements around 1760, 1763. There will be notices of goods that have been imported on it that have been sold in this neighborhood. Rebecca we have lists of the goods and shops where they are being sold. Scott my request for the no , but the shipot request addressed to the manufacturers and tradesmen in england basically saying, we want you to put pressure on your representatives in parliament to overturn the stamp act, the application being that they will stop buying and. Mporting your goods we think of the buy local movement is something in our era, but this was alive and well in the revolution. This isnt artifact with a connection to the bigger political story of the revolution this is an artifact with a connection to the bigger political story of the revolution. Rebecca it is significant. These things were not thrown out from the 1780s. The date from the whole deposit is 1780, and we know this was in the 1760s. The humphries were treasuring this bowl. It may not have had political significance we dont know but it obviously had some significance. It was special. Imagine that we were able to find the perfect artifact for the museum of the American Revolution. I mean, i just could not believe that it could happen, so we were very excited that it happened. With michelleed erickson, one of the premier ceramic artisans and historians who specializes, among other things, a doing very accurate archaeological replicas. Handthrewrough and decorated this bowl to give you an idea what it would have looked like when it was sitting on the shelf. Rebecca but there is Something Different about having the real thing. To say this was really there in humphries illegal scott speakeasy, i would call it. Rebecca speakeasy. That is what she was being arrested for, running that. So we dont know. Incidentally, this beautiful teapot came from the same assemblage of artifacts. So they were serving tea or mrs. Humphries was serving tea when she was not behind the bar. Also, a wine bottle there were a lot of autos from this feature a lot of autos there were a lot of bottles from this feature. There was no more of significance. Even though the last day we were in the field, scott was hanging over the fence asking us to find more. He wasnt satisfied. Scott all of these 19thcentury buildings, what was hand dug by these poor immigrants with their shovels and put into wagons and hauled away. We are literally getting just a tiny little sliver of what was on that site when we do these recovery operations. Rebecca but i make the point im not sorry that we got a tiny little bit because we assemblageo do the because every single one of those artifacts, you have to find out whos stuff it was and who was living there at the time and what is the conceivable relationship between the things you got out of the ground and the people who were living there. What does it mean to them . Obviously, this bowl meant something to humphries, so we are getting a little insight into who they are, and i think you will be elaborating on the humphries in this space, telling the story, so we know a little bit about them to be able to bring them to life in a threedimensional way. Scott but, of course, life goes on after the revolution in philadelphia, right . On and mrs. Goes humphries, even though she has done her three months of hard labor we know that is what she is supposed to do she lived into her 90s. Amazing. In that same address. Fortunately, there was another privy that was closed after her death and after the death of the people who lived with her. Her great knees her greatniece lived with her. They had very different stuff. What i love test about this group of artifacts that comes from this what i love best about this group of artifacts that comes from the 1830s is group of white stuff, all different kinds of plates made in a kind of ceramic that we know it dates to the 19th century, the 1820s and 1830s. It is in this pattern, but in the 18th century, she had the same set of dishes, only it was not as white. The process to get them wider whiter. Whiter and she may have been running an illegal tavern. Hadmay have prostitutes. We dont know, but she was a good, quaker woman. Setsi saw those identical thatthese two times belonged to the same property, it seems people did keep up with the changing styles. Even if they were not decorated, she had the same stuff made out new technology. I like the old stuff better, of course. Youre going to have a whole selection in your museum, which is terrific. That is kind of the 1830s. Big changes came to the block in the middle of the century. There were lots of shops along Chestnut Street, but one of those big changes was this huge ,uilding, eightstory building and i wanted to get the report. Lets get the report. Scott Chestnut Street, 3rd street. This is the footprint now of the museum of the American Revolution. Bending in the middle of the block blitzed thehas building and the look of the street front, but it is a new time. Who knows what kind of a guy . A serious businessman who was going to make a mark on the landscape, etc. When they were creating Independence National historic park, in the 1850s, they took a lot of buildings down that they did not think fit the story they wanted to tell, which was the story of the declaration of independence. This building seems pretty special to Charlie Peterson, who was then an architectural historian who worked for the park service. He passionately wanted the building saved because he said it was so significant. This was architecturally significant. In the history of the country, this was the prototype skyscraper, or at least Charlie Peterson believed that, and he lost. They took it down anyway, which was too bad, but we found its foundation. I thought, charlie, i hope you are looking down because theres this huge Granite Foundation still in the ground. Scott which, by the way, i think roque some of the machinery they try to move it with. Rebecca it was very heavy, very difficult to move. You wanted to save one and put it in the museum, but it was difficult to store. I think its great that that building was soaked immovable that its beautiful, Granite Foundations are still in place the building was so immovable. We found the door that went because thes alley building extended onto both sides of the alley. We have wonderful pictures of it, and that is terrific. So that is 1850. At the same time and i have nothing to show you for this, except there it is. There were a lot of printers on this block. This is print type that was found in one of the privies over by 3rd street. One of the members of our team, kevin bradley, made a study of who it couldpe and belong to. He studied all the different printers who were located over time on the block, and this would dated to the 1860s. It turns out the philadelphia inquirer, a newspaper still being printed in the city, had an office at this location. They were moving in the 1860s, which is when this feature dates to. It looks like this got into the trash before they moved their office to the new location. Thats great because it touches on another important industry in philadelphia history. Scott yeah. Rebecca finally, the block was taken over by a factory that , which il buttons think was here from the 1920s up to world war ii. Scott these are basically the kind of buttons we have on the sleep of our jacket right now. The sleeve of our jacket right now. They are not made out of shell anymore. Have tens of thousands of cells which have these little notches taken out, which are the circles for the buttons. We did not recover it all, but we were able to give some of the to the museum,ls and they have used them to get to dignitaries, and people are excited. This, like everything, is immaterial piece of the history of this place, which is what historical archaeology is. To be able to have a lot of material, even from this latest industry, was really neat. One of the parts of the report talks about the button making themtry and who was making , and it was the lippincott button factory. So you go from the tanning tavern over how people recovered after the revolutionary war, how they were setting their tables, what their lives was like, up to the what their lives were like up to the building reports, the skyscraper, and the button industry. Scott all in one block. Rebecca i always say the sites tell peoples stories. Even though all the buildings had their deep basements here, we had this long story to tell from material remains. Much of that story has been told. Ight here in that basement much of history is written about political, white men, but it is usually not written about the Common People and how the Common People were living. We feel historical archaeology gets to the kind of history that is not necessarily in history books and really lets you think in theour own life perspective of what other peoples lives were or what lives in the 18th century work or lives in the 19th century were. This is us. This is not the rich people with political power. This is the story about how we live, how we adapt, how we organize our lives, how we organize our property. It is about us, and that is why it is significant, and its very significant that it on the site of the museum. The purpose of the museum is to tell you about the past. Isget this whole story really pretty special. You can tell the story of philadelphia, but this is a piece of philadelphia that changed over time and left this record for us to study. Scott the museum of the American Revolution was created in the 1950s, and it was federal property. The private Nonprofit Organization that will and operates the museum acquired this site. Land that was owned near Valley Forge National circle park was an Old Visitor Center built for the bicentennial, which had been replaced by a newer visitor center. Did not really have a future, so the land was exchanged, but because it was federal property, the highest level of Cultural Resource consulting and archaeological investigation transferred with that land, so we were obligated and wanted to do right by the resources that were in the ground, so we applied all the federal regulations, section 106, the Historic Preservation act, to consult with native american nations who historically had connections to this area and to do archaeology to make sure all the neighborhoods were covered. Rebecca i mentioned before we did look for native american stuff. As you said in your initial was probablye native American Occupation on this wonderful hilltop site, but we did not find any native american stuff. We had a monitor on the site during the early excavation to be absolutely certain we were not missing anything, but unfortunately, it had been disturbed. Scott the museum of the American Revolution will open in. Hiladelphia in april we are restoring exhibits even as we filmed this. Some of them in the court exhibitions will be displayed exhibitionscore will be displayed in the main exhibition. Others will be in our family display. Many of the things that were in this neighborhood during the American Revolution. 7 00 p. M. Y at eastern, join American History tv for a live tour of the museum of the American Revolution in philadelphia. The Museum President and ceo, michael quinn, and collections and exhibitions Vice President , Scott Stevenson scott stephenson, will introduce exhibits from the museum including George Washingtons war tent. Hear stories about the American Revolution, and you can participate in the life program with your phone calls and tweets. Watch American History tv live from the museum of the American Revolution thursday starting at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Tonight on q a after nixons last press conference, 10 years later, he would win a 49state landslide, and then it all came apart. Politicalst and commentator pat buchanan. He served as a speechwriter and Senior Adviser to president nixon and discusses the book nixons white house wars, the battles that made and broke a president and broke america forever. I wrote a memo saying that youre going to have to have dean testify. You have to keep the tapes for dean. I did not think they would be that damaging to us. And keep the Foreign Policy stuff. The stuff you need you really should keep, and i said take the rest out and burn it and shut down the special Prosecutors Office now before this thing grows into a monster. I did not know it at the time, haguexon had called in and fred desired and entertained the idea that he should bring the tapes, and they said it would be obstruction of justice. Firstly, i did not recommend burning subpoenaed tapes. Second, they were his property. It was just executive privilege. If he simply got rid of them, it was a fait accompli, i think he would have moved right through it. And president nixon said in his memoirs if he had burned the tapes, as i had urged him to do, that he would have survived, and i think that is right. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. This weekend on the presidency, the archaeological record of George Washingtons virginia birthplace. There was speculation that the National Park service site is not the birthplace at all. Here is a preview. Why do we need to get these answers . Minutes awayis 20 20 years away. Its going to happen really soon, and when it does, the world is going to turn to this place, and im not joking when i say you will have all sorts of people out there. It is the birth of george washington. When you live around it, see it on a day to day basis, it becomes natural that this is a thing. Its my job. Its what i think about, but that is not what it is. There will be a major celebration that will involve just the river is going to be chockfull of boats. There will be naval frigates out. Here will be got yachts the secret service will run out of just the secret service will be out on the roads, gas stations will run out of gas. That is all going to happen. You can watch the entire program on the presidency sunday at 8 00 p. M. And midnight eastern. American history tv only on cspan3. Shortly after declaring war on hadany, the u. S. Congress president wilson signed the Selective Service act, which required men aged 21 to 30 two register for military service. Centennial mark the of the Selective Service act, a discussion of the draft from the civil war to the vietnam war a discussion of military service from the civil war to the vietnam war and beyond. This event is about an hour and 10 minutes. Good evening
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