finding artifacts long after john kent russell's house was hauled away to the landfill

it has been several weeks since the pre-fire chicago john kent russell frame dwelling was brought down and sent off to a nearby landfill. now, the site of the former house is yet another empty lot containing dirt and residual debris strewn about.

i thought for sure that would give me closure and i could move on to researching the photographs taken of the demolition and a careful and thorough analysis of the building materials salvaged.

after many visits to the lot and many more to follow, i'm hardly at peace with the finality of the john kent russell salvage. every time i leave the lot, i have a bucket filled with stoneware pottery, blob top bottles, trade coins, animal bones and in one instance, a child's shoe.

hundreds of artifacts buried just below the surface have been recovered and cataloged. in addition, we have discovered three brick-lined privies, foundations from earlier frame dwellings and an intricate configuration of salt glazed pottery sewer pipe running every which way.

perhaps the most exciting finding has yet to take place. in a few weeks permits will be issued and excavation of the lot will commence. based on what we have discovered thus far, with very few tools to assist in the search, i strongly anticipate a wealth of objects will be uncovered, which will greatly contribute to further understanding how these individuals of 1850's-1880's chicago lived through the items they left behind.

the gallery below offers just a small sampling of artifacts recovered from our most recent visits.