photographic study of buried remnants from 19th and early 20th century chicago

excavations across the city of chicago have led to the discovery of thousands of artifacts; remnants left behind and forgotten by people living here in the late 19th and early 20th century. from completely intact and brightly colored bottles, to the well-preserved wood floors of residential privy pits -- i'm still taken aback by the sheer quantity of forgotten objects buried under our feet.

on my laptop, as i continue to navigate through a seemingly endless amount of folders packed with images of unearthed chicago, i feel compelled to share some of these snapshots. it is my hope that readers will achieve a greater sense of what is typically found at excavation sites; where the ground is pried open and portals to the past gradually emerge with each scoop from the machine operator's bucket.

in addition to creating a photographic database of these historically important objects from chicago's past, i will be adding several images of the actual sites where many of these portals are found. the images capturing a soda bottle or partially intact shoe "in situ" are especially important, since they offer a true and undisturbed look at objects as they were left long ago. the upcoming publication of "unearthing chicago" will bridge this "field" photography with objects extracted and lightly cleaned or restored and photographed in the studio, along with all of my research and narratives assigned to the dig sites and objects themselves.

note: any and all objects depicted in the images above, are housed in the bldg. 51 museum archive.