wealth of artifacts discovered in the walls of a pre-fire chicago worker's cottage

clearly, several people came and went from this modest little house (now-demolished) based on the vast amount of material discovered. the collection of discarded artifacts and ephemera is quite rich and insightful in terms of painting a portrait of everyday life of the occupants who resided at this modest little house. what a remarkable time capsule for a rather unsubstantial structure that most people would not even notice. being at the right place at the right time worked in my favor, especially since i set out to document the building materials and not remnants of what people left behind between the late 1860's through the 1920's. 

the purposeful nature of a building time capsule represents a single, celebratory moment in time that is recorded, then sealed away in a small copper box. with the erie street find, the depth and richness of this residential "time capsule" is truly a significant find since there are multiple participants spanning a long period of time who unknowingly contributed to the wealth of material recovered. i very much hope to discover more of these residential time capsules, especially if they contain material both before and after the great chicago fire.