The City Tavern Site Excavation

I have started tackling my first box of archaeological records for this summer Archives project. The materials relate to an excavation undertaken in 1974 on a strip of sidewalk on the West side of 2nd Street, near Walnut, in Old City, Philadelphia. (Photo above, view South. Excavation mid-photo.) The dig was in advance of Independence Park's recreation of City Tavern, an establishment built 1772-73 that served as an important gathering place for social, political, and economic leaders. (See City Tavern History .)

City Tavern was partially burned in 1834 and was demolished in 1854. The site was built on again and that subsequent construction was, in turn, torn down sometime after 1960 (presumably when the park acquired the land). In building Independence Park (circa 1960s-70s) a plan was made to recreate the tavern. Toward that end extensive historical and architectural research was undertaken. Part of this preparation included contracted archaeological research at the property to be built upon. This work was done by a team from Temple University's Anthropology Department under the direction of researcher Dan Crozier.

In this 1974 photo you can see the property with a City Tavern historic marker sign, taken prior to the archaeological fieldwork and prior to the construction of the tavern on the property (View West toward the Merchant's Exchange Building. Folder 11, color slides 1, row 1, column 1). This image (another view looking West) is a modern Internet photo of the City Tavern structure that was recreated at this location. City Tavern is a famous restaurant serving 18th century dishes created by culinary expert Walter Staib.

In compiling a 'box list', or inventory, for this batch of records, I examined D. Crozier's exceptionally fine field log where he recorded daily activities taking place on site. I also evaluated the associated site maps and photograph collection flagging any items that are glued in place. The adhesives in use 40 years ago can sometimes now be unstable.

During the examination of the field log I read some interesting 'corridor talk' (insider tidbits) about visitors to the site, including a news team which aired a story about the excavation. The public was interested in archaeology excavation then too! Crozier notes on May 21st that a back hoe operator who was 'driving by' helped to back fill the site.

I have yet to peruse the final report for this project but in viewing the photographs I was struck by the limited extent of the excavation at this property prior to construction. The sidewalk area - the region of the front of the building -- was focused on. This would firm up the position of buildings fronting 2nd Street. More to follow...

Getting Started...

"Don't do anything that can't be undone". This could be a motto for work done in the archives. The Archivist summed up my introduction to the project this week with these wise words of advice. This was just one of the important things I learned during my orientation.

That first day began with all the necessary basics. Safety issues were addressed (fire exits and extinguisher locations) and paperwork was signed (e.g. volunteer hour tracking sheet). Expectations were shared, confidentiality aspects were recognized, and appreciations (sent in both directions) were expressed. I was introduced to the other volunteers and to Bert, the Archives mascot (see sidebar image).

Then work began in earnest with a review of the existing 'working files' for building a finding aid for the INDE archaeology records. Several volunteers overtime (between 2000-2005) have laid the foundations for this project by organizing hundreds of folders full of archaeological site information. Photographs and maps were pulled for re-sleeving in archive-quality materials or for flat curatorial-standard storage. Dozens upon dozens of boxes were inventoried to find out what specifically they contained. With this overview of previous efforts (re achievements) I gained some understanding about the levels of scale of cataloguing that are involved in organizing the records in this repository (e.g., box lists, shelf lists, control files, central files, series storage locations, finding aids).

I also learned about some of the guidelines directing the archives work and which will also be used for generating the finding aid ...for example, Directors Order 28 (NPS Records Management), Park archaeology standards produced by the NPS Records Management Program, and the 2008 NPS Museum handbook Appendix D, Part II (pages 126-141, Manuscripts and Archives 'How to do it').

It was determined that I will first get some hands-on practice by dipping my toe into the different levels of scale of archival processing. This will involve processing some items that need to be brought into the archive system. These are stored at the moment on 'Truck 23' -- a massive rolling set of shelving in the 'Archives Storage' area. Among other items, 'truck 23' contains some 1970s-era field documentation for the City Tavern excavation that was recently transferred from Temple University and also some records for a project undertaken in conjunction with a sprinkler system added to Independence Square. These records had been previously housed in the Park's museum collection.

I will begin my work by drawing up box lists for this field documentation (creating an inventory of the items in each of the boxes). While at it, I will identify curatorial issues (photos needing re-sleeving, maps needing to be pulled, etc.), note any duplicates of files, and consider whether these records could be intra-filed in extant stored collections. I will also take notes for characterizing the nature of the records for use in the forthcoming finding aid.

Photo: The "Archives Processing" room where I will be working. Right, part of 'truck 23' with materials awaiting processing. Photos by P.L. Jeppson