Reporting On This Research...

Discoveries found while digging in the Independence Park Archives are to be the subject of an upcoming talk at the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology Chapter 21 meeting:

Ultra Sonic Inventions, a Cold War Landscape, and Reclaimed Wetlands: New Archaeological Discoveries From the Independence National Historical Park Archives. Presented by Patrice L. Jeppson, Ph.D.

When: Wednesday June 1st
at 7:00 pm Where: Joanna Furnace (Directions)

This talk will report on some of the discoveries emerging in the archaeological records management project chronicled in this blog. The 50+ years worth of archaeological field notes, administrative reporting, assorted correspondence, and contracts provides important insights into the development of American Historical Archaeology and the history of American memory-making in one National Park. The talk will highlight several of these new findings discovered to date including some 'Firsts' in archaeological lab and field methods, a possible contribution to the National Register of Cold War Archaeological sites, and an Independence Mall 'doppelganger' site along the Susquehanna.

The Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology " was organized in 1929 to promote the study of the prehistoric and historic archaeological resources of Pennsylvania and neighboring states; to encourage scientific research and discourage exploration which is unscientific or irresponsible in intent or practice; to promote the conservation of archaeological sites, artifacts, and information; to encourage the establishment and maintenance of sources of archaeological information such as museums, societies, and educational programs; to promote the dissemination of archaeological knowledge by means of publications and forums; and to foster the exchange of information between the professional and the avocational archaeologists".

SPA 21 is an active group of professional and avocational archaeologists operating in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Chapter #21, the John Shrader Chapter, meets on the 1st Wedensday each month at 7:00/7:30 p.m., at the Joanna Furnace, Berks County, PA. For information, contact Chapter Representative (and PDOT archaeologist) Cathy Spohn: (610) 678-1274 or email: cspohn@state.pa.us . You can follow the groups many exciting doings on their Facebook page.

What is old is new again!

Several memo's, photographs, and reports created during the earliest years of Independence Park's development have become lost to institutional memory due both to the passage of time and because the reporting route 'up the chain of command' in earlier years directed some archaeological materials to the Central Files (as opposed to the Archaeological Records Collection).

Processing the archived documentation in the Central Files today is bringing this information forward for the Park's current cultural resource management needs. This rediscovered archaeological documentation is now being indexed for cross-filing and or refiling as part of the archaeological documents collection.

One case in point is a 1957 report detailing a short exploratory archaeological excavation conducted in the basement of the John Wagner Building that once stood at 233 Dock Street. (Left image above). This early archaeological excavation involved testing at the bottom of the basement steps of the building after it was vacated, prior to its demolition as part of the making of the Park. In this space, the first Independence Visitors Center was built in 1976 (see the 2009 photo, above right, of the southeast wing of the building).

Thirty years later, after the new Visitors Center was built at 5th and Market, the old building came to serve as the Independence Living History Center housing the Public Archeology Lab and the Independence Park Institute's educational classrooms. Over the past five years, tens of thousands of people have visited the Lab to see how history is learned from the Park's archaeological artifacts.


Now this piece of land containing the old Visitors Center is being decommissioned from the National Park Service in a land-swap with the American Revolution Center. The early 1957 report is newly relevant because the Programmatic Agreement and Notice of Realty Action associated with this land transfer requires an archaeological study to assess the potential for cultural resources. The 1957 report was called upon in preparing this assessment. (See the cover image of the report above.) This early archaeological study took place on a property lot directly adjacent to the land now being swapped.

At the time of its creation in 1957, the archeological report concluded that little of significance was found and, given the mission of the Park and the interpretive themes of the day, this was true. Today, with the maturation of historical archaeology as a disciplinary study and the evolution of American History understanding in general, this report's minor findings have new importance. While information about notable personages was not forthcoming (an early research focus), there was evidence of a basement from a previously dating structure still found surviving two feet under the floor of the (later) 19th century, Wagner Building's basement. There was also information relevant to the course of Dock Creek and the artifact assemblage included numerous cow horn pieces indicative of the types of trades (slaughter houses, soap makers and tanners) known to have bordered the waterway during the early decades of the city.

This information was less important for the Park needs as they existed almost 40 years ago but these early findings today are useful for assessing what evidence might possibly survive the ravages of time as the property developed. Today we look back at this and other reports and see that it was clear from early on that 19th century cellars did not obliterate all earlier 18th century evidence. We also see evidence related to everyday life of 'We the People' at the time of the birth of the nation.

Importantly, we also have insight into how restricted in scope some early Park archaeological studies sometimes were. In the case of the Wagner Building excavation, the testing was done at the foot of the basement stairs where natural light remained available --because there was no longer any electricity in the building. This limitation is important to take into account today as archaeologists use earlier research findings to assess cultural resource sensitivity in park planning. Knowing what conditioned those 'peeks into the ground' is therefore critical.

Wagner & Sons:
First established in 1847, the specialty foods firm of John Wagner and Sons long operated at 233 Dock Street. They sold Cuban cigars, fine Spanish and French wines, and spices and tea from the East which came into the docks of Philadelphia and which the firm then often delivered to hinterland customers via pony express (Wagner Gourmet Foods, Inc. 1997).

In 1950, in preparation for building Independence Park, the National Park Service took photographs of the interior of the Wagner building prior to the buildings acquisition and demolition. These photos of the John Wagner & Sons salesroom and humidor are on file in the Independence Park Archive's Photographic Study Collection.



Learn More....

ExplorePAHistory.com provides details about the Wagner Museum in Ivyland, PA which is dedicated to the history of the John Wagner & Sons firm.

B. Bruce Powell
1957 Exploratory Excavation in the Basement of the John Wagner Building. On file, Independence Park Archives.

John Milner Associates, Inc.,
2010 Independence National Historical Park, Archeological Sensitivity Study (Phase I Archeological Assessment), Independence Living History Center, North Lot. (Soon to be likewise posted at the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum web page under 'local reports'.

Wagner Gourmet Foods, Inc.
1997 News Release, Wagner Gourmet Foods, Inc. Celebrates 150-year Anniversary. Prepared for 43rd Annual International Fancy Food and Confection Show, NY, NY.

Roots That Time Has Redefined

Field Report photograph, 1953 excavation of Franklin Mansion (Schumacher 1956:8).

Before there was an Independence National Historical Park there was archaeological research undertaken for what was to become the park. The first work (depicted above in an archived report) was conducted just over fifty years ago at the site of Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia mansion by the American Philosophical Society (APS) and the National Park Service (NPS).

At that time, APS undertook the excavation both as a memorial tribute to their founder (Franklin) on the 250th anniversary of his birth and as a research endeavor not unlike the expeditions APS sponsored, a half century earlier, that fostered Americanist Archaeology in its incipient period. NPS interest in the house site served the needs of the Master Plan for a national shrine to democracy (the soon to be Independence National Historical Park) which would include a park unit dedicated to local Philadelphia history and, in particular, to Franklin.

Franklin Court as the site became known (and interpreted) in Independence Park is a seminal urban archaeology site – and, until recently, the historical archaeology understandings that emerged in its early excavations have continued to shape the trajectory of Independence Park archaeology --and hence the understandings of early American history.

One of these very early dating assumptions about the Independence Park archaeological record has now been overturned. It involves the preservation of the archaeological evidence below ground in those areas with susequent building construction. The Independence Park Archive Archeological Records Collection reveals how this - an early understanding about the area's archaeological resource base --emerges and then transitions into a set principle determining the development and maintenance of archaeology in the park over time.

This past month I have been processing early archaeology-related administrative files in the Park Archives. In this collection I have come across what is likely the first time a recommendation is made regarding the state of the archaeological evidence buried below the city streets. It is a recommendation in a report detailing the results of the first episode of work at Franklin Court. It is written by Paul Schumacher, the archaeologist in charge of the 1953 and 1955 excavations at the site of Franklin’s mansion:

“It may well be that any future archeology of Old Philadelphia would give the best results by merely excavating underneath sidewalks and smaller streets or alleys. The properties where modern structures have been razed are very poor for archeology because of the deep basements these buildings usually had….”

I was already familiar with this report from earlier research on

Franklin-related archaeology that I conducted for the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Consortium (work commissioned as part of the federal celebrations to honor Franklin on the 300th anniversary of his birth in 2006). But coming across Schumacher’s report again in the Central Files –where they are evidence of park administrative history related to archaeology --made me see the report’s recommendations with a slightly different set of eyes.

I undoubtedly also saw this documentation differently today because of the recent understandings about urban historical archaeology gleaned from the excavation of the President’s House site in 2007. That recent park research revealed that the basements of nineteenth century buildings do not necessarily entirely obliterate the evidence of the colonial period landscape. This surprise finding in the case of the President’s House site has led to a rethinking about Independence Park's archaeological resources --namely, that the archaeological evidence can survive the ravages of time more than archaeologists thought it could.

But why was this survivability ever in doubt? The documents in the Central Files reveal that this (now often erroneous) assumption appears in the earliest days of the park’s creation when, in 1956, archaeologist Schumacher reports up the administrative chain-of-command with recommendations for future excavation in Old Philadelphia. Schumacher posits a logical conclusion at the time given the circumstances (the earliest excavation) but his recommendation reflected only limited exposure to the archaeological record in-situ (as it appears in the ground).

Schumacher was excavating an unusual example for colonial Philadelphia archaeology. The Franklin house was located in the middle of a city block. Deep basements are usually on the outside edges of the block along the streets but, in this case, a small street bisecting the block was built over top of the (razed) Franklin house remains. Nearly all of the foundation walls for Franklin’s house remained unimpacted by the street construction and by the two rows of homes that lined this street. Schumacher did explore parts of the adjacent house lots and one can only surmise that he is hypothesizing what might remain under the 19th century structures as he and the excavation team were not tasked with finding anything other than the Franklin ruins and were involved in following out the foundation walls that were encountered (leaving other areas largely unexcavated). The most relevant sought after discoveries at the time happened to be found under the street and sidewalks where their survival rate was very high.

In a future post I will report on other documents in the archive that show how this early recommendation transforms into a baseline assumption that holds for 50 years of Park development and management --until 2007 and the President’s House findings.

One note: It was likewise long assumed that archaeological evidence of the Native American experience was obliterated by the development of the city. In past decades, when archaeological artifacts were encountered during excavations they were considered to be 'out of context' (removed from their original place and time of deposit/use by subsequent city buildings). It is now understood, in part from the National Constitution Center excavations in Independence Park, that evidence related to the Native American past can be found in intact archaeological deposits in the city. For more on this change in thinking see the brilliant, online presentation, Native American Sites in the City of Philadelphia: Elusive but not gone. This web offering was created by archaeologist Doug Mooney and it is archived at the web site of the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum.


INHP Archive materials used in the preparation of this posting:

Jeppson, P.L. Historical Fact, Historical Memory: An Assessment of the Archaeology Evidence Related to Benjamin Franklin: Historical Archaeology research undertaken for the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Consortium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2005)

Letter, Anderson to INHP Regional Director, Region One (Cox or Lisle), Feb. 20, 1953, [D18 FRCW as quoted in Grieff 1985:374]

Philadelphia National Shrines Report to the United States Congress (1947)

Schumacher, Paul. Franklin Court, Preliminary Exploration of Franklin Court Archeology Project No. 4, May-Sept. (1956)

See also:

Fowler, Don D. and David R. Wilcox. Philadelphia and the Development of Americanist Archaeology. University of Alabama Press (2003)

Philadelphia Archaeological Forum. http://www.phillyarchaeology.org/