1. View Collection Categories List
  2. ALL COLLECTIONS
UMass Amherst Collections
Browse UMass 19th Century Roxbury Family Collection

This collection includes archaeological material from 19th century tenement houses in Roxbury, Massachusetts, excavated by UMass Archaeological Services (UMAS), Department of Anthropology, UMass Amherst. This site produced eighteen thousand artifacts dating from the mid-18th through the early 20th centuries. A large portion of the collection overlaps with a time in which Irish immigrants living in tenement housing populated the area. This smaller assemblage represents aspects of family life and includes items related to childhood in and around the home. Artifacts include children’s items such as toys, school materials, a coin bank, as well as household items such as a spoon, a thimble, buttons and medicinal bottles. Most of these artifacts date from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. The Roxbury Family Collection was assembled and researched by Smith College student Eve Loftus under the guidance of Eric Johnson, Director, UMAS and Julie Woods, Laboratory Supervisor, UMAS. Eve Loftus photographed the collection under the guidance of Annie Sollinger and Brian Shelburne of the Digital Scholarship Center. For more information about the collection, please contact UMass Amherst Department of Anthropology: http://www.umass.edu/anthro/