Secrets from the Privy Vault: Insights on a Tenement Rear Yard

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What’s buried in our backyard? Join us for a virtual exploration of the rear yard at 97 Orchard Street, a unique outdoor space where four wooden privies (outdoor toilets) and a single water source served the residents’ needs for more than 40 years. We’ll share what we’ve uncovered about this rear yard through excavation, city records, and oral histories, and discuss the city’s responses to contagious diseases, conflicting opinions of health and safety, and how landlords and residents used and thought about the communal space that held these essential amenities.

When: 3:30 – 4:30 pm ET

Where: https://youtu.be/yGUAd_6-M5o

This program will continue to be available on our Youtube channel following the LIVE screening.