Craft Industry: T he recovery of gold paint bottles along with a porcelain dog reflects participation in a popular cottage industry involving the painting of porcelain. Gold paint, which turned red when wet, was applied as an overglaze to the porcelain. When heated, it dried turning gold on the surface. This home industry was popular in the late 19 th century through the 1920s. At the Tubman site, it may have been done for resale or simply for personal enjoyment. Today it is once again popular with materials available in most craft shops. Do you recognize any of these items from your own home? How do you use them?

Children’s Toys: T he Harriet Tubman property was mainly associated with its function as a home for the elderly. However, excavations yielded a collection of toys that raised questions about the presence of children on the property. Archival records have supported the presence of children on the site. For example in the Syracuse Herald, Harriet Tubman is depicted sitting on the steps of her side door with an older woman and a child. Interestingly, some of the marbles displayed in the case were discovered during excavations alongside that same brick path shown in the newspaper article.

Tableware from the Tubman household was burned and broken during the 1880 house fire. Hundreds of ironstone ceramic sherds were found in the builder’s trench just outside the front (north) door of Harriet Tubman’s house. The wares displayed include 1870s ceramics made by Onondaga Pottery Company. The pottery is primarily plain ironstone china consisting of serving vessels and plates. While many of the plates appear very similar, each is slightly different which reflects an accumulation of individual pieces rather than a uniform set. Do all of your plates at home look the same or are they different? Which one is your favorite?

Teaware at the Tubman property provided a means to form connections and relationships with others both within and without the community of the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged. The teaware shown here was found in three distinct areas of the property: Tubman’s brick residence, the Home for the Aged, and The Frame Structure.

These two teacups may at first appear to be from the same set, however they were actually sold or given to the Tubman Home at two separate occasions. We know this because of the differences in their markings on the bottom. The fact that several of the cups and saucers recovered at the site do not have a maker’s mark may indicate that those vessels were gifted to the Tubman Home.

Artifacts related to health and medicine were found among a group of artifacts (called a “feature”) in the builder’s trench. Excavators uncovered dozens of bottles alongside a burned bone toothbrush. Based on the inscription, one is a “Dr. Marshall’s Snuff” bottle, which was a pharmaceutical patent medicine bottle used for headaches. Another bottle still contained glycerin, which was used as a skin and hair softener and moisturizer. Most of the bottles were unlabeled, but their shapes indicate they contained general pharmaceuticals. Tubman and those living on the property would have kept medicine on hand for the most common illnesses and sicknesses. What medicine do you keep at home, and what symptoms are they meant to relieve?

The bone tooth brush has an “H” and possibly a “J” carved into its handle, which are probably the initials of its owner. Its boar bristles were burned during the 1880 fire, which is why the bristle area of the toothbrush is darkened.

Recovered glassware provides insight into the daily lives of the house’s occupants. The stemware includes water and dessert glasses, and the ornamental bud vase was probably a centerpiece at the Tubman table. The expensive pieces were probably family heirlooms. Likely kept in the Tubman parlor or dining area, they were broken in the fire, cleared from the ruins, and buried in the trench when the house was rebuilt. They are examples of how the fire contributed unusual and unexpected items to the excavation. Do you have any items that are valuable or passed down through your family? What do you do to keep them safe and protect them from damage?

Archaeology at the Harriet Tubman Home Uncovering Inspiration Archaeological investigations at the Harriet Tubman Home have uncovered a wide range of artifacts that provide details of the life of Harriet Tubman, her family, and associates. The material record of the site is rich in artifacts that tell of daily life in her house and at the Home for the Aged that she created. Excavations have been carried out at several sites on the Tubman property, including Tubman’s residence and barn on her seven acre farm, John Brown Hall, the white (once red) wood frame house, and a brick kiln and brickyard on her Home for the Aged property.

Excavations at Harriet Tubman’s brick residence uncovered evidence of a fire which burned her original wood frame house. Tubman bought the house as part of a seven acre farm from Senator William and Francis Seward in She and her family lived there until it burned 21 years later. A layer of wood ash marks the fire in the stratigraphic record. Tubman rebuilt her house using brick from local South Street brickyards. Thousands of artifacts from Tubman’s brick residence, barn, and farm have been recovered through excavation. Many of the artifacts on display were recovered from a builder’s trench constructed when her house was rebuilt in This trench contains a wide range of artifacts present in her house at the time of the fire, including items from daily life, medicinal bottles, glassware, and ceramic tableware.