1. Historical Documents by M. Jay Stottman
A Powerpoint to support
Project Archaeology: Investigating Shelter
Investigating a Shotgun House
Case Study 12
2016
Slides 2 and 3 introduce the topic. Slides 4-6 are about photographs; slides 7-14 are about maps of all kinds; and slides are about documents of all kinds. Copyright 2016 © Kentucky Archaeological Survey, Lexington, KY and Project Archaeology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.

2. Historical Documents
Archaeologists and historians use many different kinds of documents to learn about the past:
Photographs
Maps
Documents
Photograph of Mrs. Moremen near the icehouse at Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing in Jefferson County, courtesy Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing; advertisement from the Louisville City Directories available at Louisville Metro Archives, Louisville; and map from Map of the City of Louisville, KY. Louisville Abstract and Loan Association (1876). Louisville, Kentucky.

3. Types of Documents Primary Documents
Archaeologists and Historians use two types of documents. By knowing the difference, we can better understand each type’s accuracy.
Primary Documents
produced from first-hand accounts or from the time period of origin, for example, photographs, maps, government records, personal diaries, journals, and letters.
Secondary Documents
produced second-hand or after the period of origin. Primary documents used in their production, for example, history books, magazine articles, textbooks, and news reports.

4. Photographs
Photographs can help us understand what things looked like and what people did in the past.
This early 1900s photograph helped archaeologists learn about household chores, dress, what the icehouse looked like, and what kinds of activities took place in the side yard.
Mrs. Moremen and a goose near the icehouse at Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing in Jefferson County, courtesy Riverside, The Farnsley-Moremen Landing.

5. Photographs
Family pictures can often tell us about the way things looked, such as buildings or how people dressed.
The Moremen Family had this picture taken in front of their house as a record of a special occasion –
a visit the local pastor made around 1870.
Photograph of the Moremen Family at Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing in Jefferson County, circa 1870, courtesy Riverside The Farnsley-Moremen Landing.

6. Photographs
A 1940s photograph of DeRoode Street from under the West High Street Viaduct/Bridge during the Great Depression. This streetscape provides insights about the neighborhood.
Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection. Photograph courtesy Special Collections, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.

7. Maps
There are many different kinds of historic maps. Some are very detailed. Others, not so much. All of them can give us information.

8. Suburban and Rural Maps
Provide information about the size of farms, names of owners, and locations of houses.
Ohio River
Map of Jefferson County, Kentucky by G.T. Bergman (1858), Korff Brothers, New York.
Brownsboro Road

9. Suburban and Rural Maps
Ohio River
Brownsboro Road
By examining maps of the same place but of different ages, archaeologists can see how property lines, owners, and house locations changed over time. This map shows the same area as the map on the previous slide, only about 20 years later.
Atlas of Jefferson and Oldham Counties, Kentucky, by G.T. Bergman (1879). Beers and Lanagan, Philadelphia, PA.

10. Often provide detail on house size, shape, and construction materials.
Urban Maps
Often provide detail on house size, shape, and construction materials.
This map shows the names of property owners and the outline and materials of buildings in Louisville. It helped archaeologists determine where to dig at the Haymarket Site, which was a parking lot at time.
Map of the City of Louisville, KY. Louisville Abstract and Loan Association (1876), Louisville, Kentucky.

11. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
These maps are very detailed. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Company began to make them in the late 1800s. The Company still makes them. These are maps of urban areas. Originally, insurance companies used them to help understand the risk of insuring certain kinds of buildings.

12. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Sanborn maps show details of buildings in major residential and industrial areas of most cities and towns.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Burnside, Kentucky in 1908 from the Kentucky Digital Library:
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Burnside, Kentucky in 1908.

13. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
The Key for the Burnside Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the details recorded, such as building materials, location of windows, type of roof, and building uses.
Key from the 1908 Burnside, KY. Map, from the Kentucky Digital Library:

14. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Section of the 1934 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing a portion of DeRoode Street in Davis Bottom.
Section of the 1934 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing the portion of DeRoode Street in Davis Bottom you are studying. This map was the source used to make the map on page 19 of the “Archaeology Notebook.” From the Kentucky Digital Library:
DeRoode Street

15. Government Documents
Government documents contain information collected by the government about people and land.
Census Records
Land Deeds
Court Cases

16. Government Documents - Land Deeds
Mentions Graveyard
This 1924 deed for a subdivision lot in Jefferson County mentions an old graveyard. This information helped archaeologists find an 1800s cemetery that no longer had headstones and was not visible on the landscape.
Jefferson County land deed for a subdivision lot in 1924, Metro Louisville Archives.

17. Government Documents - Census
Census records contain information about families, such as age and relationships. Census information can vary from year to year. These examples show that more detailed information was collected later in time.
Sections from the 1840 and 1860 U.S. Census for Portland, Jefferson County, KY. From
1840
1860

18. Government Documents - Census
The census tells us about the households in Davis Bottom. A household included all of the people who lived in a dwelling, such as members of the same family, renters, and boarders.
Page 39 in the 1940 U.S. Census for the Lexington precinct where Davis Bottom is located. The last entry (at the bottom of this page) is for 712 DeRoode Street, the shotgun house site you are studying. Census Taker Louise Davis Dickens recorded this information on April 22, From
1940 Census Record for a section of DeRoode Street in Davis Bottom.

19. Commercial Documents - City Directories
Like phone books, these documents provide names and address of residents. They also have advertisements, like the ones from 1845, 1864, and 1882 shown here.
1845
From the Louisville City Directories available at Louisville Metro Archives, Louisville.
1864
1882

20. Personal Documents - Journals
Personal accounts of events are found in journals. In this one by John Cowan, he describes Indian attacks in 1777 at Boonesborough in Madison County and at Logan’s Fort in Lincoln County, Kentucky.
John Cowan’s Journal 1777, Draper Manuscripts, 4CC: 32(6).