Bronzeville and Gold Coast Children

What Children lived in the Charnley House and the Mecca Flats?

There were no children recorded in the decennial censuses as living in the home on 1365 N. Astor Street until the 1930s, when the children of James B. and Sarah Waller—James Jr. (3) and Robert (1)—were noted. But James and Helen Charnley had had three children: Douglas (born 1875), Helen (born 1876), and Bettie (born 1878). In the winter of 1883, while the Charnleys were living in a house just blocks from the future site of their 1892 home, Helen and Bettie died from diphtheria. When James, Helen, and Douglas moved into their new home, Douglas was 18 years old and preparing to attend college at Yale, a child no longer. That we recovered objects manufactured at the turn of the twentieth century and associated with children from the Charnley-Persky House midden raises the question: whose trash was this? More specifically, were there children living in the area who were not documented in the historical record?

In the case of the Mecca Flats, the census shows the many children who lived in the numerous apartments at the time. In its first census, 1900, the Mecca had 107 flats with 365 people recorded; in 1920 there were 148 flats with 510 people (Bluestone 1998: 390-91). Each subsequent census showed increasingly subdivided and therefore more numerous flats in the Mecca, with an even denser population as Black migrants coming to Chicago during the Great Migration sought available housing in the city’s so-called “Black Belt”. The photographic record of the time also shows the numerous children who resided in the Mecca, including the photo-essay by Wallace Kirkland in a 1951 issue of Life magazine.

While the cultural construct of “childhood” varies by time and place, it is generally true that children are less likely to be recorded in the documentary record during the period of residence at the two homesites. Even elite, white children like Bettie and Helen Charnley left little to no record, save for notice of their births and deaths.

The archaeological record can provide some of the insights on childhood, “materializing children” to be read against and with what exists in archives and in oral history (Baxter 2008: 166). The following are some of the archaeologically-recovered items produced for and used by the children of Bronzeville and the Gold Coast.

Products marketed for Children: Food and Drugs

Eskay’s Albumenized Food: Frank Baum developed an infant formula for babies needing to gain weight, something of great concern at a time with high infant mortality. In 1890 he was commissioned by the pharmaceutical firm Smith, Kline & French to manufacture it for a larger public, and he renamed the product Eskay’s Albumenized Food (Apple 1987). Here the name “Eskay” is the sounding out of “S” and “K” of Smith and Kline, today part of the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup: Containing morphine and alcohol, this product was marketed for relieving discomfort in babies and young children experiencing teething pains. It was produced from 1845 through the 1930s, though with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, the morphine was removed from its formula.

Products marketed for Children: Toys

Marbles: The archaeological excavations at both the Charnley-Persky House and the Mecca Flats produced a total of five marbles. Two of these were glass (Mecca Flats) and the other three were ceramic Bennington marbles (two from the Charnley-Persky House and a smaller one from the Mecca Flats). Bennington marbles are made from salt-glazed stoneware and were manufactured between 1870 and 1910. The two glass marbles from the Mecca Flats were a type that became popular beginning in 1915, and quickly replaced the ceramic “Bennies” from children’s collections.

Miniature smoking pipe: Common and inexpensive items, tobacco pipes like these continued to be manufactured into the 20th century. We recovered full-sized pipes from both the Charnley-Persky House and from the Mecca Flats, but only the Charnley-Persky House excavation produced this miniature pipe. The miniature pipe was likely a child’s toy.

Cast-iron lion figurine: This cast-iron lion figure, recovered from the Charnley-Persky House, may have been a child’s toy. The object has no discernible manufacturer’s mark.

< Previous Page | Next Page >