Mütter Museum Crowdfunding Study, Reburial of Found Remains

You’ve probably heard, either here or on the news, about the human remains dug up in Old City at the former site of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, which is slated to become a soaring apartment complex. Workers at the site were astounded when excavation turned up bodies both in and out of coffins, some stacked on top of each other. Historical record shows that First Baptist came to an agreement in 1859 to have the bodies from its cemetery reinterred at Mount Moriah Cemetery. Only now, over 150 years later, it has been discovered that the bodies were likely never moved. Nobody had official jurisdiction over the remains, since they were found on private property. That’s when the Mütter Museum stepped in.

The Mutter Museum is trying to identify and research human remains found at a construction site in Old City.

The Mütter Museum, which is known for its collection of medical specimens and pathological oddities, agreed to take custodianship of the remains and have them moved out of the lot. Anna Dhody, director of the Mütter Institute and curator of the museum, sent out a signal to archaeologists all over the country to come and help with the excavation of the bodies. Now, the museum is crowdfunding an effort to have them studied and then reburied.

According to an article on Mental Floss’s website, the remains potentially hold the key to unlocking insight into Philadelphia’s history: “Who were these early Philadelphians? Were they European or African? What were their lives like? What did they eat? How did manual labor and childbirth leave marks on their bones? What kinds of diseases and injuries plagued them? Did some of them die during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, and others the 1849 cholera epidemic? Their bones hold the potential to answer all of these questions.”

Dhody points out that, even if the campaign is fully funded, the researchers have years of work ahead of them.