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

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 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.
Led by Danielle B. Wetmore, Tenement Museum Lead Educator
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[@bentleysuggs3133]

This program was very informative. I love visiting the Tenement House Museum. The staff is well educated in the history of immigration in New York and provide great tours.

[@Athens416]

I loved visiting the Tenement Museum. My grandparents were Greek immigrants and lived in the area. When I visited the museum a few years ago, I got quite emotional. Thank you for this museum and its knowledgeable and gracious guides!

[@naomiparsons1652]

Thank you, really enjoy watching this stream. We visited the museum from the UK last September. After our visit we went round the corner, bought a bunch of flowers from a street seller then caught the subway and bus over to St Michaels cemetery in Queens where we placed the flowers on the unmarked grave of my immigrant g.g.aunt who had lived in similar tenements and died from TB in 1911. I'm a public health historian but having a personal connection and actually seeing how my ancestor may have lived and passed away was a very poignant experience. Great work Danielle, looking forward to more 😊

[@danabressette8565]

This was so interesting! Thank you, Danielle. I have been to the Tenement Museum three times. You all do such a good job of bringing history to life. Thank you for all you do!

[@robertafierro5592]

Remember the Water Closet? You pulled the chain..i remember the scent of Pine Sol. If you smelled that every Monday, it meant your Superintendant cared and that you lived in a "good" building!

[@RebecaMiller]

Great job Danielle Wetmore!

[@laurasteenson8505]

Thank you for this video! I would love to see more like this.

[@margarettrodahl4434]

I find this all so interesting - having visited the Tenement Museum once only on one of my visits to New York. I wonder when I can come back. New Zealand is a longer way than usual from that fascinating place!!!