Exploring Evidence of Nineteenth Century Dissection in the Dunning Poorhouse Cemetery

Abstract

In 1990, excavation of an area known as Dunning, on the northwest side of Chicago, revealed human skeletal remains from what is believed to be the first cemetery for the Cook County Poor Farm and Insane Asylum (1851–1869). 114 burial features (yielding 120 individuals) were recovered, including five anatomical elements displaying postmortem examination. The goal of this research is to determine why postmortem examination is found amidst the burials in the Dunning Cemetery, and to explore what these five instances tell us about nineteenth century medicine and cultural attitudes towards the indigent.