ABSTRACT
Archaeologists exposed the tightly packed foundations of the tenements that stood there in the late 19th century and uncovered the yards behind buildings that preceded them. This once vibrant, working-class neighbourhood was transformed in the early 20th century as courthouses and other civic buildings replaced the tenements, forcing the people to move elsewhere. Historic Conservation and Interpretation, Inc., a New Jersey consulting company, conducted the excavation at the Five Points site. The late industrial archaeologist Ed Rutsch managed the project, and Len Bianchi directed the fieldwork. The preliminary documentary work identified the site as part of a neighbourhood characterized as America's first and foremost slum, where 'poverty and depravity, ignorance and all uncleanliness walk hand and hand'. Early film production was centered in Manhattan, with images of New York 'entering the movies at their birth'. Most early films of the city were 'actualities', so called because they showed actual events filmed on location as they were occurring.
