ABSTRACT
In the early 19th century the working poor in American cities tended to be the native-born of European and African descent. The mid-century flood of immigration, particularly of those fleeing the Irish famine, changed the makeup of the urban population. In reaction, some Americans embraced anti-Catholic and anti-foreign sentiments and actions. A large and productive archaeological project investigated this 19th-century working-class neighborhood in lower Manhattan. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the Washington, DC, social reformers intent on housing reform turned their attention to alley dwellings. Historian James Borchert is critical of the Washington reformers' documentation of poor living conditions, believing that middle-class reformers found only what they intended to find and overemphasized disorder and pathology in their reports. Archaeology suggests that alley residents in Washington in the 1880s were using at least some of the accoutrements of middle-class display.
