The Ward Uncovered: The Archaeology of Everyday Life

by John Lorinc (editor), Holly Martelle (Editor), Michael McClelland (Editor)

An archaeological dig uncovers the secret history of Toronto’s long-forgotten first immigrant neighbourhood.

In early 2015, a team of archaeologists began digging test trenches on a non-descript parking lot next to Toronto City Hall -- a site designated to become a major new court house. What they discovered was the rich buried history of an enclave that was part of The Ward -- that dense, poor, but vibrant 'arrival city' that took shape between the 1840s and the 1950s. Home to waves of immigrants and refugees -- Irish, African-Americans, Italians, eastern European Jews, and Chinese -- The Ward was stigmatized for decades by Toronto's politicians and residents, and eventually razed to make way for New City Hall. The archaeologists who excavated the lot, led by co-editor Holly Martelle, discovered almost half a million artifacts -- a spectacular collection of household items, tools, toys, shoes, musical instruments, bottles, industrial objects, food scraps, luxury items, and even a pre-contact Indigenous projectile point. Martelle's team also unearthed the foundations of a nineteenth-century Black church, a Russian synagogue, early-twentieth-century factories, cisterns, privies, wooden drains, and even row houses built by formerly enslaved African Americans.

Following on the heels of the immensely popular The The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood, which told the stories of some of the people who lived there, The Ward Uncovered digs up the tales of things, using these well-preserved artifacts to tell a different set of stories about life in this long-forgotten and much-maligned neighbourhood.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 17, 2018

About the author

John Lorinc is an award-winning journalist who has contributed to Toronto Life, The Globe and Mail, National Post, Saturday Night, Report on Business, and Quill & Quire, among other publications, and was the editor of The Ward Uncovered: The Archaeology of Everyday Life (Coach House Books, 2018) and The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood (Coach House Books, 2015). He has written extensively on amalgamation, education, sprawl, and other city issues. He is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards for his coverage of urban affairs.

Reviews

[Craig Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ward Uncovered: The Archaeology of Everyday Life was written in 2018, three years after The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto’s First Immigrant Neighbourhood. The two books share three of the same editors. In The Ward Uncovered, a team of archaeologists and historians analyze the thousands of artifacts pulled from the ground starting in 2015 as a parking lot was torn up to build a new courthouse. This former lot was located just steps from Toronto City Hall, which was built on the site of St. John’s Ward, a downtown location earmarked for new immigrants. Little did the editors and authors know when writing the first book that a major excavation project would be going on at the time of publication.

The book was divided into chapters about The Ward and its residents and lifestyles. The Lay of the Land, Daily Life, Work Life, Social Life, Individual Lives and The Archaeological Life contained a total of 48 articles. When city infrastructure was still in development (or simply nonexistent) residents of The Ward often had no means to dispose of their waste. They took the easiest measure: dumping their junk down the privy. Editor and archaeologist Holly Martelle wrote the most informative chapter on these privies and how decomposition amidst the dirt and water content was so beneficial to the preservation of the artifacts. Once the filth was washed away, it was even possible to read the contents of the newspaper that was used then as toilet paper.

In general, the articles found within the parking lot site were not rare, although there were chapters on a few mysterious items such as an enormous and weighty bent cross, which may have come from a church steeple. But how did it end up at the bottom of someone’s toilet? Martelle examined the circumstances that might have led to it being there. That is a role I underestimated in archaeology: the placement of found objects in their lifetimes, and the piecing together of people’s lives and situations around those objects. But for the most part, the articles were everyday waste or garbage: food scraps and bones, broken plates, bottles, old shoes and so on.

The analysis of the food items was most interesting, as it showed, by the bone fragments, not only what people were eating but how they prepared it. Knife or chopping marks in the bones revealed if the meat was produced at home or bought from a butcher, where more industrial ways of processing were available. Seeds and coconut husks showed that imports were not out of reach for the immigrant population.

Toys were sometimes found in the privies and perhaps children lost these precious items when they took them into the outhouse. I felt a bit sad after reading about these toys, imagining a child of limited means losing a doll or a puppet in the most unsavory of circumstances.

The privies also revealed the occupations of the residents, as items from cobblers and hatmakers were found.

I enjoyed reading the short paragraphs about each contributing author. I took many notes about the various books they wrote about Toronto history. I will research these titles within my own library system.

[Diane B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of brief articles contributed by different authors, relating to the architectural dig of the Ward in downtown Toronto. Fairly dry and academic, but still sparks the imagination. Glad I picked this one up.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Toronto history buff should read this. There are some dense sections, but this book is full of amazing stories.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book.

[MarkedWoman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly well edited, this anthology of short pieces about an archaeological excavation is an example of work understandably published for consumption by the general public. Well done!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wide ranging, very readable. Great series of short essays on social and material history of life in The Ward. I also appreciated the discussion of archeological practices themselves.

[Mary-Esther Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read for history and urban archaeology buffs.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read of an interesting Toronto neighbourhood !

The photographs included with the book make it appear like you are experiencing life in the past- - -just like visiting an exhibition at the museum.