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A tale of two tunnelsMemory, archaeology, and the Underground RailroadDepartment of Anthropology and Sociology, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, USA, delle{at}kutztown.edu The Underground Railroad is a widely known but generally misunderstood historical phenomenon that has recently become a focus of much scholarly and popular attention. To understand the Underground Railroad and the ways it is currently remembered, it is perhaps best to consider it as a simultaneous manifestation of public memory, social memory, and social myth. In examining these processes of collective memorialization, two archaeological sites thought to relate to the Underground Railroad in eastern Pennsylvania — the Parvin Homestead in Berks County, and the Thaddeus Stevens House in Lancaster County — and a planned museum of Thaddeus Stevens and the Underground Railroad are considered.
Key Words: historical archaeology public memory Underground Railroad
Journal of Social Archaeology, Vol. 8, No. 1,
63-93 (2008) |
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