Brent,

You've stumbled (sort of like an archaeologist) over a major gap in our
understanding.  I have long sought descriptions of 17th and 18th century
road building, water entrapment and public privy development, and so forth
to little or no avail.  Though I'm certain there is an element of western
European delicacy about natural functions in the explanation of why we have
so little information, I suggest also that our journalists and diarists
wrote little about that which everyone did or everyone knew about.  Perhaps,
also there may be some element of class distinction involved in what doesn't
get mentioned.  The younger Wm Byrd had no compunction when it came to
journaling ribald exploits on his pool table but he wrote nothing about how
his servants built his boats and spring-boxes, made his bricks, or relieved
themselves when working 'round the manse.

In my case I'm looking for mention of "vernacular engineering," how
conscripts built roads.  In the past I've searched more or less diligently
for mention of Native American sanitary disciplines as a means of gauging
how long an occupancy site could be occupied without great discomfort or
disease.  About the latter I've yet to find any information.  Though 17th
century court records tell us folks were punished for relieving themselves
in the wrong places, I have yet to find a document ordering erection or
servicing or public sinks.  As regards vernacular engineering, I found one
reference to building a ford (in the Moravian records).  So, besides your
issue, I hope our experts can offer suggestions sources about the full range
of or ancestors' ultra-mundane practices.

tom


..........................
T.R. Magnuson
Trading Path Association
PO Box 643
122 S Churton St, Suite 204
Hillsborough, NC  27278
919-644-0600
www.tradingpath.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Brent Tarter
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 10:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Before the Portable Toilet


I noticed yesterday that in preparation for the Thursday visit of Queen
Elizabeth to Richmond the grounds staff has placed more than 75 bright
blue and green portable toilets in Capital Square, where a large crowd
is expected. They add a dash of color to the scene, but I am not sure
that on they whole they classify as a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

I wonder, though, for all the centuries before portable toilets, what
corresponding preparations got made for large, protracted gatherings of
people at such events as revival meetings, political rallies, and the
like. Several thousand people spent the day on Jamestown Island in May
1857 celebrating the first settlement of the colony, for instance, but
accounts of that event that I have seen  mention speaking and eating and
drinking but nothing else.

I suppose that people researching such events may have encountered some
references to that important subject, even though once upon a time it
might have been regarded as improper to mention it. Students of social
history or public health may also have knowledge of this subject, but I
confess that I do not recall seeing any references at all.

Perhaps somebody out there can satisfy our purely empirical curiosity
about that part of the past.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]

Visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us