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Article
Mapping the Boston Poor: Inmates of the Boston Almshouse, 1795–1801
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
  • Ruth Wallis Herndon, Bowling Green State University
  • Amilcar Challú, Bowling Green State University
Document Type
Article
Abstract

This article examines postrevolutionary Boston through evidence about its poorest inhabitants, those admitted to the town’s almshouse from 1795 to 1801. Charts and maps constructed from Boston Almshouse records and geographical data about Boston for these years reveal the characteristics of the Almshouse inmates, as well as their residential location before entering the facility and their mobility after entering it a ªrst time. This study is part of a broader project that applies Geographical Information Systems (gis) to analyze and visualize patterns evinced by the inmates of the Boston Almshouse during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Although the conclusions apply to a short time period and a particular subset of the population, they should elicit further research about how marginalized groups navigated the city of Boston, as well as other eighteenth-century cities.

Publication Date
7-1-2013
Citation Information
Ruth Wallis Herndon and Amilcar Challú. "Mapping the Boston Poor: Inmates of the Boston Almshouse, 1795–1801" Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2013) p. 61 - 81
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/amilcar-challu/3/