Brief Bio:
I am currently a student in Pittsburgh's School of Information Sciences, working on a degree in archives. My previous education includes a Bachelor's in History from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. My particular interests in history are American labor and political/social history of the 20th century. I began working on the Coroner project in August of 2007. This project has given me new insight on the oridinary lives of people living in Pittsburgh during its industrial heyday.
Working Notes:
1920s
By the time I joined the project, the files from the 1960s and 1970s were moslty processed, as well as the files from the late 19th century and through the turn of the century. In my short time working thus far, I have been processing files from the mid 1920s. Examining the causes of death has given me an insight on how industrialization had severe negative consequences for the citizens of Pittsburgh. One particularly common cause of death is "lobar pneumonia." I wondered why this cause of death was so prevalent, when Zach informed me about the extent of pollution in the city. He said that there are pictures of women window shopping downtown wearing gas masks, as well as saying that commuters to work brought a second pair of clothes to change into because their original pair would be saturated with filth. Looking at an old aerial photograph of downtown, you can see patches of blackness where the factories stood. This explained the large numbers of lobar pneumonia deaths. The more I work with these files, the more I discover about the history of Pittsburgh. MG/9/7/07
I found two interesting muder files that are detailed under the homicide section. I am looking forward to getting into the Depression years to see how deaths may have changed. Were there more deaths due to malnurishment, suicide, and murder to obtain valuable goods needed to survive the Depression? It should be interesting. I also noticed that while working with the 1926 files, a few of them were typed instead of handwritten. I thought that this marked a permanent change in the format, but later files of the same year were still handwritten. It made me wonder when the change to a typed format was made. It sure makes reading the reports easier to decifer. MG 9/13/07
Zach and I were talking, and we have noticed that on any given day, any particular type of death seems to be focused on documenting. These observations have been seen in recent years, particularly 1927. For example, you will find files of the same kind of death in a row, but these deaths are completely unrelated. I found three deaths in a row of train accidents, but none were the same date even though the coroner wrote up the papers on the same date. I also found the same situation for chronic myocarditis, an inflamation of the heart muscles. What it is interesting is that even though these case files were created one after another, lets say person #2 in the series of train deaths could have died more than a month prior to the actual creation of the case file. That is a long time to wait on an investigation and or documentation when it comes to a dead body. This makes me think that certain files of a certain death were being grouped together to create the files all in one go. MG 9/18/07
We ran into several boxes, around boxes in the 260s, where the files were very unorganized. Various files of random months were thrown into any particular box. This has made the cleaning/organizing a little more burdensome. Because files in these boxes are taken out and processed into other white boxes, we are running into trouble in matching the brown box numbers to the white box numbers. MG 9/27/07
1930s
We made it through 60 boxes in the month of September! I think this project will be finished sooner than we all think. The shelves that hold the remaining boxes are only untilizing three levels instead of the full five, and there are only two to three boxes per level instead of four.
I found a neat death for docket 193004_197. He was an amature boxer, which was apparently very popular in Pittsburgh in the 1930s. He died from a punch while in a fight. I looked up his name but did not have any success in finding any further information on him. I can't mention his name because of privacy. MG 10/3/07
1931
I have noticed that there are now red stamps on the files, at least the great majority, that easily distinguish between male and female. Before, the sex of the deceased was hand written and often hard to read. Two of the boxes in the 290s were already processed. I simply refoldered them and removed the plastic paperclips holding papers together. Most of the files that I have come across this week have been relatively clean already, indicating that someone in years past may have gone through and examined these thorought. Especially because of the two already processed boxes.
I guess you could say that we are seeing more "modern" deaths. Less and less industrial accidents and more things like standard illnesses is the trend. Heat prostration, or what appears to simply be severe dehydration (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heat%20prostration) has appeared in great number during July of 1931. Every summer we see deaths related to excessive heat. There was also an amusement park accident on June 23, 1931. I recall the incident at a Six Flags in Kentucky over last summer. No matter what time period the files, the deaths always correspond accordingly. MG 10/10/2007
Late 1930s - 1940
The deaths during these years have become increasingly boring. We are straying away from bizzare deaths and becoming more modernized in that respect. There are more and more automobile accidents and standard age-related deaths. Suicides are still higher than normal, but not as high as during the toughest years of the Great Depression. Last week I updated the background information between 1930 and 1935.
1942
The files remain dull as we enter the US WWII era. I did find something interesting in file 194201_199. I man died of an unspectacular chronic pulmonary tuberculosis, but included was his social security card. It was interesting to see the old style of the card, especially considering the program was not yet 10 years old. I wonder why more and more "standard" deaths are being found in the Coroner Files. I thought the Coroner investigated unusual and sudden deaths. The deaths we are seeing now are mostly associated with old age, in which health declines slowly over time. Most of older people know their conditions before passing away, so I do not understand where the mystery of the death comes from. MG 11/1/2007
We had a meeting today and changed our strategy in using/working with the wiki. Everyone agreed that our posting was not satisfying anyone and that we were not learning as much as we would like to be with such interesting files. Therefore, everyone decided to develope a question that reflects the bigger picture of the Coroner project. Some will look at the files themselves and how they change, others will look at the terminology used. I will examine the reasons perhaps why more and more "standard" deaths have appeared in the files since the 1930s. We are looking forward to adding our findings to the wiki and hope that users will have a better understanding of the big picture. The coroner files will hopefully be put into better context within Pittsburgh history. MG 11/6/2007
1944-1945
One thing we are not seeing so much is the increased death of women in an industrial setting. Amanda has pointed out a few cases in the 1940-1945 chronology, but other than that, there have been little to no women industrial accidents. In an random act of observation, we have noticed that the use of rubber bands has mostly ceased, and that paperclips are being used to secure each file. I think this might have something to do with rubber rations for WWII.
My wiki question (mention in the previous entry) is coming along well. I have a few theories in mind as to why more disease/heart related deaths are appearing as opposed to bizzare or industrial accidents. Zach has noticed that the people in the files tend to be living longer. In my answer, I describe a few of the health and environmental changes that Pittsburgh was undergoing since the turn of the century, improving public heatlh and housing. One may think that health improvements would mean less diseased people in the city. I would argue that because health improvements increased a person's life-span, then they are more likely to die of illness than anything else. In other words, old age deaths naturally lend themselves to the standard illnesses we are seeing more and more of in the files. Those who die of freak accidents, malnutrition, work-related deaths, and disease through filth tend to be younger. MG 11/14/2007
1946-47
I had my first throat cancer death today. This made me wonder if we will begin to see more and more throat and lung cancer deaths as the first generation of smokers who smoked mass-marketed cigarettes is reaching the age where cancer would be setting in. Heart related deaths are now the most prominent form of death. Coronary occlusions are still very frequent, as well as coronary thrombrosis, myocarditis, and the generic "heart disease" or "heart failure." We also see many more "natural or undetermined" causes of death as well. I would say that automobile related deaths are second in frequency to heart illness. Suicides still remain steady as well, but not at the rate we were witnessing in the 1930s.
Reading the book, Deadhouse, by John Temple has given me a great perspective on what goes on in the coroner's office, and the type of work the deputy coroners and autopsy staff does. Sure, we know generally what the coroner does, but this book gives great explanations on the inside life of the Allegheny coroners. He tracks the daily happenings of the Deputy Coroners Mike, Ed, and Tiffani, and the experience of a few young interns who are generally shocked by what they see. The experienced coroners explain how all of the death surrounding the job eventually blends together, and that you'll become numb to it and not remember any case in particular. Reading this book gives you a sense that numbness to death is both prevalent and necessary among the staff, as well as a sense of humor to keep spirits high. Sometimes the causes of deaths that we read are so humorous that we wonder how they could not have had a sense of humor. I recall one project member mentioning they had a file where the coroner had written something comical relating to the death on the file. Sometimes the causes of death as written in the press reports themselves lend you to believe that the coroners were having fun ("pancake orgy" and "choked out on a weiner" come to mind). Another thing I enjoy while reading the book is that when the people in the book mention the files and write ups themselves, they are talking about exactly the same papers that I am handling. Although this book takes place more recently and I am working with the files in the 1940s, regardless of the format, the same basic forms and information is most likely there in the modern coroner papers. It gives me a better understanding of the specifics that author is talking about, rather than the generic "files" term. I think that reading Deadhouse has drawn me closer to the work that I am doing on this project.
An interesting point that the book discusses is that while other states were replacing the coroner position with the medical examiner position, Pittsburgh kept the coroner system in tact. Critics of the coroner system argue that coroners have no formal medical training and therefore can botch crime scene evidence and so forth. Pittsburgh desired to keep the coroner system, however, because unlike medical examiners, coroners had legal authority and indepence. They could recommend criminal trial based on evidence and were free from corrupt political influence. Some LA coroners were forced out of office when politicians did not like their findings (Deadhouse page 86). The current coroner website is listed as the Office of the Medical Examiner (http://www.alleghenycounty.us/me/index.aspx), so perhaps they did finally switch to the medical examiner system.
MG 11/28/2007
1950s
We have had a few deaths at amusement parks, but never any at Kennywood until I found the death of a 64 year old woman who fell off of the Merry-Go-Round. A note from the VP of Kennywood said that no such accident was reported to the staff or to first aid. She was instead simply driven home where she later died of her head injuries. (195111_149)
MG 12/18/07
Earliest Documents (18880s)
We have begun work on processing the files from the 19th century. I have been working on files from July of 1888, and have noticed a remarkable difference in not only the files themselves, but also the nature of the causes of death. There are few standard forms in the early files. Most of the cases are written on very acidic note paper, which are connected by a grommet. The brittleness of the paper has made it difficult to unfold and process them without causing some irreversable damage. Therefore, the goal is to give each file its own folder, and make note if they need preservation photocopying. If the file is not falling apart, then we will be filing at least two in that particular folder. The files are also poorly organized and several are missing. There is a rough idea of a docket number, but you have to determine the date from the dated affidavit accounts. Sometimes there is no docket number at all. If this is the case, I examine the chronology of the dates to try to fit it in as best as I can. I usually end up respecting the original order of the files and keep them as such.
I have also noticed change in the nature of the deaths reported. The ages of the dead are very young overall, mostly in the teens and 20s. The deaths themselves actually reflect what the Coroner states its mission is: to investigate deaths of sudden and unusual occurance. This means that unlike the files between the 1930s and in 1950s, you will see sudden deaths of primarily young people. You will NOT find people dying of old age related deseases. This also means that there are far fewer deaths per month. We think that the docket numbers are numbered for the entire year, as opposed to the month, which makes sense if you are documenting far fewer deaths. The most common deaths are train related accidents. I have also had a few drownings and a few poisonings...some by suicide and some accidental. MG 1/6/2008
Update...
I have almost finshed my first box of early files (box 2). Shaun, Zach, and I have been going solo on our own boxes while Jen and Alehsa have been double teaming boxes. They have been moving at quicker pace than the three of us going solo, but I feel that we are catching up because the files are becoming easier to work with. I have noticed that in my box alone, the conditions of the files have gotten better and better as the months have gone by. I will be finished with box 2, which contains files from July of 1888 to September of 1889, next week. The docket numbers for the earlier files are more chaotic. They appear to be numbered sequentially throughout each year, but even this is not consistent.
I am finding that most of the deaths result from being struck by a train. There have also been several drownings, and a handful of mine/mill accidents. One thing that really stands out is that there are by far more men in these files than women represented. I wonder how this represents the nature of the time. Maybe the definition of a strange and unusual death related more to men's occupations and lifestyles than it did to women's at the time. In other words, many of the kinds of death that faced women were not under the coroner's jurisdiction. MG 3/18/2008
Since I have moved from box 2 (years 1888-1889) to box what I think is 8 (year 1892), I was surprised to see how quickly the recordkeeping changed. The files I'm working on now come with a primative press release form that gives me the important information I am looking to document in a clear and legible manner. I am documenting the name and type of death. Before, I had to search almost the entire set of papers to piece together names and causes of death, and even then it wasn't always clear. Now I am moving much more rapidly through the files and find them more enjoyable because I can skip the eligible parts where people ramble on with their life story. MG 4/4/2008
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.