AmRev Presents: Trash Talk Archaeology Night

Inspired by the Philly trash reclaimed as treasures during the archaeological dig on its build site in 2014, the Museum will present an after-hours event on Friday, March 28, with special exhibit access, a featured talk, and activities to recreate the illegal tavern once operated on the Museum’s street corner by Mary Humphreys and Quansheba Morgan – explaining why over 300 ceramic vessels landed in their outhouse and became the mysterious trash excavated from that section of the archaeological dig site, labeled “Feature 16.”

This night at the Museum will kick off at 5:30 p.m. with a rum punch cocktail reception and tavern-themed activities in the Museum’s first-floor Rotunda. At 6:15 p.m., in the Museum’s Lenfest Myer Theater, guests are invited to an exclusive trash talk by Matt Dunphy and Melissa Dunphy, citizen archaeologists and hosts of The Boghouse podcast. Museum President and CEO Dr. R. Scott Stephenson will interview them about the world-class ceramics discovered during their home renovation project in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood, steps away from the city’s once-bustling colonial waterfront on the Delaware River. With research connections to the Museum’s own archaeological trash, discover how the Dunphys’ private collection reveals a global underground network of Revolutionaries, and local talents in sculpting with clay, who may have also frequented the Humphreys’ tavern in 1776. 

Following the program, guests are invited to tour the second-floor curated display of the Museum’s archaeological collection in Trash Tells the Truth: Archaeology at the Museum and view the Museum’s largest artifact that survived seven years pitched in dirt: General Washington’s War Tent in the Alan B. Miller Theater.

Tickets to this event can be purchased here.

PLUS: Collections Society Members are invited to arrive early at 4:30 p.m. to meet Museum Collections team Keith Minsinger, Matthew Van Nostrand, and Xander Karkruff for a private tour of additional archaeological discoveries not on view to the public. Learn about the collaborative work needed to recover rare Chinese, European, and American-made ceramics among over 80,000 fragments excavated before the Museum opened in 2017. Collections Society members receive complimentary access to the reception and program, with no ticket required.

To RSVP for this exclusive Collections Workroom Tour for Collections Society Members, please contact Jane Hayden at [email protected], or 267.579.3364. 

About Collections Society: The Collections Society is an add-on for members who share a special interest in our collections and exhibitions development. Membership in the Collections Society begins at $500 per year and includes exclusive invitations to behind-the-scenes programs throughout the year that demonstrate the impact of your support. One hundred percent of your Collections Society membership funds new acquisitions and the care of the collection. Have questions about the Collections Society? Please contact our Leadership Giving team at 267.579.3364 or [email protected].