Goals

The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC) Project was initiated in 2008 as a collaborative effort of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Archaeological Research Laboratory Center (ARLC) and the UWM Department of Anthropology.

The MCPFC Project is an ongoing research initiative to reverse the anonymity and selective forgetting that has characterized the history of Cemetery 2, fulfilling dual missions of ethical research and social justice for those once interred.

The goals of the MCPFC Project are as follows:

1. reverse the anonymity and selective forgetting that have characterized the history of Cemetery 2;
2. actualize holistic insights and understandings of the individuals, histories, and narratives of the MCPFC, and where possible, identify specific individuals;
3. conduct ethical science and research while maintaining the highest standards of responsible and respectful curation;
4. recover and forge new relationships between past and present, the living and the dead, the cemetery to Milwaukee, and between researchers, descendants, and communities; and
5. empower communities to utilize archaeological data to explicate and contextualize contemporary conditions and conversations.

We keep the narratives of all the individuals buried in the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery 2 firmly in mind as we proceed with our work. Their stories guide us, keep us humble, keep us scrupulous, and keep us rigorous. Knowing and doing good are part and parcel of this ethos and our daily practice.