THESIS FINDING PRIVACY IN THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT: AN ANALYSIS OF VICTORIAN ERA MEDICINE BOTTLES FROM THE VANOLI SITE (5OR.30) IN OURAY, COLORADO Submitted by Heather Horobik Department of Anthropology In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Fall 2011 Master’s Committee: Advisor: Mary Van Buren Ann Magennis Narda Robinson Copyright by Heather Horobik 2011 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT FINDING PRIVACY IN THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT: AN ANALYSIS OF VICTORIAN ERA MEDICINE BOTTLES FROM THE VANOLI SITE (5OR.30) IN OURAY, COLORADO A sample of bottles from the Vanoli Site (5OR.30), part of a Victorian era red- light district in Ouray, Colorado are examined. Previous archaeological studies involving the pattern analysis of brothel and red-light district assemblages have revealed high frequencies of medicine bottles. The purpose of this project was to determine whether a sense of privacy regarding health existed and how it could influence disposal patterns. The quantity and type of medicine bottles excavated from two pairs of middens and privies were compared. A concept of privacy was discovered to have significantly affected the location and frequency of medicine bottle disposal. A greater percentage of medicine bottles was deposited in privies, the private locations, rather than the more visually open and accessible middens. This study concludes that, while higher percentages of medicine bottles are found within brothel and red-light district locations, other factors such as privacy and feature type may affect the artifact patterns associated with such sites. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people helped and supported me throughout the process involved in completing this thesis. I would like to thank each and every one of you. I particularly want to express my appreciation to my Advisor, Mary Van Buren, and committee, Ann Magennis and Narda Robinson, for taking an interest in this project, listening to my ideas, making suggestions, and helping me develop this project. I would also like to thank Steven Baker for his work with this wonderful piece of Colorado's history as well as the time and support he gave me while I was developing and researching this project. The combined efforts of Steve Baker and Mary Van Buren to have this assemblage transferred to and studied at CSU led to my involvement with this project. I also have had the support of my family and several friends throughout this process. I particularly would like to thank my parents and sister for the support, advice, pep talks, and late night telephone conversations. To my friends, Kim and Florencia, thank you for all of the conversations, advice, and support over the many lunches, coffee breaks, and late nights on campus that we shared over the last couple of years. Finally, I would like to thank the students from the Historical Archaeology Graduate seminar and my practicum students for helping separate and record many of the bottles used within this study. Your hard work was appreciated! Also, thank you to other members of CSU's anthropology department for the help and support. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii Chapter One: Introduction ...................................................................................................1 Pattern Analysis .......................................................................................................2 Hiding Illness in Ouray ............................................................................................4 Summarization of Chapters......................................................................................7 Chapter 2: Mining and Red Light Districts.........................................................................9 A Brief Introduction to Colorado Mining ................................................................9 Prostitution in the Western Red-Light Districts.....................................................11 The Formation of Ouray, Colorado .......................................................................16 The Development of Ouray’s Red-Light District ..................................................19 The History of the Vanoli Block ............................................................................20 Summary ................................................................................................................25 Chapter 3: Health and Privacy ..........................................................................................26 Medical Conditions in Colorado Mining Communities.........................................27 Health and Medicine ..............................................................................................28 iv Relating Health and Privacy ..................................................................................32 Problems with Prostitution: Medical Conditions in Red-Light Districts ...............34 Separating Private from Public ..............................................................................41 Summary ................................................................................................................44 Chapter 4: Methods ............................................................................................................45 The Excavation of the Vanoli Block ......................................................................45 Thesis Sample ........................................................................................................48 Methods..................................................................................................................53 Chapter 5: Analysis ............................................................................................................58 Quantitative Analysis .............................................................................................58 Qualitative Analysis ...............................................................................................65 Gender Analysis of the Gold Belt Privy Assemblage ............................................73 Summary ................................................................................................................78 Chapter 6: Discussion and Conclusion ..............................................................................80 Health and Privacy .................................................................................................80 Medications: Revealing Ailments, Options, and Origins ......................................82 Health and Gender .................................................................................................85 Conclusions ............................................................................................................86 Future Research .....................................................................................................87 References Cited ................................................................................................................89 Appendix ............................................................................................................................96 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1- Development of the Vanoli Block's Red Light Businesses .................................22 Table 2-List of Privies .......................................................................................................49 Table 3- List of Middens....................................................................................................49 Table 4- Gold Belt Privy Non-Prescription Medicines ......................................................72 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-Location of Ouray and Ouray County Colorado .................................................17 Figure 2- Map of Ouray Colorado .....................................................................................21 Figure 3- Approximate Locations of the Vanoli Site Midden and Privy Samples ................................................................................50 Figure 4- Frequency of Bottle Types within Four Features ...............................................59 Figure 5- Medicine Bottle Type Frequency by Feature .....................................................63 Figure 6- Injection Brou bottle ..........................................................................................65 Figure 7- Sample of Bottles from the 220 privy ................................................................66 Figure 8- Hamlin’s Wizard Oil Advertisement .................................................................68 Figure 9- J. Personeni Bottle .............................................................................................69 Figure 10- C.C. Stratton Prescription bottle ......................................................................70