Ginter Origins of the Oddfellows Skeletal Collection 187 Origins of the Odd Fellows Skeletal Collection: Exploring Links to Early Medical Training Jaime K. Ginter For my Master’s thesis research I was confronted which these skeletal remains came to be in the with the task of ascertaining the origin and identity possession of the IOOF by using as many different of an unknown collection of skeletal remains. My sources of information as possible. This paper is supervisor, Dr. Michael Spence, offered me the meant to demonstrate the rewards of opportunity to analyze a very unique and interdisciplinary and non-traditional skeletal interesting unprovenienced collection of skeletal analyses. remains that were donated in 1999 to the Anthropology department at the University of Western Ontario by the Independent Order of Methods and Approach Odd Fellows (IOOF) of Ontario. The IOOF is a men’s fraternal organization, or more popularly The first step in establishing the origin of the regarded as a secret society, that was established in Odd Fellows skeletal collection was to identify England as a benevolent organization during the the sources and methods of procuring human Industrial Revolution (Stevens 1907). Each IOOF skeletal material during the period that the Odd lodge kept human skeletal remains, which they Fellows remains were acquired. Although used for symbolic purposes in their initiation contextual information was lacking for the some ceremonies (Ross 1890). This little known fact was of the collection roughly half of the skeletons revealed in 1999 when John Nichols, the Grand could be matched with their donating lodges. Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the Ontario The known lodges had been established between IOOF contacted Dr. Spence about donating the 1857 and 1940 (John Nichols, personal skeletal remains from lodges that were no longer in communication, 2000), so the year that each operation due to declining membership. lodge was instituted was used as a proxy for the Unfortunately, when the skeletal remains were date that the skeletons were acquired. The collected from the defunct lodges thought was not skeletons that could not be associated with their given to their future research potential. Details donating lodges may predate or postdate the connecting each lodge with its skeletal remains known lodges. This approach to temporal were only available for a small portion of the assignment is justified because each lodge would collection, and other details such as the origin and have had to acquire its skeletal remains at the time period of the skeletal remains were unavailable. time it was established in order to initiate new The lack of contextual information demanded that members. Various sources of information were this research be expanded beyond a traditional consulted, including Anatomy Acts, newspaper osteological analysis and incorporate multiple lines articles, archival documents, historical accounts of evidence in order to explore the socio-cultural of early Canadian medical practice, and North and historical issues surrounding the use and American cadaveral skeletal collections, in order procurement of human remains. Thus, the goal of to identify the sources of human skeletal remains this research was to attempt to determine the and their uses during the late nineteenth and background, origin, and the processes through early twentieth centuries. 188 Ontario Archaeology No. 85-88/London Chapter OAS Occasional Publication No. 9 The next step was then to determine the age, affiliation and the ability to estimate ancestry sex, ethnicity and health status of each individual from human skeletal remains has been chal- in order to create a demographic profile for the lenged. However, general differences in skeletal collection as a whole. This profile was then com- morphology (e.g. body proportions, and body pared with information from the archival docu- size and shape) exist that correlate with environ- ments and cadaveral skeletal collections in order mental and geographic factors allowing for some to infer the social origin and identity of the Odd insight into group affiliation. Therefore, the Fellows collection. The paucity of background ancestral background of each individual was esti- information made it difficult to select the most mated in hopes that the identification of general appropriate osteological methods of analysis. differences or similarities may help to establish Because patterns of sexual dimorphism, rates of the origin of the Odd Fellows collection. The development, and ageing trajectory are popula- variable nature of this collection necessitated the tion specific and the population origins of the application of a variety of ancestry estimation Odd Fellows skeletons are unknown, multiple methods. To assess ancestry, traditional morpho- morphological and metric methods of skeletal logical and metric techniques based on the cra- identification were employed. nium (Brues 1990; Ousley and Jantz 1996; Giles and Elliot 1962; Gill 1998; Gill et al. 1988; Gill Sex et al. 1990; Rhine 1990), and femur (Baker et al. Sex was estimated using a number of morpho- 1990) were used. logical and metric techniques. Sexual dimor- phism of cranial (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994) Health and Socio-Economic Status and pelvic (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994; The skeletal remains were examined for the pres- Krogman and Iscan 1986; Phenice 1969) mor- ence of pathological and traumatic conditions phological features was assessed in order to esti- that could be used to ascertain the health and mate sex. Sex estimation methods based on the socio-economic status of the individuals. Because measurement the cranium (Giles and Elliot individuals of lower socio-economic status tend 1963) and femora (Pearson and Bell 1917-1919; to have poorer health than individuals of higher Taylor and DiBennardo 1982) were also incorpo- socio-economic status, skeletal health was used as rated in an effort to achieve the most accurate a proxy for socio-economic status. Making this assessment of sex for each individual. sort of assumption requires that all indicators of health, including the age at death, are considered Age in the health assessment. The entire skeleton was Methods of age estimation were employed that closely examined for evidence of pathology and focused on morphological changes of the pelvis, trauma following the approach outlined by the auricular surface (Lovejoy et al. 1985), pubic Buikstra and Ubelaker (1994). Traumatic and symphysis (Suchey and Katz 1986), the sternal pathological conditions were recorded and ends of the ribs (Iscan et al. 1984, 1985), as well described. Any measures of health for the Odd as the cranial sutures (Meindl and Lovejoy 1985; Fellows collection will be underestimated since Nawrocki 1998). Epiphyseal fusion as a reflec- the entire suite of skeletal elements are not pres- tion of maturity was assessed for all skeletal ele- ent for each individual. ments (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994; Flecker 1932, 1942; Webb and Suchey 1985). Skeletal Evidence of Post Mortem Treatment The skeletal remains themselves were also exam- Ancestry ined for any evidence of post mortem treatment Ancestry, as most recognize it, is a social con- that may provide any indication of their origin or struct involving the affiliation of an individual background, how the remains were obtained, and with a larger group based on phenotypic simi- their subsequent post mortem use. larities. The utility of the designation of ancestral Ginter Origins of the Oddfellows Skeletal Collection 189 Materials: The Odd Fellows Skeletal Sample a number of assembled skeletons that are made up of the combined remains of multiple individuals The sample was received in twenty-two packages (David Hunt, personal communication, 2001). of mostly professionally articulated and complete Articulated skeletons from medical schools have skeletal remains representing what appeared to be also been found to occasionally contain skeletal 26 individuals. Most Odd Fellows’ handbooks elements from more than one individual (David discuss the symbolism of the skull and cross bones, Hunt, personal communication, 2001). Cases of but only three sets of skulls and cross bones are intentional and inadvertent mixing of skeletal present in this collection. In some cases additional elements from different individuals in the Grant skeletal elements were included with the remains, Collection have also been reported (Albanese such as an extra cranium, postcranial bone, or in 2005). Although the evidence is circumstantial one case an animal bone. and indirect, co-mingling suggests two potential Although it appeared that each articulated sources of human skeletal remains: medical supply skeleton represented the remains of one individual, and medical training. closer examination revealed that many of the articulated skeletons and skull and cross bone sets incorporated the remains of more than one Sources of Human Skeletal Remains in individual. Discrepancies in the size, color, and Nineteenth Century Ontario: Links to manner of articulation of the skeletal elements, as Dissection and Early Medical Training well as differences in the skeletal expressions of sex and age were used to determine that more than The inventory and condition of the Odd Fellows one individual was represented in a skeleton. The skeletal remains, as well as their limited temporal most common pattern of co-mingling observed in information helped to direct my investigation into the articulated skeletons consisted of the cranial