"Privies and Peach Pits: Public Health in Puritan Boston"

History is not just in books. Our knowledge about the Puritans of 17th-century Boston keeps growing. An active urban archaeology program allows new discoveries to be made on a regular basis. In this exciting presentation, you’ll see how the things the Puritans left behind, from doll heads to DNA, tell the stories of not only how they lived but how they died.

Our presenters will talk about views of disease and public health in 17th Century Boston, and how illnesses were managed on the local and colony level – including our earliest public health legislation.

For more information and to register, click here.

Joseph Bagley, City of Boston Archeologist, will present the archeological work he has done related to public health in the 17th century.

Alfred DeMaria, Jr., MD, is the State Immunologist and Medical Director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts Department of Public Health.  He will talk about views of disease and public health in 17th-century Boston, and measures taken on the local and colony level, including early legislation.