Dig It! Privy Artifacts A-Z Sharon Weber and Marcia Mackenbrock Price: $16.95 Condition: NEW Binding: Hardcover w/DJ ISBN: 0-9754040-1-6 Publication Date: 2006

Dig It! Privy Artifacts A-Z

NEW in June 2006!

NEW!! Preview two sections of the book here:
Ghastly Brews = Elixirs (PDF, 471 kb)
Round the Table = Fine Dining (PDF, 435 kb)

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(text from dust jacket inside flaps)
A natural response upon hearing the word "outhouse" or "privy" is to wrinkle your nose. But what if we were to tell you that some of the richest American history can be found in the bottom of a privy?

Now odorless, wasteless and long gone from most landscapes, these houses of necessity are mini historical museums - if you can get to the bottom of them.

In fact, the story of one dedicated privy digger is what brought this book about. Within these covers are photos of more than 750 artifacts, all testaments to lifestyles long ago.

Old, obsolete and often smashed to bits, the contents are monetarily worthless yet priceless as connections to the past. The chemistry of nature has taken its toll on much of what was tossed in, making some objects mysteries never to be solved.

We cannot know what prompted a homeowner to discard an entire set of china or a double barreled shotgun, but surmising makes for great stories. It's a unique journey and one you won't soon forget.

About the Authors

Colleagues in education for twenty years, Marcia Mackenbrock and Sharon Weber shared their love of books, always saying that one day they were going to write one together. They did just that in 2004 with Postmark Naperville: An A-Z History.

This next project plunged them into digital photography, taking more than 500 photos to illustrate Dig it! They were the last ones to think their next book would be about privy excavation, but they followed the trail and that's where it lead.

Both married and living in suburban Chicago, they are happily working away on their third title.