This summer the Elfreth’s Alley Association is lucky enough to have two interns working with us. I have asked them each to introduce themselves to you. Today, meet Isabel Steven, an Allen Davis Fellow at Temple University's Center for Public History! -TM
My path to Elfreth’s Alley began in the first weeks that I moved to Philadelphia two years ago. I toured the Alley and the house museum on a typical summer day that was bright and bustling with tourists, locals, and residents. Although in many ways No. 126 was what I expected from a historic house, it was surprisingly similar to the home I had just moved into. Both spaces have the trademark features of a traditional trinity house: one room to each floor, ceilings so low you could brush them with your fingertips, and a narrow, steep curved set of stairs. The warnings from the volunteer guides to be careful when going up and down them made sense; I myself had slipped going down my own set a few days earlier.
Isabel Steven, photo submitted.
From the design of the house, to the occupants living in it, Elfreth’s Alley seems to perfectly capture the contradictions of historic house museums that illuminate how the way people live has both changed dramatically and remained constant. And for me, Elfreth’s Alley not only captured my interest, but taught me about the local history of the trinity house and how people have made their homes in Philadelphia. It made me feel a bit more at home in my oddly shaped house, and a bit more connected to the city I had just moved to.
I came to Philadelphia from Virginia where I graduated from the College of William in Mary in 2017 with a BA in History. I have spent the past few years working in museums, before beginning Temple University’s Public History MA program, which brought me back into contact with Elfreth’s Alley.
This summer, I will be discussing the history of women who lived on the Alley, and excavating stories of queer existence throughout the street’s history. I will be exploring how the homes made by single women living together might have been queer, and the life of an individual who identified as neither male nor female whose path crossed the Alley only for a couple of nights. I hope to dig deeply to find stories like these to share with you, that deepen our understanding of the past in general and the history of the Alley in particular.
I see this ability to explore the intertwined connections between the micro and macro levels of history very distinctly at Elfreth’s Alley. It’s position as a residential street for hundreds of individuals and families over centuries makes it a place rich with the stories of everyday working people who made up the fabric of the past, even if they didn’t make a large mark on history. I am excited to explore the ripple effects that the lives of these people had on the community around them, the city they lived in, and the world they shaped.