The Trench in Potter's Field

The Trench in Potter's Field (c. 1890). The photograph depicts laborers loading coffins into an open trench at the city burial ground on Hart's Island.

The Trench in Potter's Field is a black and white photograph produced by Danish-American photographer Jacob A. Riis, probably in 1890, depicting a trench used as a mass grave for tenement residents who died during the period of mass immigration in New York. This photograph was part of the larger work made by Riis to depict the conditions of the lower classes of New York in his photographic and journalistic work.[1][2]

  1. ^ "The Potter's Field, the Common Trench". Museum of the City of New York. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  2. ^ "West Philadelphia Collaborative History - Potter's Field Burial Trench". collaborativehistory.gse.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-04-30.