Olfactory Approaches to Historical Study: The Smells of Chicago's Stockyard Jungle, 1900-1910

Abstract

As historians have expanded their interests from focusing on great men and groundbreaking events to perspectives that explore everyday experiences or ordinary people, odor emerges as an important interpretative lens. Understanding the olfactory history of communities, especially what types of odors were present and how people perceived and reacted to them, enlarges historians’ understanding of the life experiences and behaviors of people in the past. The historical study of odor provides insights into how quality of life and standards of living have changed over time. Understanding how people of different times reacted to odors suggests how they perceived the sensory world around them, including people living close by. In this thesis, I examine the olfactory conditions of the neighborhood surrounding the Union Stockyards and associated meat processing facilities on Chicago’s south side in the first decade of the twentieth century. During this period, an overpowering combination of putrid odors characterized this neighborhood, known as Back of the Yards. Various factors contributed to this malodorous “smellscape,” and it impacted the quality of life of the predominantly immigrant communities that made up the workforce and residents of that neighborhood.