The Hamann-Todd Human Osteological Collection: A Representative Sample?

The Hamann-Todd Human Osteological Collection (HTHOC) is a documented skeletal collection that has been foundational to the fields of biological anthropology and forensic anthropology. In constructing these standards, the HTHOC has been used as though it encapsulates the range of biological variation of humanity in North America. The powerful role that structural and cultural violence played in the creation of the HTHOC suggests that these individuals are not representative of broader Cleveland, let alone North America. Our goal is to assess several of the biases in the HTHOC. We compare the causes of death and the month of death of those in the HTHOC to the broader Cleveland population to assess whether the HTHOC is truly a representative sample.

We analyze the causes of death and months of death for individuals in the HTHOC (obtained from W. Montague Cobb's 1932 dissertation) to the contemporaneous Cleveland population (obtained from Mortality Statistics Annual Reports 1911-1930).

We find notable differences in the causes of death between the HTHOC sample and Cleveland population, particularly in the percentage of deaths from tuberculosis. We also find statistically significant differences in the monthly distribution of deaths in the HTHOC compared to Cleveland.

These discrepancies reflect structural inequalities surrounding how the HTHOC individuals were acquired and practical considerations in cadaver acquisition at Western Reserve Medical School. We intend for these findings to inform future decisions as communities and scholars grapple with moving forward with these types of skeletal collections.