Privies

Rear and side view of a single-seated sanitary privy. U.S. Public Health Service. Courtesy of American National Red Cross Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington D.C.

Privies, or outhouses, were structures that served as toilets. Often, these toilets would be positioned over a hole in the ground to collect the waste. In most cases in historic New Orleans, these toilets were not connected to any sewerage system that would flush the filth down a drain. Instead, these privies were more like Port-A-Lets, and someone would have to empty the contents of the privy sink, or pit, once it became full.

"Peter Tremaille", "Excavator" in the 1880 United States Census.

Typically, privy cleaners would work at night and carry the waste out to nuisance wharves, where they would dump the contents into the Mississippi River. If the property was far away from the river, the privy cleaners might dump the waste in a vacant field or a canal instead.

To Landlords and House Keepers . Courtesy of Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Albert Louis Lieutaud, 1947.6.1.
Newspaper featuring an advertisement for privy cleaning. Courtesy of Times-Picayune.

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