 |
About the Saints’ Rest Project
In the summer of 2005, over twenty undergraduate students excavated the remains of Michigan State University's first dormitory under the supervision of faculty and graduate students from the Department of Anthropology. The Department regularly offers excavation experience for credit to undergraduates, but this often occurs in remote parts of the state, or in other parts of the world. As part of the Sesquicentennial, the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University, the Department brought its program back to the campus, so the community could share in this experience. By working on campus, we not only had the opportunity to share our research with other members of the University and the surrounding community, we had the chance to be immersed in our own academic history; to explore the creation of our great land-grant institution, and rediscover our own collegiate roots. How did this project come about? Decades ago, a marker was placed on the site of the northeast corner of Saints’ Rest, the university’s first boarding hall, or dormitory. This marker has gone unnoticed by some, and has led others to wonder about the building and the history of the university. Rarely, however, did people consider the fact that remains of this building, and other old campus buildings, might still be underfoot. In past years, employees in the Museum would look out the windows during the summer and see lines in the soil radiating out from the marker in the shape of a foundation. This suggested the walls were still there. However, we had no idea just how much might or might not be there when we broke ground. Who has been involved? The Saints’ Rest Project has involved numerous people across campus from its beginning. From the President to the Head of Physical Plant to the grounds crew to the students involved in the classes, this has been a collaborative program. Administrators The President, Provost and Board of Trustees were all involved in approving our excavations and supporting our research. Without their backing, none of this work would have happened. The Dean of the College of Social Science also worked to make things come together. Dr. Lynne Goldstein, Chair of the Department of Anthropology, proposed the project to the administration and got all of the necessary permissions for everything. She also coordinated the media relations aspects of the project. Other administrators helped in different ways. Linda Stanford, the University Registrar, is also an expert on the historical architecture of the university, and taught us a lot about the development of North Campus. Faculty The two primary faculty members involved with the excavation were Drs. Jodie O’Gorman and Ken Lewis, both from the Department of Anthropology. They were in charge of teaching our students good field methods, and they made most of the decisions about where to excavate and what to do with the artifacts we found. Dr. Lynne Goldstein and Dr. Bill Lovis, also from Anthropology, helped with public relations and other issues. We also had faculty from other programs as well. Frank Telewski, of the Plant Biology department, and director of the Beal Garden, helped us to preserve wooden beams and identify what types of trees they came from. Other faculty came by to visit our excavations on a regular basis. Other Campus Employees People from all over campus helped us with our excavations. Keith Widder, author of Michigan Agricultural College, The Evolution of a Land-Grant Philosophy, 1855–1925, taught the students about the creation of the University. The grounds crew helped us with sod removal and later reseeding, and determining how to deal with the really large tree roots we encountered. When we found fragile barrel bases in tact in the basement of Saints’ Rest, Physical Plant employees created large ‘cookie-sheets’ for us to remove them with. We even had help from the campus Fire Marshal. He came out to look at what we found, to help us figure out where the fire started in Saints’ Rest, and how it spread. Our most obvious assistance came from University Relations. These are the people who are always helping to inform the public about what we're doing on campus. University Relations helped us get our information to the public by taking photographs, making documentary videos, and maintaining a website for us at http://digmsu.msu.edu. MSU Museum We were lucky to be excavating right next to the MSU Museum. The Museum opened its doors to us daily and helped with any minor crises we had. Kris Morrissey, the Museum Educator, also gave us feedback on our website and organized a program to involve high-schoolers in the excavations. We also had the help of Museum Director Kurt Dewhurst in locating useful archival materials at the museum. University Archives The majority of historical documents, including diaries, letters, Reports of the President, and photographs, came from the University Archives. In addition to aiding us in finding materials, the University Archivists taught the field school students basic archival methods. Eastern Michigan University A professor from Eastern Michigan University and her students helped us put together our conservation lab, where we preserved many of the materials that were rusting away. In Spring 2006, students from both universities participated in a conservation course where they were trained to preserve materials from Saints’ Rest. Community Members Other people helped along the way as well. Fire marshals from Lansing also came and looked at the site with us, and we hired a professional conservator as well, who helped us by preserving lots of the smaller, more fragile items. In addition, we had hundreds of visitors who came into campus to view our excavations during open houses. Many of these visitors had specialized knowledge about things relating to our project, and we learned from them too. Sometimes they knew how to identify artifacts and sometimes they knew things about building construction. Information for this project came from many directions. High School Students During our excavations, we had a group of high school students on-site for a week. These students learned about archaeology and helped us to excavate, screen artifacts, fill out paperwork and do all the usual things our crew did. Perhaps they will become professional archaeologists a few years down the road. Educators We also had a special excavation experience for people interested in education. This 3-week long field school went on at the same time as our regular excavation, but these students also spent time discussing lesson plans and using archaeology in the classroom. Dan Goatley, a local middle school teacher and trained archaeologist, led this program. Graduate Students During the excavations, three graduate students from the Department of Anthropology acted as teaching assistants. This project was so big that the two professors in charge of the excavation couldn’t manage everything alone, so the students were split into six excavation crews, and each teaching assistant monitored two of them. Heather Mustonen, one of the Teaching Assistants, has spent the last year working on the analysis of the site, and is focusing her Masters’ Thesis on the project. MSU Students By far, the most important members of this project have been the undergraduates at Michigan State University. We have offered several courses related to the project. In addition to that, students have used the project in some of their own classes. In the summer of 2006, three students developed a 10 minute documentary on the excavation, which is available here. ANP 461 – Field Methods in Archaeology All of our excavators were members of the ANP 461 class. They spent 6 weeks of summer 2005 working 8 hours a day excavating the site. This is much more intensive than most courses. These 21 students learned how to map, excavate, identify historic artifacts, describe soils and complete paperwork. To get a job as a professional archaeologist in the United States, a college course like this is necessary. Every few days, a group of the students would move into the lab to clean and catalog materials. ANP 491 – Historical Archaeology at Saints Rest: Artifact Conservation and Research During Spring 2006, several students spent time learning how to use the University Archives. Many of these students had also been members of the archaeological crew. They poured through documents relating to Saints’ Rest and and early University life, and recorded all the information that would be useful to our research on early student life. In addition to the archival work they performed, these students also participated in the conservation of artifacts from Saints’ Rest. This conservation was integral to the preservation of these artifacts. ANP 491 – Saints’ Rest Research and Exhibition This is the course that developed much of the website you are looking at now, in Summer 2006. Based on all of the material that had been previously excavated and researched, 10 students learned about museum exhibit development and worked to design the different portions of this site. Over the course of six short weeks they came up with the plan for the website and broke into small groups and designed it, doing the research and writing the text. Unlike the other courses, only two members of this class had been involved with the excavations – one as an ANP 461 student, and one as an educator.
|
|
