2008 Field School
The overall plan for the research components of our ten-week field school in the summer of 2008 included new ground-based geophysical surveys in the first week, followed by four weeks of excavations and surveys at the town site, and a subsequent five weeks of laboratory research and analysis of the material, faunal, and floral remains at the Illinois State Museum's Research and Collections Center in Springfield. In April and May researchers had corresponded with Michael Hargrave to identify the areas of the town site on which he would conduct new surveys, using electric resistance and magnetic gradient detection methods, in the week of May 27. The Spring of 2008 was marked by higher than normal rainfalls, which provided very good conditions for conducting such geophysical surveys. In past years at New Philadelphia, low moisture content in the ground surface made the process of obtaining and interpreting such geophysical data very challenging. Among other results obtained in the week of May 27, Hargrave obtained vivid data in the area of Block 3, Lot 4, on the north edge of the town site, which was later explored by two of our excavation teams.
Our areas of work in the 2008 field school included:
1) Systematic soil core sampling (with a one-inch diameter sampler) at the locations of new anomalies identified by geophysical surveys in the week of May 27, and commenced excavations where warranted.
2) Expanded survey and excavations in the area of Block 3, Lot 4, owned for a period of time by Alexander Clark and located near a lime slacking pit uncovered as Feature 2 in 2004 excavations.
3) Continued excavations in the area of Block 7, Lot 1, for which a newly discovered tax record from 1845 listed a higher value assessment that might indicate the presence of building at a time when Frank McWorter owned the parcel. Partial excavations at this location in 2004 uncovered Feature 3, the foundation of an 1870s house site, which may have overlain the remains of an earlier occupation.
4) Survey and excavations in the southern half of Block 8, Lots 1 and 2, for which a number of deed references indicate a school house for African American families may have been located in the 1850s and 1860s.
5) Excavations on previously identified geophysical anomalies in the area of King Street north of Block 8, and anomalies in the space platted for Walnut Alley on the northern edge of Block 8, Lots 5 and 6.
6) Use of a hammer-driven, soil core sampler (with two-inch diameter and up to six feet in sample length) to explore the stratigraphic profiles of earthen terraces and swales created in the early 1990s to control erosion on portions of the west side of the town site.
These research efforts were undertaken by the NSF-REU field school participants and by a collaborating archaeology team associated with the "Time Team America" documentary program. A report of the results of this 2008 field season will be published online in the near future.
Lastly, May and June of 2008 were also months of high rainfall in the Midwest. The Mississippi River rose to record-breaking levels and weakening levies threatened to give way and flood small communities ten miles to the west of the New Philadelphia town site. Our NSF field school participants helped fill sand bags to reinforce levies protecting the small town of Hull, Illinois. We also spent long hours packing up the Hull Museum and Library and loading their collections and exhibits onto a tractor-trailer for safe-keeping from the threatening flood waters. Our NSF field school team was very pleased to have the opportunity for such a tangible contribution in assisting with immediate community needs.
2004-2006 Field Schools
Some overall observations can be made concerning the results of our archaeological and historical research in 2004-2006 (Shackel et al. 2006). Archaeological work through the end of the 2006 field season uncovered over 65,000 artifacts, faunal and floral remains, and the locations of twelve house and business structures, including a grocery and a blacksmith operation. There appears to have been no racial segregation of property locations within the town. The locations of residences and businesses of African Americans and European Americans were spatially interspersed in the town during the nineteenth century. We uncovered no archaeological evidence of violent destruction of properties within the town, even though the community was located within a region sharply impacted by racial strife.
Most structures and occupation sites appear to have been concentrated in the landscape covered by the north-central portion of the town plan. Archaeology revealed early house sites not indicated in historic-period documents, such as deeds, tax ledgers, and census records. Community members in the nineteenth century likely utilized a mix of architectural styles and building methods, including frame, log, wood post, stone, and brick construction. Residents enjoyed access to local, regional, and international commodities from the outset of settlement of the town. Ceramic housewares were similar in style, expense levels, and types of assemblages across house sites of both African Americans and European Americans. There may have been some variations in dietary and culinary practices based on the region of origin or ethnic background of particular families who moved to New Philadelphia (Shackel et al. 2006).
Our 2006 summer field school in archaeology at New Philadelphia was sponsored by the University of Maryland, University of Illinois, Illinois State Museum, University of Central Florida, and the New Philadelphia Association, with support from the National Science Foundation's program of Research Experiences for Undergraduates. Ten undergraduate students and three graduate students from around the country participated in the summer fieldschool. Our investigations focused on residential and merchants sites in three blocks of the town site, including Blocks 3, 4, and 8, and the area of an early blacksmith shop. A special speaker series held during the field school included talks by James Davis, Floyd Mansberger, Timothy Baumann, and Kamau Kemayo. Abdul Alkalimat also participated in discussions with the field school students concerning issues of racism in American history and society.
On June 17, 2006, a "Day of Discovery" was convened at the town site, organized by the McWorter family, the New Philadelphia Association, and the Illinois State Museum. Many descendants of the families who once resided at New Philadelphia and the surrounding region attended this event, shared genealogical and historical research, and toured the archaeological excavations. In our continuing efforts focusing on archival research, we also published an expanded set of Hadley Township census data on the University of Maryland's internet site for the New Philadelphia project.
We enjoyed terrific seasons of excavations during 2004-2006 at the New Philadelphia site in western Illinois. The image below shows an outline of the 1836 town plat of New Philadelphia overlain on a 1998 aerial photograph of the landscape on which the town was located. Under the direction of Michael Hargrave, field school students conducted geophysical surveys using electric resistivity and electromagnetic sensors, which indicated likely locations for foundation remains or other artifact concentrations below the surface. The areas of town lots in which we conducted geophysical surveys during 2004-2006 are marked with blue in the image below. We also conducted excavations, completing numerous five-foot-square units, the general locations of which are marked in red below. Our excavations uncovered several intact archaeological features, including the remains of foundations and storage spaces.
Michelle Huttes, working in collaboration with others on this project, prepared and submitted an application in the autumn of 2004 to have the entire town site nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. That application was greatly strengthened by the archaeological data we obtained up through the end of excavations in 2004. This nomination received official support from Governor Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, and U.S. Senator Barak Obama, among others. On June 2, 2005, the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council approved and forwarded to the National Park Service the nomination of the New Philadelphia site to the National Register. The National Park Service's review panel later approved the nomination, and the town site of New Philadelphia was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a nationally significant archaeological resource on August 11, 2005.
Excavations in the summer of 2005 concentrated on areas in Blocks 3, 4, 8, 9, and 13, uncovering foundations of additional buildings and high quantities of artifacts. Our excavators during 2005 included 10 undergraduates participating in the NSF-REU field school, 14 undergraduates participating in a field school hosted by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 5 graduate students, and 3 archaeology instructors. Additional geophysical surveys were conducted by Mike Hargrave, and a low-altitude aerial survey was conducted by Tommy Hailey of Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
The 2005 summer field season concluded with a very exciting event. A reunion of more than 50 members of the McWorter Family was held at New Philadelphia during the last weekend in June, 2005. The New Philadelphia Association hosted a barbeque in honor of the event. The family members toured the excavation sites, examined many of the types of artifacts uncovered to date, and asked many questions of the archaeologists and field school students who were onsite to describe the excavation units open for viewing. The family members also visited the nearby cemetery that includes the grave of Free Frank McWorter. A special speaker series held during the field school included talks by Art Wilson, Anna Agbe-Davies, Vibert White, and Abdul Alkalimat.
In documentary research, we have begun expanding a database of the census records to provide records of residents both within the town area and in the surrounding township region to explore potential, broader social patterns. We also uncovered additional documentary sources. To our knowledge, 19th-century tax records for Hadley Township, Illinois (which include households in New Philadelphia) have not been examined previously, and we have now compiled and published the text of these on our website. In addition, we are investigating the original corporate records of the Hannibal & Naples Railroad to explore possible reasons for the railroad having bypassed the town in the late 1860s. We are also conducting a review of newspapers from the relevant region and time period to find articles, notices or advertisements concerning various topics related to the town's history.
We have also undertaken to record oral history interviews. Our oral history project provides evidence about what people today see as important community stories. We want to examine how the history and stories of New Philadelphia have been created over time. In addition, our recording of oral history interviews provides important stories about racialization and how the town existed as a multiracial community into the 1920s.
We are designing this collaborative archaeology, history, and oral history project to be as democratic as possible. We are endeavoring to be transparent in the way we are collecting and displaying our data to the various individuals and communities interested in this subject by placing everything we find online. For example, information and transcriptions concerning the town's land ownership records, census data, and tax records are now available and fully searchable on our web sites. Our goal is to make sure we post information as soon as it becomes available for others to see, use, interpret and critique.
The New Philadelphia site was featured in the Illinois Archaeology Awareness Program in 2005, with artifacts from New Philadelphia a focus of that program's promotional poster, entitled "Archaeology and African-American Heritage: Places on the Pathways of Freedom." As part of this Awareness program, copies of this poster were distributed to educational and heritage organizations throughout the State.
Members of the local and descendant communities, as well as present and past researchers and excavators, are also discussing the project on our Facebook group site. Follow this link to join in our discussions.
