Archaeology on Display

Archaeologists Amelia Chisholm and Jessica Mundt personified the concept of public history and public archaeology today when they turned an area of the exhibit space along the front of the museum into a work space restoring artifacts. Amelia and Jessica were in full view of the public as they spent the afternoon repairing glass objects found during digs at the Maynard Burgess house on Duke of Gloucester.

Most of the items they repaired today were glass bottles and it was fascinating for all passersby to watch. Before starting the repair process, most of the bottles were in several small pieces. While repairing the bottles, references to jigsaw puzzles were flying throughout the room. Imagine putting together one of those 3-D puzzles without having all of the pieces and then try to stand it up. Not a very settling proposition, especially when those pieces have sharp edges and are made of glass.

To repair the bottles, Jessica and Ameila went through the painstaking process of identifying where each of the pieces went. Afterwards they painted glue (which looks like clear finger nail polish to an outside observer like myself) along the edges of two pieces and placed them together.




The seams between the objects were then secured with tape while the glue dried. It was very interesting to watch the green aromatic schnapps bottle go from several individual pieces to a somewhat complete bottle in less than an hour.

Seeking Liberty opens in 7 days! Please come by the museum and watch the exhibit come together through the front windows. It is truly a sight to see.

Article in The Daily Record on "Seeking Liberty"

Check out this article from the Maryland Daily Record on the exhibit:

http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=4434&type=UTTM

Websites of Interest

For more information on the Annapolis Charter 300 celebration visit: http://annapolisalive.org/

And, for more information about Archaeology in Annapolis and some of the sites featured in the exhibit visit: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/anth/aia/index.htm

Seeking Liberty Exhibition Installation

The exhibition opening is less than one week away and everything is moving into high speed. It is always fascinating to watch an exhibit installation in process. It always seems to work that in the morning you are staring at boxes, bags, and crates of objects everywhere and then suddenly there is an exhibit. At least, that is how it felt to me. At one point I was making elevation drawings of the exhibit and the next time I looked up there were objects on the walls that had not been there a few minutes before.

Exhibition team members from the Banneker-Douglass Museum and Archaeology in Annapolis are currently installing the objects and mounting all of the text panels. All of the objects for the Calvert House were installed on Friday and look great. Tomorrow the remaining objects will be put in place and the exhibit will move a giant step closer to completion.

The exhibition officially opens on Tuesday, March 4th. Look for more posts throughout the week as the exhibit is readied for visitors.

Welcome to the Conversation

Welcome to the “Seeking Liberty: Annapolis, an Imagined Community” exhibit blog!

In 2008, the right to citizen-elected representation in Annapolis will be 300 years old. The city charter granted to Annapolis in 1708 gave the city political reality. With this exhibit we commemorate the current anniversary by celebrating the quest for liberty. “Seeking Liberty” characterizes Annapolis from the beginning. It was a home to religious dissidents, political dissidents during the American Revolution, and many free African Americans before Emancipation who fought very hard for the freedom of those who were enslaved.

Archaeologists from Archaeology in Annapolis, the University of Maryland and Historic Annapolis Foundation have dug over forty sites in Annapolis in twenty-six years. We’ve had a great time and we’ve discovered the city’s treasures. Much of the best archaeology was from the 18th century. We have found material belonging to European colonists and lots of materials that belong to African Americans. We’ve uncovered material from as early as the late 17th century and as recent as the 20th century. There is archaeology almost everywhere in the city and we are going to show it off during the City’s 300th anniversary.

The “Seeking Liberty” exhibit features artifacts from five sites in Historic Annapolis: the Governor Calvert House, Reynolds Tavern, the Jonas Green House, the Brice House and the Maynard-Burgess House. Many of these artifacts have never been on display for the public before this. We hope you will visit the exhibit which will be on display at the Banneker-Douglas Museum in Annapolis from February through November 2008. There will also be a few smaller exhibits open to the public at some of the sites involved in the exhibit.

Throughout the year we will be posting information on the exhibit, interesting articles, and other information related to the exhibit. We encourage you to participate in this project by leaving your comments and sending us information you find that may relate to the exhibit.