Seeking Liberty Expands!

Over the past two months exhibition designer Amelia Harris and archaeologist Jessica Mundt have worked steadily to create new satellite Seeking Liberty exhibitions at three of the sites featured in the exhibition at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Calvert House, Reynolds Tavern, and the Green Print Shop are the proud hosts of mini-exhibitions telling the story of their buildings through archaeology. The Capital recently ran an article on the new exhibitions. Click here to view the article.

Visitors are invited to view the new exhibits this Sunday, 29 March 2009 during the second annual Four Rivers Heritage Area sponsored Maryland Day. On Maryland Day, over 30 sites around Annapolis and South County including the Green Print Shop and the Banneker-Douglass Museum will open their doors free of charge to the public and offer special activities for visitors from 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. To learn more about this event, visit the Maryland Day website at www.marylandday.org.

Upcoming Archaeology Lecture

Dr. Mark Leone, the guest curator for Seeking Liberty, will present a lecture at the Banneker-Douglass Museum this Saturday on Frederick Douglass and Wye House Farm. The University of Maryland conducts field schools at Wye House Farm every summer uncovering several artifacts including the remnants of a slave village.

Wye House Farm was one of the places Frederick Douglass was enslaved at during his lifetime. The plantation, owned by the Lloyd family, was established in the 1650s. The Lloyd Family was one of the largest slave holding families on the Eastern Shore.

Come to the Banneker-Douglass Museum this Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 2pm to learn more about the work happening at Wye House Farm and Frederick Douglass' connection to this Maryland location. The lecture is free of charge and registration is not required.

Surprise!

Just after my last posting declaring the end of Seeking Liberty, I was informed of the possibility that the exhibition would be extended. I held off publishing that information until I had confirmation on that fact. I am now pleased to announce that Seeking Liberty has indeed been extended through the end of January and most likely through the end of February! The blog will continue through the end of the exhibition. Hooray!

Check back here in the coming weeks for information on upcoming programming at the museum as well as the follow up to the French archaeological digs. Please feel free to contact us with any archaeology-related projects you may be interested in seeing on this blog. We are always looking for more feedback and ideas.

Exhibit Closing

The end of a year always comes with a sense of closure for people whether it be closure on a good year in hopes of an even better one next time, closure on using one calendar and moving on to the next, and so on.

The end of 2008 will bring with it the closing of Seeking Liberty: An Imagined Community at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. The exhihibition will continue on in new forms with satellite exhibit cases at each of the five sites featured in the exhibition going on display in the coming month and the website will remain live. There is even talk of at least part of the exhibit going on display in other areas in Maryland.

Jess and I have been in discussion over the past few weeks regarding the future of the Seeking Liberty blog trying to determine how we would like to proceed. This blog has been a quiet one in terms of comments, however we know that there are many people out there reading it. Just to give you a taste, since the blog was launched, over 1500 people have visited from over 25 countries around the world. It is really gratifying to know that this exhibition has interested people from 6 continents. With that being said, we pose the question to you: What do you think we should do? We have come up with a few different options and would like to hear what you have to say.

Option 1: Do nothing. Continue the blog as usual, although most likely with fewer posts.
Option 2: End the blog when the exhibition ends on 31 December 2008.
Option 3: Convert the blog into a Banneker-Douglass Museum blog with occasional postings on archaeology and Seeking Liberty-related information.

What do you think? Send us your answers by posting below. If you do not want to leave a post, feel free to email me at BDMPrograms(at)goci(dot)state(dot)md(dot)us with your answer.
Thank you!

Horse harness decorations

The Four Rivers Heritage Area is compiling information about horses in the region, which led me to examine some of our collections for horse related artifacts. The following image is of a brass harness decoration which measures about three inches long and was found during excavations at the Governor Calvert House:

In his influential book A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America published in 1969, Ivor Noel Hume briefly mentions similar artifacts and attributes them to the 18th century.

Archaeology in Annapolis uncovered a similar, though less ornate, brass harness decoration from the Reynolds' Tavern site. During William Reynolds' occupation of the site, there was a stable behind the Tavern, which further supports the claim that this object was a harness decoration.

The MAC Lab website also features information and photographs of similar artifacts, which they identify as leather ornaments. The website states, "More often than not ... the metal ornaments were purely decorative and might have been placed on just about any leather strap, bag, saddle pad, sword hanger, etc." The information on leather ornaments is included in the "small finds" section of the website. The term "small finds" is used for objects that are found in small quantities on sites and therefore are difficult to analyze and interpret. The idea behind this portion of the MAC Lab website is to compile information on "small finds" so that they may eventually be used in site analysis.

As you can see we would love to learn more about leather ornaments so please add comments to this post with any additional information you may have.

To view the MAC Lab "small finds" site follow this link: http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/Small%20Finds/leather%20escutcheons/Web%20Pages/LeatherOrnaments.htm

Anne Arundel County Courthouse: Part III

Here is another really interesting artifact found at the courthouse site:

This is an 1896 presidential campaign button for the Republican candidate, William McKinley. As we mentioned before the courthouse block was occupied predominantly by African Americans through the middle of the 20th century. The Republican Party was in support of Emancipation and was therefore the political party of choice for African Americans during this time period. This button serves as a reminder that African Americans were politically active, having just received the right to vote in 1870 with the ratification of the 15th Amendment.

The McKinley election was actually the first time celluloid was used for campaign buttons. Celluloid buttons became very popular and are still commonly used today. Unfortunately, this material decomposes easily and therefore buttons like these are very rare to find during archaeological excavations.

Archaeology in Annapolis is currently working with the Historic Annapolis Foundation to create a small exhibit at the Anne Arundel County Courthouse on Church Circle in Annapolis. The exhbit will feature artifacts from excavations on the courthouse block and should be installed in the the coming year. We'll keep you posted on progress!

Archaeology on Vacation

Working as a museum educator requires me to become very knowledgeable on whatever topic the museum I work at focuses on. For instance, working at the National Building Museum years ago I learned more about city planning, bridge engineering, and geodesic domes (think Spaceship Earth aka the big golf ball shaped building at Epcot) than I ever thought I would. I still can't drive home to the midwest without looking at the different types of bridges along the way.

Last month I traveled around the Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Loire Valley regions of France and everywhere I went I ran across archaeological digs. One city I visited was Reims, the location of the signing of the Germany's surrender at the Allied headquarters at the end of World War II. Reims had a front row seat to history throughout the past century. After nearly being completely destroyed during WWI (85% of the buildings were gone) the city went on to serve as the home of the Allied Headquarters in France at the end of WWII and was the location of the signing of the ceasefire on 7 May 1945 bringing WWII in Europe to an end. A more widely known second signing was held one day later in Berlin.

While walking to the Musee de la Reddition, home of the former Allied headquarters, I came across an archaeological dig in progress on a main road in the city. This dig was part of pre-construction archaeology required by law. One of the things that I was very impressed with at this site as well as the one I came across in the Loire Valley was that each dig had signage explaining what was going on for anyone passing by. This took the form of the sign above in Reims.

Within the past 10 years, an intensive archaological study was conducted in Reims to trace the city's history back to the Roman times. The city has Roman ruins and archaologists have been able to successfully trace their findings as far back as two thousand years ago. The findings from this study are available by clicking here. Be aware the study is published in French, so you will need to translate the page if you don't read French.

When looking at the picture on the left you can see the stratigraphy (layering) of the ground. Evidence of roads and road construction from the past 100 years is on view for anyone passing by to view. Imagine what these roads have laid witness to especially given the few events I listed above. While I was at the Musee de la Reddition, I saw a film showing what the city of Reims looked like before and after its moment in history including events such as the V-E Day parades down the streets of the city, including this street. It was a great way for me to have some context as to what types of finds and materials the archaeologists might be looking for.

Coming soon: Archaeology in Angers, France -- The discovery of 5th century artifacts while building a city tramway

Anne Arundel County Courthouse: Part II

Now for the long-awaited Part II of the Anne Arundel County Courthouse blog entry...

So, as I mentioned before, prior to the expansion of the courthouse the entire courthouse block in Annapolis was home to an ethnically diverse community. Pictured below are ceramic pipe bowls embossed with the words "Home Rule" which were found at the site:

These pipe bowls are likely connected to Irish immigrants who called the Courthouse block home. "Home Rule" refers to the demand made by the Irish "Home Rule League" for greater autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The presence of these pipes show that even while living in the United States, Irish immigrants were still involved in the politics of their home country. In 1879, Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the Irish Nationalist movement, visited the United States to raise money and support for the movement.

Check back later this week to learn about another interesting artifact found at the courthouse site!

Rumney's Folly

I was just forwarded an announcement about a talk that will be given at Historic London Town and Gardens in December. The subject of the talk is Edward Rumney, Sr. who lived at London Town and is also connected to an archaeological site there. Here is the announcement:

"Rumney’s Folly
On Tuesday, December 2nd, at 7:00pm, Rod Cofield, Director of Interpretation and Museum Programs at Historic London Town and Gardens will present his latest research on London Town's Edward Rumney, Sr. Rod will discuss how Rumney, who had lived in Anne Arundel County since at least 1686, overextended himself in the 1710s due to his financial involvement in the ferrykeeping and innkeeping business. Once a respected man in the community, having served on juries and as a road overseer, Rumney saw the last few years of his life become debt-ridden and litigious. More people know about Rumney, Jr. (a known counterfeiter); now learn about his father. Admission is $5. London Town members and volunteers are free. Please RSVP at 410-222-1919."

Sounds like an interesting subject- Hope you can attend!

London Town is located in Edgewater, Maryland about a 20 minute drive from downtown Annapolis. For more on London Town visit their website: http://www.historiclondontown.org/

Online Survey

I just wanted to post a quick entry to let everyone know that I've recently updated the survey for the online version of the Seeking Liberty exhibit. The survey is available online and can be reached from the Seeking Liberty homepage. Or just paste this link in your address bar to fill-out the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=U8gk65cK16jATnVL176_2bOQ_3d_3d%22%3EClick%20Here%20to%20take%20survey

The survey includes 10 questions and should only take about 10 minutes of your time. We love to hear your comments so please fill-out the survey when you get a chance. Also, feel free to email any comments, questions or suggestions to seekingliberty@gmail.com.

I'm continuously updating the website with new images and information so check back frequently to view the new additions.

More news coverage of the African bundle

Here is the video from WUSA Channel 9 news coverage of the bundle. Stay tuned as we post more media hits throughout the week.

African Cache found on Fleet Street!

Featured in yesterday's New York Times' science news and the Capital newspaper were articles on a bundle of artifacts related to African Spiritual Practices found here in the historic district of Annapolis.

Last spring while Archaeology in Annapolis was performing excavations on Fleet and Cornhill Streets we came across a particularly interesting find. Archaeologists Alethea Williams and Matt Cochran initially uncovered the tip of a stone axe blade resting vertically, approximately 4 feet below ground along the side of Fleet Street. As they excavated around the axe head they found that it was encased within a solid clay mass. They carefully removed the mass from the ground and discovered that the clay was full of pieces of lead shot along with numerous nails. The clay mass dates to the early 18th century and was of a distincly different material from the surrounding soil. The bundle was in an ovular shape and was most likely enclosed in a cloth bag which would have deteriorated over time. The Maryland Archaeological Conservation lab x-rayed the bundle and produced the following image:

The white circles are pieces of shot, while the outline of nails and pins are also apparent. Archaeology in Annapolis has found evidence of West African Spiritual practices during other excavations inside of the Carroll House, the Brice House and Reynolds' Tavern. The cache found on Fleet Street is different though, in that it was discovered within a public context. This find was a major breakthrough because it suggests that different spiritual rituals were practiced in public and possibly were more generally accepted than we had previously thought. Archaeology in Annapolis is still working with specialists in West African Spiritual traditions to uncover the origin of this discovery. We'll keep you updated on future finds!

To view the articles visit the following links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/science/21arch.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/10_21-10/CAN

Dr. Kelso to speak at the Naval Academy

This Tuesday night at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Dr. William Kelso will give a lecture entitled "Jamestown: The Buried Truth." In 1607, 104 English men and boys landed on the James River, built a fort and established Jamestown, what was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Dr. Kelso is the Director of Archaeology at Jamestown and oversaw excavations of the 1607 James Fort. This should be a really interesting talk... Hope to see you there!

The lecture is open to the public and will begin at 7:15 in Mahan Auditorium. For more information on entering the Naval Academy visit their website: www.usna.edu

View the announcement in the Capital newspaper: http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/10_12-52/TOP

For more information on archaeology at Jamestown see the following sites:
http://www.apva.org/jr.html
http://historicjamestowne.org/

Anne Arundel County Courthouse: Part I

While archaeologists are making exciting discoveries at the Charles County Courthouse site, I thought I would highlight some of the history of the Anne Arundel County Courthouse block right here in Annapolis, MD. The Anne Arundel County Courthouse and the Banneker-Douglass Museum are actually located on the same city block in the Historic District of Annapolis.

The map to the right dates to around 1890. You can see the original size of the courthouse and the AME Church which is now part of the Banneker-Douglass Museum. The addition to the museum, built in 2003, extends about 50 feet toward the courthouse along Doctor Street (now Franklin Street). The remaining yellow and pink blocks on the map represent houses and small businesses. As a result of development over the past century the remainder of the Courthouse Block is now occupied by additions to the courthouse.

In 2000 and 2001 Archaeology in Annapolis held summer Field Schools on the courthouse block prior to the construction of the museum addition. Students excavated privies, former backyards, cellars and house foundations. They discovered the material remains of the culturally and ethnically varied residents of the courthouse block.

In 1897 Bellis Court was built in the center of the Courthouse Block. This alley community was composed of predominantly low-income African-Americans who according to census records worked almost exclusively as laborers. By 1951 Bellis Court and all the houses along South Street had disappeared and were eventually replaced by courthouse additions. Archaeologists recovered a large amount of buttons while excavating what would have been the backyard area of the Bellis Court houses. In a time when employment was severely limited for African-Americans many female residents of the Courthouse Block worked as washerwomen.

Check back for Part II including more details about excavations at the Courthouse.

Charles County Courthouse

Speaking of archaeology in the news. There was an article in The Capital recently about an important discovery in Charles County. It seems that archaeologists from St. Mary's College of Maryland have discovered the original Charles County courthouse which dates to the 1620s.

The courthouse has taken almost 75 years to locate. The group of archaeologists led by St. Mary's professor Julia King were able to identify the courthouse due to an unusually large amount of artifacts found while digging test pits. Shovel test pits commonly known as STPs are a standard in the early stages of excavation and are a common way for archaeologists to assess where cultural remains may or may not be located on a given site. STPs are usually laid out in a grid over the project area. Archaeologists then dig small test holes typically only a foot to a foot and a half in diameter in order to determine artifact densities. Based on the results from the STPS, archaeologists determine if further excavation is necessary. STPs are most commonly used for Cultural Resourse Management(CRM) work.

Among the artifacts found at the courthouse were a large number of glass and ceramic shards from wine bottles, beer tankards and drinking vessels. Professor King explained that it was common practice for judges and councilmen to drink while at the courthouse. According to King there are no 17th century buildings which still exist in Maryland or Virginia so to find the foundation of an early government building like this is very significant.

For more information on the Courthouse find see the following Capital and Washington Post articles:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/09_16-11/REG
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060802057.html