Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program

May 24 - July 29, 2005

Distribution of Historic Artifacts at New Philadelphia.

Field School Objectives
The New Philadelphia story is both compelling and unique. Many studies in historical archaeology that concentrate on African-American issues have focused on plantation life and the pre-emancipation era. The history of New Philadelphia is very different.  It is a chronicle of racial uplift and centering on the success of an African-American family and their ability to survive and prosper in a racist society.

In 1836, Frank McWorter, an African American who was born into slavery and later purchased his own freedom, acquired 42 acres of land in the sparsely populated area of Pike County, Illinois, situated in the rolling hills bounded by the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.  He founded and platted a town, subdivided the property, and sold lots. McWorter used the revenues from his entrepreneurial efforts to purchase the freedom of sixteen family members, with a total expenditure of $14,000 – a remarkable achievement.  Families of African American and European heritage moved to the town and created a multi-racial community. New Philadelphia likely served as a stopping place for the “Underground railroad” as enslaved African Americans fled northward escaping the oppression of southern plantations.

The history of New Philadelphia serves as a rare example of a multiracial early farming community on the nation's Midwestern frontier (Walker 1983). The town's population reached its peak of about 170 people after the Civil War, a size comparable to many Pike County communities today. However, by the end of the century racial and corporate politics of America's gilded age resulted in the death knell for the settlement: regional transportation investors routed a new railroad line to pass several miles to the north of the town.  Many of New Philadelphia's residents eventually moved away and, by the early 20th century, only a few families remained (Walker 1983).

The primary goals of the project are to:

1. Understand the town's founding and development as a multiracial integrated town;
2. Explore and contrast dietary patterns between different households of different ethnic backgrounds by examining faunal and botanical remains;
3. Reconstruct the townscape and town lot uses of different households from different ethnic backgrounds using botanical data and archaeological landscape features;
4. Elucidate the different consumer choices residents of different ethnic backgrounds made in a frontier situation and understand how household choices changed with the increased connection to distant markets and changing perceptions of racialization within the society.

Archaeological and Research Setting
New Philadelphia in Pike County, Illinois is situated between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.  Today, most of the original 42 acres have been returned to agricultural use.  Only a few scattered house foundations are visible in the plowed fields.

This archaeology project serves as an excellent opportunity for students to participate in many aspects of a scientific research program.  Students will be divided into teams and they will work collaboratively on an assigned town lot in New Philadelphia.  Prior to excavations, each student will draw from the broader research goals of this project to create an individual and focused research design to be addressed in the course of their field school experience.  The field school instructors will teach students about the different archaeological theories used to formulate such research designs, and the methods, sampling, and excavation strategies used in archeology to explore those questions. 

Each team will be responsible for helping to develop a research design, retrieving archaeological data (material culture and archaeobiology data), cleaning and cataloging the materials, data entry, and analyzing artifacts and archaeobiological materials from one town lot. Student teams will work closely in a mentorship situation with Illinois State Museum, Research and Collection Center (ISM-RCC), University of Illinois (UI) and University of Maryland (UM) staff in order to acquire the necessary skills to perform scientific research.  Each student will “specialize” in one form of analysis and they will report on their findings at the end of the summer session. This information will allow students to work as a team to reconstruct the landscape and lifeways of residents of this historic town. 

Evening lectures will be presented and the group will take several field trips to local historic sites and museums during the ten-week course.

Project Location, Facilities and Student Stipends
All students are required to be in Pike County on May 23 th and the instructions will begin on May 24 th .  New Philadelphia is about 75 miles west of Springfield, Illinois, and 25 miles east of Hannibal, Missouri.  There is no mass transportation to the immediate area.  The closest town is Barry, Illinois (population 1400) where students will stay at the Kinderhook Lodge. Lodging and meals will be provided during weeks 1-5 while staying in Pike County and students will be transported to the site every day.  During the weekends students are free to travel and explore the region when fieldtrips are not scheduled. (The Kinderhook Lodge is located between the towns of Kinderhook and Barry on Rt. 106).

During weeks 6-10 students will move to the dormitories in Springfield, Illinois and work at the ISM-RCC. This facility provides a state-of-the-art environment and it has vast collections and high quality research laboratories and offices for anthropology, botany, geology, and zoology.   During the weekends students are free to travel and explore the region.

Students receive a $300 per week stipend paid on a bi-weekly basis. 

Application Procedure
Each student is required to submit an application form (word .doc format link), transcripts from all colleges attended, two letters of recommendation, and an essay.  For best consideration, the final date for receipt of all applications materials is March 25, 2005.  This field school is sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates sites program, and will select students based on their scholarly ability as well as their motivation and ability to perform scholarly and scientific research.  Students from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.  Students will be notified of acceptance no later than April 15, 2005.

For more information please email Paul Shackel at: pshackel@anth.umd.edu

Please send completed applications to:

Dr. Paul A. Shackel
NSF-REU Program
Department of Anthropology
1111 Woods Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20912

Additional links:

Official Field School Homepage

Historical Landscapes of New Philadelphia, Illinois

New Philadelphia Research Homepage