FSJ Visits the Spring National Shoot

The full display at the Spring National Shoot.

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project was invited to display information and artifacts from Fort St. Joseph at the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association’s Spring National Shoot. Scott MacPherson, a graduate student at Western Michigan University, volunteered to travel to Friendship, Indiana to represent the project.  

Some vendors and campers in "primitive" style.

On the afternoon of Friday, June 7th, I arrived in Friendship, Indiana, a quaint little village in the south east corner of Indiana, situated forty miles west of Cincinnati, Ohio, and barley twenty miles north of the Kentucky border. In a beautiful valley, I discovered a park like environment where thousands of people were still arriving eager for the competition scheduled to begin the next morning. Some people were in RVs, while others stayed in the primitive camp, an area of about ten acres in size, where everyone dressed and lived in period attire and material. My host at this event was Leslie Martin Conwell, the Events Coordinator. She was more than helpful and provided me with whatever I needed to set up our exhibit and to aid in making me personally comfortable. She was a wonderful help. Her husband Rick physically assisted me with some heavy moving and other logistical issues as they arose, he also was a big help to my efforts.

The exhibit was entitled “The People of Fort St. Joseph: The Archaeology and History of an 18th Century Missionary-Garrison-Trading Post Complex on the Frontier of New France,” and even before I had completed setting everything up people began to meander into the museum out of curiosity.

Display cases featuring gun parts and artifacts from daily life.

From the very first person that came into the museum to the last, the overall reaction to the project at Fort St. Joseph was of interest and enthusiasm. I spoke to many people about the history of the fort and the history of the archaeological work done there since we began. The people in Friendship were fascinated with the artifacts that Alexander Brand and I put together for the two display cases. I would also like to thank Jordan Wojdula for his enthusiastic assistance in the early stages of the process.

The response from Leslie and the rest of the facility staff was very positive and I believe we reached many people that were not aware of the ongoing project at Fort St. Joseph that now plan to be more engaged with developments at the site. To help spread the word I actively handed out the web site address so that people could visit the online site dedicated to FSJ.

While I was there I also took a tour of the grounds and watched many marksmen from literally all around the country take aim at winning this year’s competition. I visited dozens of venders selling their goods on what is called “Commercial Row”. While on this tour I ran into a good friend of Fort St. Joseph, Larry Horrigan working on one his many handmade guns.

It was a wonderful experience and opportunity to speak to so many people concerning our project that are genuinely interested in the period and everything about it. 

-Scott

New Film Released!

Greetings!

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project is a community partnership between Western Michigan University and the City of Niles that is dedicated to exploring the history of New France in the St. Joseph River valley of southwest Michigan. The focus of the project has been the investigation and interpretation of Fort St. Joseph, an eighteenth-century mission, garrison, and trading post that was discovered by Western Michigan University archaeologists in 1998. The Project has since grown to include a variety of voices and participants in planning, implementation, and public outreach. Among the Project’s most active supporters have been the historical re-enactors who often attend our annual open house to portray eighteenth-century life. Through their authentic re-enactments, these volunteers share their knowledge of the past and passion for local history with the public.

Through a generous grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, and long hours of work from volunteers and staff at Western Michigan University, the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project is proud to present its most recent video production: Militia Muster at Fort St. Joseph.  This film provides a variety of interviews and perspectives on the art of historical re-enacting, as well as the importance of the archaeological work taking place and what it adds to the historical narratives. We have provided a link to the video below, and encourage any educators, history buffs, and others to make use of the film to enhance their understanding of public archaeology and eighteenth-century life. We thank you for taking the time to view our blog, and hope you take advantage of this resource. For more information about the project, please contact me at the email address provided . Feel free to forward the link to others and tell us what you think about this video. On behalf of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project and the Michigan Humanities Council, thanks for your interest and support!

Sincerely,

Michael Nassaney, Ph.D.

Executive Producer, Militia Muster at Fort St. Joseph

Principal Investigator, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

michael.nassaney@wmich.edu

https://www.wmich.edu/fortstjoseph/

View the film at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4iQCSpPg6U

Annual Canadian Studies Roundtable

Artwork by: Karen Bondarchuk ,Castor Canadensis and Castor Ameridensis, 
36"x44", coloured pencil rubbings on vellum

On Friday, March 22, the Canadian Studies program at Western Michigan University is calling to order the Annual Canadian Studies Roundtable. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with registration taking place Friday morning on site.

The roundtable will feature a variety of speakers:  Eric Marquis, Head of Post at the Quebec Government Office in Chicago, will discuss politics and society in contemporary Quebec from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Immediately following, Roy Norton, the Canadian Consul in Detroit, will discuss 237 years of Canada-U.S. Relations-in an hour!

Our own Dr. Michael Nassaney will be featured during the Luncheon lecture beginning at 11:45 a.m. Dr. Nassaney will discuss the archaeological contributions to the study of New France through the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project. Following Dr. Nassaney at 12:45 p.m., Dr. Dean Anderson, the State Archaeologist for Michigan, will present on French traders and trade goods in the Western Great Lakes Region.

Dr. Catherine Cangany, assistant professor of history at the University of Notre dame, will discuss the success of colonial Detroit as a fur-trade outpost through its commercial endeavors at 1:45 p.m. Immediately following, Dr. Guillaume Teasdale from the University of Windsor will discuss French land occupation in the Detroit river region from 1730-1790 at 3 p.m.

Following the lectures, a screening of the film Mesnak will take place, followed by a discussion with the film’s director and producer, Yves Sioui-Durand.

The roundtable is open to the public. The event will be held at the Fetzer Center, with free parking! The registrations fee is $25, but is waived for any student. This is an excellent opportunity, and will be a great day of workshops and analysis of New France and current United States-Canada relationships. We encourage you to take advantage of this great event! We look forward to seeing you there! 

Sunday Supper Club

This Sunday (March 10th) at 3:00 pm, Dr. Michael Nassaney, principal investigator at the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, will be the featured speaker at the Sunday Supper Club at the River Lake Inn. Dr. Nassaney will discuss the ongoing work at Fort St. Joseph, public archaeology, recent finds, and how you can get involved in the project. The River Lake Inn Restaurant is located at 767 Ralston Road in Colon, MI 49040. For more information, please call the restaurant at 269-432-2626. We hope to see you there!

Western Michigan University's Annual Archaeological Field School!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that we are accepting applications for our annual field school! The 2013 season is certain to be a great experience and offers a well-rounded education in archaeological excavation, lab work, and public outreach. For more information, please see the flyer here. Thanks and we look forward to reviewing your application!
     -Alex

Fort St. Joseph Summer Camps

We are now accepting applications for our summer camps! Take a look at the flyers and apply! Summer Camp Dates; For Educators

The Society for Historical Archaeology's 46th Annual Conference

Enjoying the view!

            Hi everyone, it’s Erica providing a quick update on what the Fort St. Joseph staff were up to earlier this month. In early January, I along with Dr. Nassaney, travelled to Leicester, England to attend the 46^th annual conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA). Our project zooarchaeologist Dr. Terry Martin and several project alumni, including Cynthia Nostrant, LisaMarie Malischke, Andrew Robinson and Andrew Beaupré were able to make the trip as well. It was exciting to have the conference in England this year as it’s only SHA’s second time there and we had the opportunity to hear about what historical archaeologists across the UK and other parts of Europe are working on as well.

'Key in Palm' 2nd place - B&W artifact

            Conferences, like SHA, are important for professionals and students in the field to attend. It takes research a long time to go through the peer review process and be published in journals or books, but archaeologists present their current work at these conferences so we can keep up with what is going on in the field. Individual presentations are placed into sessions, each organized around a specific theme. This is a great way for us to meet other people who are working on similar topics and share our ideas.

Principal Investigator, Dr. Michael Nassaney, organized a  day-long session where authors from the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective book series, of which he is the editor, presented papers dealing with their specialization. The session sought to highlight how archaeologists have used archaeology to come to understand the American experience in ways which often challenge and force us to reconsider the “official” telling of history. The presentations dealt with both specific topics like farmsteads, race, and cemeteries as well as theoretical frameworks like Dr. LouAnn Wurst’s (our department chair here at Western) presentation on class. Dr. Nassaney updated everyone on some of his recent work using Fort St. Joseph to explore the trends in the historical archaeology of the North American fur trade. Dr. Terry Martin’s presentation was in this session as well. He used the faunal remains from Fort St. Joseph and other French Colonial site in the region to explore how foodways provide insight into colonial relations.

'Carefully extracting the deer mandible' 1st place - Color Field Work

Late Saturday afternoon I presented my paper (and got to spent the whole conference with it looming over my head…yay…) which deals with using archaeology in children’s education programs. Among all of my responsibilities as Public Outreach Coordinator this summer I managed to sneak in a few hours of work with the summer camp programs which provided the context for my paper as well as my upcoming thesis. Andrew Robinson and Andrew Beaupré both presented on some of the work they have done post-Fort St. Joseph.

Although graduate student, Susan Reichert, was not able to attend the conference she did submit some of the photos she took on site as the staff photographer this summer. And (drum roll), her submissions garnered a third place ribbon, two second places ribbons, and a first place ribbon for a color image of fieldwork.

      Overall, the conference was a success; we learned a lot about many topics in archaeology and we able to share our work with others. After the conference I went to Marseille, on strictly non-work related business, but I did get to see some of the fascinating excavations which were done at the old Roman Docks there. We’ll be looking forward to the next SHA conference which will be held in Quebec! But until then we have another busy and exciting field season in Niles to prepare for!
  
                      -Erica D'Elia

'How many archaeologists fit in a unit?' 2nd place - Color portrait

‘Searching for clues, Fort St Joseph’ 3^rd place Archaeological fieldwork