Cathrine Davis: Archaeology Summer Camper to PhD Student

Hello Fort Followers!

Me at Christmas sophomore year of high school (2007).

I’m Cathrine Davis and I graduated from WMU with degrees in Anthropology and French back in 2014! Being involved with the Project shaped my time as an undergraduate and my career trajectory as a whole. After participating on site as a summer camper during high school and deciding that archaeology actually was something I liked doing, attending WMU was a natural choice, and one that was happily endorsed by two generations of Bronco alumni in my family!

FSJ Field school 2011- a rare photo of the photographer…!

While attending WMU I spent a lot of my spare time in Moore hall or with other FSJ archaeology students and they were a sort of second family for me. I remember helping with labwork in the old 4^th floor lab, the excitement when the new lab was put in downstairs and all of the time I spent there labeling artifacts and doing inventory with the crew. I knew all of the back passages in Moore hall so I could spend the most time possible in the lab before popping out of a random doorway in the basement just in time for class! My field school at FSJ was in 2011, and we lived in Niles High School that summer instead of the usual field housing, so my cohort and I had a very different field school experience than most alums, but with plenty of comradery all the same. Working as a student site photographer allowed me to combine my love of art and archaeology, and placed me in the fellowship of other FSJ photographers past and present who also underwent the same challenges of scientific recording and archiving memories of life on site. We keep up with each other and are often seen taking in the sights at conferences together, ever so photogenically.

Fort St. Joseph photographers unite! John Cardinal, Tori Hawley

and myself in front of the USS Constitution in Boston earlier 

this year during the SHA conference.

Working with the Project allowed me to gain the close familiarity with French colonial material culture that is so essential to understanding French presence in North America. In particular, the FSJAP fostered my interest in lead cloth seals, which eventually grew into an honors thesis, then an MA thesis abroad in Québec City, and now, the roots of a doctoral dissertation at William & Mary (Williamsburg, VA). My current primary research interest is the interplay between multifaceted identities and social networks between France and New France, particularly in the world of textile production and importation. Lead cloth seals play a part in the iconographic expression of various identities and highlight social connections that provide me with a good starting point for understanding the Canada trade. I also have started to expand my knowledge of lead seals to include those from different time periods and locations that don’t often show up at French sites. In particular, I’ve been living a childhood dream working this past year with Jamestown Rediscovery (APVA) in order to help define and organize their lead seal reference collection. When completed, this will allow others who have an interest in life at James Fort or in seventeenth-century seals to more easily access the collections for research. It’s been quite the change of scenery attending William & Mary, and a lot of colleagues wonder if I’m being seduced by Anglo-American colonial archaeology… Rest assured, I’m still working on unraveling the story of life in eighteenth-century New France and sharing it with the wider public!

Me at the cité of Carcassonne, France in 2019.

  
Obviously, things have been a bit on hold this year, and a lot of plans were thrown off. My big research trip to France this year to build on my archival reconnaissance work last year has been postponed, as have several public presentations on my work, and even a conference on seals in London, England (ouf)! However, the beautiful thing about research and learning is that it can continue even in the craziest of times. If you’re feeling the social distancing blues, try taking some time to read that book that has been gathering dust for years, catch up on your language learning app, or even attend a digital lecture and ask plenty of questions in the comments section! I have even “attended” a Twitter conference this year and connected with other lead seal experts that I would have never gotten to know otherwise. Though we might all be really missing the mud and fresh air this summer out at the Fort site (physically or virtually), it will be interesting to see how research and learning open up as a result of this pandemic in unexpected and fruitful ways. Keep looking for that silver lining and stay curious!

Meilleurs souhaits,

Cathrine Davis