Hi everyone,
I hope you all are staying safe and healthy during this year full of uncertainty. My name is Kelley Berliner and, while technically not an alum of the FSJ field school, I did work as the Public Outreach Coordinator for the 2011 field season at the fort. Wow, that was 9 years ago! I have kept pretty busy since then between a few moves, academics, and jobs.
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| Kelley at the 2011 Archaeology Open House. Photo Credit: Unknown. |
I absolutely loved history from a young age. It probably helped that my dad has a passion for antique trucks, tractors, and most any other kind of rusty equipment that brought us to a lot of flea markets and history events in my home state of Maryland. When I left home to attend the University of Toronto I focused my studies on history, anthropology, and ethics. You can probably tell I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do! It took an introductory to archaeology course with a great professor to make me realize archaeology was for me. Finally, a way to combine history with working in the dirt! My next step was to volunteer with the Archaeological Society of Maryland during a field session at the 17thcentury site of Port Tobacco in Southern Maryland. After picking up some excavation, mapping, and identification skills, I worked for a small cultural resources firm doing archaeological testing in advance of development. I credit a lot of my knowledge to this time and was grateful for the opportunity to learn an assortment of field, lab, and academic skills, from how to deal with tick bites to presenting a paper at my first conference!
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| Kelley excavating at Port Tobacco. Photo Credit: Unknown. |
Flash forward to 2011: I was finishing up classes at the College of William and Mary for my MA in Historical Archaeology. My interest has always been in public archaeology and outreach, so when I saw the opportunity to be the Public Outreach Coordinator for the FSJAP I figured I would take a chance! A short while later I was driving from Virginia to Michigan, where I stayed with longtime supporter of the project Barb Cook (you probably remember having dinner at her house and visiting Summerville Mounds!). Between excavating at the site, handling outreach, and preparing for the Open House, I helped Barb around the farm with feeding dozens of peacocks and rescuing ducklings out of the corn crib. Barb is a delight, with a love of history and a no-nonsense attitude! I will always cherish my time spent in Michigan with the project, and am fortunate to have made some lasting friendships. One of my FSJ projects was starting the blog as a way for field school students to engage the public, and I am thrilled that it is still used today!
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| The 2011 Fort St. Joseph field crew. Photo Credit: Unknown. |
After the Open House, I moved to Montreal, Canada where my fiancé had gotten a job (he’s from Montreal). Over the next 6 months I worked on my MA thesis which addresses public outreach in archaeology, specifically highlighting the site where I got my start in archaeology, Port Tobacco in southern Maryland. Once that was completed, I picked up a number of odd jobs between taking intensive French classes. I taught conversational English as a Second Language for adults and worked with the Redpath Museum at McGill University. The Museum deals with more natural and world history than archaeology, but I was still able to work with indigenous groups and develop public outreach programming, like a scavenger hunt for kids (I used The Fur Trade activity booklet from the FSJ Museum as inspiration! I think this might have been developed by Erica Kirk?).
We spent three years in Montreal and then moved back to Maryland when I was offered a position with The Archaeological Conservancy, where I have worked for nearly seven years. The Conservancy is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of archaeological sites. We preserve these sites by acquiring them through donation or sale, and we then manage them as permanent open-space archaeological research preserves. We preserve all types of sites, from Paleoindian through historic industrial. It has been a great fit for my interests in archaeology and public engagement, since a lot of my work involves educating the public about the importance of saving sites. While I do not do as much excavation work (only occasional testing and monitoring), I do a lot of research on archaeological sites in the eastern United States. Through this research and partnerships with state preservation offices, Native American tribes, professional archaeologists, municipalities, and universities, we work to identify important sites in need of preservation. In the United States there are very few protections for sites on private property, and many are lost to development, looting, and other destruction.
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| Kelley doing a check on one of the Conservancy's preserves in Virginia. This field is the site of a Late Woodland Period Native American village. Photo Credit: Unknown. |
Once these sites are identified the next task is to reach out to the property owners and see if they are interested in working with the Conservancy to preserve the site. As you might imagine, this can be tough! My most important skills have been being able to talk to a lot of different people and share with them the importance of archaeology—something that was a big part of my job at Fort St. Joseph. I am fortunate to travel to a lot of different places (my territory covers Maine through North Carolina), and meet a lot of different people who graciously share their local histories. This year is the 40th anniversary of the founding of The Archaeological Conservancy, and I am happy to say that we have preserved over 550 sites across the country. Feel free to check out some of our work here: https://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/. Our magazine, American Archaeology, actually featured Fort St. Joseph years before I even joined the project!
I will always be grateful for Dr. Nassaney giving me the chance to spend a little bit of time in Michigan, as well as to the field crew that year and to all the wonderful local residents of Niles who helped me further understand the importance of sharing archaeological research with the public. I look forward to crossing paths with all the FSJ alumni out there!
Best Regards,
Kelley Berliner
