10:00-10:20 am

Nineteenth century historic farmsteads found in plowed field context often include large features such as house basements, storage cellars, wells, and cisterns. These features are time consuming and therefore costly to excavate. The amount excavated in any one of these large features should be based on the research questions posed about construction methods, function, destruction, and in-filling; the presence or absence of stratified deposits; the variety and quantity of artifacts present; and the potential for redundancy of information. Examples of large feature excavation strategies are discussed with an eye toward establishing criteria for determining how much excavation is enough.

10:20-10:40am

Why should we care about turn-of-the-century farmsteads? What can they tell us about the past and about ourselves today? This paper will address the importance of archaeological research on late nineteenth and early twentieth century farmsteads. Research strategies for these site types will be presented to guide future projects.

10:40-11:00am

One of the key elements in considering site significance is the question of uniqueness. That is, is the site type in question rare or common? The Illinois Department of Agriculture Centennial Farms Program will be evaluated as a potential basis for applying this criterion to turn-of-the-century farmsteads.

11:00-11:20am Break

11:20-11:40am

For regions lacking well–developed historic contexts, alternative approaches for evaluating the significance of the ubiquitous late nineteenth- and twentieth-century farmsteads have been proposed. One approach developed by Miller and Klein (2002) suggests using a ranking system incorporating a wide range of criteria not associated with specific research topics to evaluate the research potential of historic farmsteads. The goal of this study is to test Miller and Klein’s method to determine if their ranking system is a reliable indicator of potential site significance at the Phase I level. Applied to a number of historic farmsteads in southern Illinois, initial findings show that, within the constraints of compliance archaeology, it is a useful tool for determining potential site significance when used in conjunction with an abbreviated h

11:40am-12:00 Noon

The present landscape of northeastern Illinois has been imposed upon the natural terrain. Many modern inhabitants assume that there has been little change in landscape organization since the first European settlers arrived. Recent research undertaken by MARS, Inc. at three historic sites in Will County has permitted an examination of land use from the first European settlement until the turn of the twentieth century. This paper considers changes in settlement focus and farm organization within the context of perceptions of landscape held by various Euro-American settlers and changing farming practices.

12 Noon to 1:20pm Lunch

1:20-1:40pm

Platted in 1836 on a tract of land between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers by a former African-American slave, New Philadelphia was envisioned to become an economic hub for an agrarian community in Pike County, Illinois. Lots were purchased by both European Americans and African Americans, and the town became home to craftsmen, farmers, and laborers until the late 1800s. Funded by a grant to the University of Maryland from the National Science Foundation' s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, 2004 was the first of three years of interdisciplinary research directed at providing additional data and analysis of the social history of the entire community. Not only did excavations verify the presence of in situ architectural foundations and refuse deposits, but the discovery of thousands of artifacts and biological remains is revealing details about lifeways and consumer behavior in this multi-racial, agricultural community. Collection of oral histories by project personnel is also providing insights into issues of past social and race relations in the town and in the surrounding community during the early twentieth century.

2:00-2:20pm

The argument has been made that the archaeological investigation of late nineteenth/early twentieth century Illinois farmsteads can provide little meaningful information. Such an argument assumes that all farmsteads from this time period were equivalent and ignores the potential for ethnic, social, geographical, and functional variability. It also assumes that these sites contain little information that cannot be obtained through historical research alone. There are, however, certain types of farmsteads such as tenant farms, in which the site occupants worked for a share of the crop or profit, that are very poorly represented in both the historical and archaeological literature for the state. The recent excavation of the Julius and Maud Marlin site (11Sa-513) refuted the argument that all farmsteads are alike, recovering previously unknown information regarding the spatial organization, feature types, and material culture of a late nineteenth/early twentieth century tenant farm that revealed this site type differed significantly from family-owned farmsteads in the same region.

2:20-2:40pm

The one-room schoolhouse is a rarity on the Illinois landscape. What once was a prominent feature, now stands as an abandoned reminder of a past filled with education in rural Illinois. Phase II archaeological investigations conducted at three schoolhouse sites in Illinois revealed a life unheard of today. Information was gleaned through personal interviews, archival information, and artifact and feature analysis. Each feature tells a story and each artifact details the journey of the children on their way to a higher education. School district consolidation in the 1940’s and 1950’s led to the abandonment of one-room schoolhouses everywhere.

2:40-3:00pm

“Material culture is made up of tangible things, crafted, shaped, altered and used across time and space. It is art, architecture, food, clothing, and furnishings. But more so, it is the weave of these objects in the everyday lives of individuals and communities.” Simon J. Bronner, American Material Culture and Folklife As indicated by Simon Bronner, the material remains of Illinois farmsteads recovered during archaeological investigations can do much to further our understandings of nineteenth century lifeways on Illinois’ frontier farms and farming communities. To date, several or many farmsteads belonging to a number of ethnic groups have been excavated across the length and breadth of Illinois. Do we have a better understanding of the difference of these ethnic groups and their concomitant cultures as a result of these excavations? The artifacts recovered from these excavations remind us that nineteenth century farmsteads were occupied by nineteenth century farm families—each member with a separate but equally important role to play on the farm. The material culture of these farmsteads as well as the structural remains (features and foundations, etc.) help us as archaeologists to ‘tell the story” of not only last century’s Illinois farmers, but also farm wives, farm laborers and a myriad of skilled workers and merchants that relied on local farm trade for their livelihood. —They also remind us that these farmers were human, as is indicated by the artifacts they discarded or otherwise left behind—artifacts that are picked up, counted, weighed and used to tell a part of Illinois’ story.