March 3rd, 2016
The Challenges of Excavating A Famous Place: Archaeology and the Pullman National Monument
Jane Eva Baxter, DePaul University
On February 19, 2015 President Obama came to the Historic Pullman neighborhood and established a National Monument to commemorate and protect this significant south side neighborhood. This talk will be an overview of several seasons of archaeology conducted in Pullman between 2004-2010 by students and faculty from DePaul University. Unlike many historic National Parks and Monuments, archaeology did not play an important role in persuading the government to establish a National Monument in Pullman. The Pullman neighborhood is already famous and very well documented. This talk is an opportunity to ask the question of what it means to do archaeology at a site that is already well documented, well known, and considered significant by the broader public. What new information did archaeology reveal in Pullman, and how might archaeological knowledge help us to understand a site whose story is already famous?
