This year’s Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference will examine the archaeology of diversity in the Midwest.  In rural and urban settings alike from southern Indiana to the furthest reaches of Michigan, a vast range of ethnic and social groups have made their homes in the Midwest beginning in the earliest moments of European contact.  The conference will explore how archaeologists have examined this rich heritage and the ways in which material culture provides a distinctive picture of social, cultural, and class diversity throughout the region. 

This year's conference will be organized around a series of presentations and discussions on some of the key archaeological research on Midwestern diversity, including studies of the earliest European colonizers, 20th century African-American urbanites, and 19th century farm communities.  Rather than conventional paper presentations, we've decided to have panel presentations guided by moderators who will focus on discussing social and cultural diversity in Midwestern historical archaeological research. 

Friday October 3 we will have an informal meet-and-greet at Our Den sports bar in the University Place Conference Center and Hotel on the IUPUI campus.  The bar has dining options such as burgers and comparable bar food as well as beverages.

The conference panels will begin on Saturday beginning at 9:00.  Light breakfast items and coffee have been graciously provided by the IUPUI Department of Anthropology and the Anthropology Club. 

There is no registration fee, and we ask only that you email Conference Co-coordinator Chris Glidden so we can prepare name badges for attendees.

Saturday October 4

Midwestern African-American Archaeology (two sessions moderated by Chris Fennell, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Dr. Fennell is the author of Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World [University Press of Florida, 2007], Co-Director of the New Philadelphia Archaeology project, and will receive the 2009 John L. Cotter Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology).  Panelists include:

• Anna Agbe-Davies (Assistant Professor, DePaul University; Director Bronzeville Archaeology project, Co-Director of the New Philadelphia Archaeology project)

• Jamie Brandon (Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Arkansas Archeological Survey's Research Station Archeologist at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia; editor with Kerri S. Barile of Household Chores and Household Choices: Theorizing the Domesticity in Historical Archaeology [2004])

• Flordeliz Bugarin (Assistant Professor, Howard University; Co-Director Nicodemus Kansas Archaeology Project, author "The Past of a Child in the Hands of a Child: Working with Children on an Archaeological Dig" [Anthropology News, 2008])

• David Gradwohl (Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Iowa State University; author with Nancy M. Osborn of Exploring Buried Buxton: Archaeology of an Abandoned Iowa Coal Mining Town with a Large Black Population [1990], Co-founder of the Iowa State American Indian Studies Program, recipient State Historical Society of Iowa Petersen/Harlan Award for lifetime contributions to Iowa history)

• Mark Hauser (Visiting Assistant Professor, Africana Studies Notre Dame University, author of An Archaeology of Black Markets: Local Ceramics and Economies in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica [forthcoming])

• Terry Martin (Curator and Chairperson of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum, Co-Director of the New Philadelphia Archaeology project)

• Carol McDavid (Executive Director, Community Archaeology Research Institute, Board of Directors of the Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society, Project Director for Public Archaeology at the Yates Community Archaeology Project of the Rutherford B. H. Yates Museum)

• Margaret Wood (Assistant Professor, Washburn University; Co-Director, Nicodemus Kansas Archaeology Project; author “Fighting for our Homes”: An Archaeology of Women’s Domestic Labor and Social Change in a Working-Class, Coal Mining Community, 1900-1930 [2002])

French Colonial Archaeologies (session chaired by Elizabeth Scott, Assistant Professor Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University; editor, Those of Little Note: Gender, Race, and Class in Historical Archaeology [1994]; author French Subsistence at Fort Michilimackinac, 1715-1781: The Clergy and the Traders [1985]; Project Director, Green Tree Tavern, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri)

• Terry Martin (Curator and Chairperson of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum, Principal Investigator for archaeozoological studies of Fort Ouiatenon, Fort St. Joseph,
  and several sites in Illinois' French Colonial District (Fort de Chartres, the Laurens site, Cahokia Wedge)

• Robert Mazrim (Illinois Transportation Archaeology Program, author The Sangamo Frontier: History and Archaeology in the Shadow of Lincoln [2006], Co-organizer French Colonial Heritage Project)

• Michael Nassaney (Professor, Western Michigan University, Director Fort St. Joseph Project, co-editor Interpretations of Native North American Life: Material Contributions to Ethnohistory [2000], The Archaeological Northeast [2000])

Archaeologies of Class, Race, and Gender (session chaired by Paul Mullins, Associate Professor Dept. of Anthropology, IUPUI, author Race and Affluence: An Archaeology of African American and Consumer Culture [1999], Director Ransom Place Archaeology)

• Rebecca S. Graff (PhD candidate, University of Chicago, Project director, Jackson Park Archaeological Project, author The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: Public Archaeology, Consumption, and Tourism in Chicago’s Jackson Park [in preparation])

• Mark Groover (Associate Professor, Ball State University, author The Archaeology of North American Farmsteads [2008] and An Archaeological Study of Rural Capitalism and Material Life: The Gibbs Farmstead in Southern Appalachia, 1790-1920 [2003])

• Carol McDavid (Executive Director, Community Archaeology Research Institute, Board of Directors of the Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society, Project Director for Public Archaeology at the Yates Community Archaeology Project of the Rutherford B. H. Yates Museum)

• Beth Scott (Assistant Professor Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University; editor, Those of Little Note: Gender, Race, and Class in Historical Archaeology [1994])

• Jay Stottman (Kentucky Archaeological Survey, author with Patti Linn of Bringing the Past Into the Future: The Reconstruction of the Detached Kitchen at Riverside, Director Riverside Archaeology Program, Lecturer University of Louisville)

Lodging

There are a ton of hotels in Indianapolis including many downtown within easy reach or walking distance of the IUPUI campus, and those looking to save some money can drive out to the suburbs and find even cheaper digs.  The Circle City Classic (a football game) is in town the weekend of the conference, so some downtown hotels will fill earlier than normal, but Indianapolis is utterly committed to car culture and its easy to drive into town from the suburbs.  The Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association page has information on hotels as well as Bed and Breakfasts.  Some suburban hotels along I-465 (the beltway circling Indianapolis) will offer rooms at 65$ a night, and downtown around IUPUI is more likely to run in the neighborhood of $175 or more depending on how many amenities you need.  We include some possibilities here, but feel free to email me or Chris Glidden if we can help out at this end.  You may also find unadvertised specials (or rooms reserved at places that say they're already full) at Yahoo Travel, Indianapolis.com, and hotels.com.

Downtown (all are very close but in some cases significantly more pricey than suburban hotels)

• University Place Conference Center and Hotel (850 West Michigan Street) is directly across the street from the IUPUI Campus Center and a nice place but also a little pricey.

• City Centre Hotels Candlewood Suites/Park Place at City Centre (1152 and 1150 North White River Parkway) directly across the river from campus; this firm has five downtown hotels in easy reach of campus

• Courtyard Indianapolis at the Capitol (320 North Senate)

• Hyatt Regency Indianapolis (1 South Capitol)

• Marriott Indianapolis Downtown (350 West Maryland)

• Westin (50 South Capitol)

• Sheraton Indianapolis (31 West Ohio)

There is no charge to attend the conference.  We do ask that you register by emailing Chris Glidden so we can prepare name badges.  For more information contact Paul Mullins (317-274-9847) or Chris Glidden.

Last updated September 25, 2008