By
Patricia Samford, Director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation
Laboratory
A
team of high school students from Huntingtown High School (HHS) who researched
a mid-19th century privy pit as part of an archeology project with Jefferson
Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM) and discovered a wealth of Civil War-era
household items, was recognized yesterday with a 2014 Maryland Preservation Award from
the Maryland Historical Trust.
 |
| Pictured left to right: Joyce Leviton (Senator Cardin's Office), Kim Popetz (MAC Lab), Christiana Nisbet, Jeff Cunningham, Madison Wilson, and Patricia Samford. |
Archeologists
had excavated the privy pit at the Baltimore Federal Reserve site in 1980, but had
never studied the artifacts or prepared a report. Privy pits were dumping
places for household garbage in the days before city-wide trash pick-up. The
Federal Reserve site privy was filled with broken plates, spittoons, chamber
pots, medicine bottles, seeds, animal bones and clothing. The students
cataloged 2,500 artifacts, mended the broken pottery and glass, and conducted
research on the objects, the site and Baltimore in the late 1800s.
HHS
students, under the tutelage of JPPM staff and HHS social studies teacher Jeff
Cunningham, shone on a light on life 150 years ago through a series of posters and
an exhibit, called “One Man’s Privy Is Another’s Class Project,” installed for
three months at the Calvert County Library in Prince Frederick. The exhibit now
resides at a display case in the high school.
They
also prepared a research report, which was filed at the Maryland Archaeological
Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab) as part of the permanent records for the
Baltimore Federal Reserve site.
MHT’s
board of directors, which presented the awards during its 39th
annual ceremony, commended Calvert County Public Schools for allowing the ambitious
class projects in an era of shrinking education budgets. From the point of view
of JPPM archeology staff, HHS students gained a unique understanding of
research and collaboration as well as how to bring a complex project to completion.
Through the project, the students gained an appreciation for preservation of
Maryland history, setting them apart from most of their peers.
It
was exciting to work with students on a project that provided them with real-world
experience in a supportive setting, conducting the type of analysis normally
done by professional archeologists. Even better was watching the students’
excitement about each new artifact and the information it held. We were
thrilled that the Huntingtown High School Historic Investigations class was
chosen to receive this honor and gratified to see them recognized.
For the full list of people and projects recognized at last
night’s Preservation Awards ceremony, please visit http://www.mht.maryland.gov/awards.shtml.
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