Volunteer for archaeology field sessions at Garfield Farm Museum

Posted June 04, 2019 11:00 pm

Submitted by Garfield Farm Museum

Volunteers first learn identification of artifacts by cleaning and sorting during the archaeological research program at Garfield Farm Museum in Campton Hills. Courtesy of Joseph Coleman

Garfield Farm Museum in Campton Hills is looking for volunteers to help with archaeological research this June. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, June 11-15 and 19-23.

Under the direction of James R. Yingst, director and chief archaeologist of Heartland Archaeology Research Program, and a research associate in archaeology at Garfield Farm Museum, work is focused on understanding the lives of the 1830s/1840s settling farmers in Northern Illinois.

Registration is currently open.

Individuals enrolling for a minimum of 40 hours receive a complete orientation, structured training involving rotation through the activities of shovel excavation, screening of excavated soil for artifact recovery, and washing of recovered artifacts.

Participants who successfully complete 40 or more hours will receive certificates documenting hours of training and supervised experience in historical archaeology.

Volunteers who cannot commit to 40 hours are also welcome and will receive informal orientations and participate in tasks needed during their hours of participation.

Additional field sessions the public can participate in are scheduled for July 9-12 and 16-20 and again Aug. 6-10 and 13-17.

Excavation of the original log house building site will continue this summer.

The Culbertson log house/Garfield log tavern stood in the fork of the Chicago/St. Charles Road that branched northwest to Sycamore and southwest to Oregon, Illinois.

Culbertson originally claimed 440 acres of land that he improved with a log house, a dug well and 30 acres under cultivation by mid-1841 when he sold the claim to Timothy Garfield for $650. The Garfields immediately saw a lucrative opportunity in establishing an inn to capture the business of the numerous farmers hauling wheat past their house to Chicago's port.

To register as a participant, to visit the excavation site, or to financially contribute to the effort, contact the museum at (630) 584-8485, email info@garfieldfarm.org or write to P.O. Box 403, LaFox, IL 60147.

Garfield Farm Museum is a historically intact former 1840s Illinois prairie farmstead and inn being restored as an 1840s living history farm and inn museum. Volunteers and donors from more than 3,800 households in 37 states have donated time and funds to help preserve this 375-acre project.

Garfield Farm Museum is on Garfield Road, off Route 38, five miles west of Geneva.

For more information, visit www.garfieldfarm.org or www.facebook.com/GarfieldFarmMuseum/.

As volunteers gain experience and display proficiency, they are introduced to basic shovel excavation in the plow zone located 8 inches above any historic features like cellars, post molds, or middens. Courtesy of Joseph Coleman

In the field, volunteers are taught how to screen and look for artifacts at Garfield Farm Museum's archaeological research program. Courtesy of Joseph Coleman

The most proficient and disciplined volunteers learn how to trowel to prepare a meter square for final troweling by the head archaeologist to detect any historic features. Courtesy of Joseph Coleman

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