My 19th Century Study

Last class we went through catalogues from the 19th century and picked out objects for one room. I chose a study. Two of my objects are a set of encyclopedias and a book holder.

My Passion for and Career in Archaeology

Archaeology is the career choice, which I am pretty positive I will choose because it is an area in which I am highly passionate. During my high school career, I volunteered at Ferry Farm, George Washington’s childhood home, and Montpelier, James Madison’s home. I volunteered in the archaeology lab at Ferry Farm during two summers and was thrilled each time I went there to volunteer. My volunteer experience at Montpelier includes being there for a week during the summer of 2009, two weeks during the summer of 2011, and two weeks during the summer of 2012.  All of these experiences at Ferry Farm and Montpelier have continued to make me passionate about archaeology.

A picture of me excavating a unit when I was at Montpelier in 2011. 

A picture of the opening of a unit that I worked on at Montpelier during the summer of 2012.

The paperwork and artifacts open bag for a unit that I worked on at Montpelier during the summer of 2012.

Now that I am at the beginning my college career and I am already exploring my passion for archaeology by taking Introduction to Archaeology and having a job in the Archaeology Lab. My Introduction to Archaeology class is very interesting and is helping me learn some of the fundamental basics of archaeology that I did not already know. I also obtained an amazing job in the archaeology lab where I am working with artifacts from Tusculum. Based on my active interest in my class and job, I am certain that I am going to major in and have a career in archaeology. 

Assessing the Sweet Briar Slave Cabin

Taylor Litzenberg
Professor Rainville
Y-1
10 October 2012
Assessing the Sweet Briar Slave Cabin
Before coming to Sweet Briar College, I knew that the college used to be a plantation, which meant that there was a big house for the slave owner and many slave cabins. However, before coming to Sweet Briar College, I did not know if any of the slave cabins were still standing. Once I got to Sweet Briar College I learned that there was one slave cabin still standing and it was behind the former plantation house, now known as Sweet Briar House. From my honors class, I learned that the cabin was a slave cabin, was inhabited by Sterling Jones, the college chapel, a college classroom, an Alumnae office, and recently a farm tool museum.
In a broader context, I see the slave cabin as a reminder of the past and a way to learn and study Virginia’s and Sweet Briar College’s at history. The slave cabin at Sweet Briar relates to the rest of Virginia because it allows comparisons between this specific slave cabin and other slave cabins in the state, which sheds further insight into aspects of slavery in Virginia. For Sweet Briar College, the slave cabin plays the role of a reminder and reason why the college exists for the students and faculty here. It is a reminder about not only America’s past use of the slave system, but also Virginia’s and more specifically this college’s founders’ role in slavery. The cabin’s role in the context of the plantation is that it sheds light on how this specific plantation might have been set up and the living conditions of the slaves here.
A question I have about the cabin is what archaeological evidence is there for the livelihood the slaves that lived in the cabin? I would like to know the archaeological artifacts that have been found at the cabin because it would help me better understand how the slaves lived. One question I have about the history of the cabin is why when and why did the original door get taken off? I want to know when and why the original door was taken off because I value the idea of having the original door on the cabin and would like to know the circumstances about why it was dismantled.
As of now most of, but not all of, the artifacts from the farm tool museum got removed from the slave cabin. The cabin should be restored to a historic home by having it set to the time period that it was a slave cabin. If the cabin is restored to the original slave cabin, then the mantle, which is not original, should be taken down and the original door should be attempted to be put back up. Also, as of now, the flooring for the upstairs part of the cabin is not stable, so if experts on the cabin believe that it was once stable, then stabilizing or completely restoring the flooring of the upstairs part of the cabin should be considered. After all the restoration, signs explaining the history of the slave cabin and the other uses the cabin has had throughout the years should be either placed outside or on the inside of the cabin, if it becomes open to the public. I feel like a restored version of the slave cabin with signs explaining the history of the cabin will encourage students to visit the cabin in the future because it illustrates how the lives of the slaves, who made the plantation a success by their labor and inadvertently enabled the college to be founded due to the success of the plantation. I believe students will want to know how the college came to be what it is today, which can be discovered by studying the beginning of the plantation and the slavery on the plantation.