1998 Field School Team

Left to right, first row: Beth Williams, Kelly McNeil, Angie Fuller, Amy Zortman, Alisa Cooper, Leslie Isham, Kenny Wiggins. Second row: Erin Baker, Julie Maldonado, Staci Williams (Field School Operations Director), Becky Adams, Jason Hutt, J.B. McKaskle, Michelle Matthews, Tonya Bailey, Brenda Field, Dr. Lynn Burlbaw (Texas A&M University), Dr. Vernon L. Williams (Field School Director), Gary Lindsey (Assistant Field School Director).

The 1998 Field School included 16 students from Abilene Christian University. Each year a team travels to Cokedale, Colorado to work in the Cokedale Museum. For three weeks they gather information and artifacts about mining towns in southern Colorado and produce valuable museum and preservation projects developed from their field work.

Each year the Field School team works on different exhibits and excavates new target areas in Primero, the early 20th century mining town located in Smith Canyon. The 1998 Field School produced the following projects during June 1998:

• archaeological excavation at Primero, Colorado
• an artifact exhibit on Primero, Colorado installed in the ground floor exhibit space at the Cokedale Coal Mining Museum
• created a new web site on Field Operations in southern Colorado
• wrote and produced a video Preserving the Past: New Tools for Teachers, a 9-minute video about Field School and equipping new teachers for the classroom
• a video documentation project
• edited and restored the Coal Mining Photography Exhibit at Cokedale
• a digital photography documentation project
• a traditional photography documentation project (35mm)
• an oral history interview project
• three showcase exhibits on mining town topics

Note: For more information about the projects listed above, select "1998 Field School Project" in the menu below.

Despite the short amount of time the students have to complete projects on Colorado mining towns, they were all successful. Each student contributed their talents to preserve history in southern Colorado and learned much about the history of the company town.

More About the 1998 Field School Team

• 1998 Student Biographical Sketches (Under Construction)
• 1998 Field School Projects(Under Construction)
• The 1998 Team at Work
• The 1998 Team at Play

For corrections and contributions regarding this World Wide Web page, contact Dr. Vernon L. Williams, ACU Station Box 28130, Department of History, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas 79699.
E-mail vwilliams@nicanor.acu.edu
FAX 915-647-2369
Telephone 915-674-2150.