The Course and How to Participate

This summer students from Texas A&M will join a team from Abilene Christian University in a quest to study the history of families living on the southern Colorado mining frontier. Together the team will explore the ruins at Primero, Colorado, search for other lost mining towns in southern Colorado, work in a conservation laboratory on site saving artifacts, interview second and third generation mining families, and use digital photography to document the history of early twentieth century southern Colorado. Sign up today and earn six semester hours in three weeks of dramatic discoveries and extraordinary learning opportunities.

Dates for the course are: July 10-29, 2005 (Summer II).
Costs: Tuition and fees for 6 semester hours plus the Field School Fee of $1995 (includes room/board, transportation, equipment, and supplies)
Internships: Students will receive appointments as interns with the Primero Historical Project and gain experience in several professional areas of archaeology and historic preservation. These internships will be a valuable addition to your academic career and provide significant components for your portfolio.
Digital photography will be the tool of choice in documenting historic sites, artifacts, and interview production during the field season. Students will learn the use of digital still and video cameras in the context of their archaeological and preservation work. It is expected that the digital collection produced during the field season will add significant knowledge to our understanding of the early twentieth century history of the West.
Computers located in the field lab will assist interns in mapping, cataloging, transcribing, and with other tasks associated with their field work in southern Colorado. Interns will learn new applications of traditional software as the digital collection begins to take shape.
Archaeological site surveys and excavations will provide new data about lost sites and those hardy westerners who lived the mining life. The physical remains of homes and other town structures can provide important historical information about work and living patterns in company towns in the West. Excavations can add additional data about family life and the struggle to grasp the American Dream for many immigrant families. The surveys and artifact collections, along with the accompanying digital collateral materials, will give historians and scientists much to examine as they unravel the story that played out in the canyons of early southern Colorado.
Oral history interview teams will interview second and third generation mining families members and produce digital video footage that will also add to our knowledge about life in the mining camps. These children of early immigrants are old now and the window of opportunity is slipping away as the last generations begin to disappear from the landscape. There is a sense of urgency to record this oral memoirs before it is too late. Each interview team will include an interviewer and camera operator. Oral history workshops at Primero will teach interns in the basics of interviewing and camera work.
Archival research will take many interns to Denver, Colorado Springs, and other locations where Colorado historical materials are housed. Important research in support of the field operations will add additional data to the growing historical collection at Primero.
Conservation Laboratory operations will be performed in the field in a mobile lab setting. Interns will learn the basics of chemical treatment of artifacts and other objects to stablize their condition and preserve them for exhibition and study. Other conservation techniques will be employed to conserve the historical materials collected during the field season. Classes on site will provide essential instruction on laboratory work.

More:

Free Video

Pick up a free informational video on the 2005 Public History Field School at the office of Dr. Lynn M. Burlbaw, 330 Harrington Tower.

For more information:

Contact:
Dr. Lynn M. Burlbaw
Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture
Harrington Tower, Room 330
Telephone: 979-845-6195
Email: burlbaw@neo.tamu.edu