Field School in Focus: The Speaker's House

A field school jointly presented by The Speaker's House and Ursinus College is planned between June 23 and August 1, 2008.

The course will be conducted at The Speaker's House, most notable as being the home of Frederick Muhlenberg (1750-1801), first Speaker of the House of Representatives. The site was occupied from 1764-2002 and, in addition to being the home of Muhlenberg, was the home of one of the first piano makers in America; the home of a pitcher for the Philadelphia A's; an Ursinus College dormitory; and, late in the 20th century, was divided into single apartments.

The Speaker's House Executive director, Allison Weiss, sent along this description of the project, submitted by writer Jan Feighner.

The Speaker's House is an extant 18th century structure, and it and two surrounding acres were purchased by the nonprofit The Speaker's House with the intent of creating an educational center and museum.

An archaeological team was hired in 2007 to provide architectural and artifactual evidence tracing the property's history. During their 10 days onsite, they discovered the foundations of long-suspected outer buildings on the property such as a barn, an 18th century bake oven, and Muhlenberg's general store, and recovered 12,000 artifacts.

The Speaker's House field school will include lectures about the history of the property and current theory in archaeology. It will involve rotating between the field and lab for an intense hands-on education. Students will expand sites discovered during last year's dig and excavate near structure foundations.

The course will feature all aspects of archaeological fieldwork from surveying, laying grids, and digging and sifting to cleaning, identifying, and categorizing artifacts. Tuition is $2160 for six transferable credits or internships and independent studies arranged through other academic institutions. Those not wishing to received credit can enroll for $1620. Enrollees may live in Ursinus dorms if desired. Other fees include tools and texts.

The principal field investigator for the project is Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon. Volunteers are welcomed at any time during the six-week course, but are asked to set a schedule in order to accommodate everyone.

Contact: The Speaker's House at (610) 489-2105, email Weiss at allison.weiss@speakershouse.org, or visit the website at http://www.speakershouse.org for more information and application. Application deadline is June 1.

• The Speaker's House
• Ursinus College
• More Field Schools in Focus
• Archaeology Digs 2008