At the Intersections of History: Collaborative, Public Archaeology along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas
Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2025
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "At the Intersections of History: Collaborative, Public Archaeology along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas," at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
This session features the Bolivar Archaeological Project (BAP), a collaborative, multidisciplinary project that attends to marginalized histories to offer a model for how publicly funded cultural resources management archaeology can incorporate descendant communities and local stakeholders into the fabric of the research design and planning for a state infrastructure project. Set in the shifting rural–urban landscape of Denton County, the BAP is part of a Texas Department of Transportation road improvement project that led to the archaeological and historical investigations of two nineteenth-century sites—a blacksmith shop and hotel—associated with the historic Chisholm Trail. The blacksmith shop belonged to Tom Cook, an African American freedman, whose descendants reside nearby and became active participants in the investigations. Informed by Black feminist archaeologies, the project works at the intersections of local communities and state infrastructure while navigating landscapes of fraught histories and presents to forge a historical archaeology for the twenty-first century.
Other Keywords
Industry •
Commerce •
Cultural Resource Management •
Black History •
Blacksmithing •
Public Archaeology •
craft •
community development •
TxDOT •
African-American blacksmith community
Geographic Keywords
Texas •
Texas, United States •
Denton County, Texas
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-4 of 4)
- Documents (4)
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History of Bolivar and the Tom Cook Family (2025)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the session entitled "At the Intersections of History: Collaborative, Public Archaeology along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Bolivar, born from small settlements and the establishment of the Chisholm Trail, developed rapidly as a commercial center in northwest Denton County in the pre-railroad era. As the town thrived, freed Black families settled in the community. Of focus is blacksmith...
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More Than a Pile of Iron Scraps: Understanding The Archaeology of Blacksmith Shops (2025)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the session entitled "At the Intersections of History: Collaborative, Public Archaeology along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper explores the archaeology of blacksmithing through examining the Tom Cook Blacksmith Shop with excavations yielding more than 25,000 artifacts. Located along the Chisholm Trail and belonging to Tom Cook, an African American freedman, the archaeological...
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TxDOT and the Bolivar Archaeological Project: Collaborative Archaeology in North Texas (2025)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the session entitled "At the Intersections of History: Collaborative, Public Archaeology along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Texas Department of Transportation’s Archaeology Program upholds the State’s National Historic Preservation Act obligations while managing cultural resources on highway projects. Archaeological work in advance of construction along FM 455 in north Texas resulted...
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The Undertold Stories of African American Blacksmiths in Texas and the Role of Collaborative Archaeology in the Rediscovery of Tom Cook (2025)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the session entitled "At the Intersections of History: Collaborative, Public Archaeology along the Chisholm Trail in Bolivar, Texas", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Bolivar blacksmith named Tom Cook was not an anomaly. His life and career are representative of a widespread pattern of formerly enslaved blacksmiths who, upon emancipation, became businessmen, landowners, and leaders in their communities and churches. Their...