Making it Matter -- Public Archeology and Outreach to Diverse Communities in Baltimore

Summary

To celebrate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, Baltimore Heritage in 2014 undertook an archeology project to document the defensive works erected to repel the British invasion in what is today a well used public park, and to engage park users, school kids, and nearby residents about the history of the battlefield-turned-park. The neighborhoods surrounding the project site are dense and racially diverse: roughly a third each of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasion. The year-long engagement effort started with a full commitment to outreach from every project member, from remote sensing specialists and lead archeologists to nonprofit partners and community groups. Festival days, scholarly talks, archeology show-and-tells, interpreters and bilingual project information in print and online, and lots of evening and weekend work led to thousands of visitors, hundreds of hands-on volunteers, help from 900 public school children, and a changed perception of the importance of the park.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• In the Land of Pleasant Living: Archaeology and its Role in 21st-Century Baltimore   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 448