John Goff: Happy Archaeology Month and Ethnic Studies Week Zoom Photos Courtesy photo by John Goff Brothers Michael and William Cahill of Ireland returned to Salem’s Pioneer Village in late September. William re-thatched the cottage roofs, finishing the work on Thursday, Sept. 23. The Cahills originally thatched all the roofs almost 25 years ago, and now William does thatching. By John Goff/ Preservation Perspective Salem Gazette Posted Oct 02, 2010 @ 01:24 PM .fb_ltr { padding-top: 10px; } Salem, Mass. — In past years we have written columns and articles celebrating Massachusetts Archaeology Month in October. This year, October brings both Archaeology Month and Ethnic Studies Week. Due to the multicultural nature of our earliest history, these themes overlap.
Ethnic Studies Week (ESW) is new this year. The website ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org explains: “Ethnic Studies Week, Oct. 1-7, 2010, is a nationally coordinated week of actions to defend ethnic studies and academic freedom. It was inspired by opposition to the May 11 passage of HB 2281 in Arizona banning ethnic studies in the AZ public schools and the May 21 passage of new social studies standards by the influential Texas State Board of Education.”
Lone Star Staters and Arizona residents recently worked to promote a simplified view of American history. Resisting this “dumbing down” of U.S. history, ESW folks explain: “We are a grassroots movement initiated by 185 educators, endorsed by educational and activist organizations around the country, and open to all who want to participate … we are asking students, teachers and community people to do what might amount to civil disobedience in the Arizona public schools: plan and participate in public ethnic studies events and engage in education censored by the Texas State Board of Education.”
America’s ethnic studies programs in colleges and schools since the 1960s have explored how the plurality of cultures in American history has contributed magnificently to the American experience. Ethnic studies celebrates diversity and the clear contributions made by people of many origins and races. Under the collective banner of ethnic studies we often find special and acutely needed special considerations of African-American, Asian-American, Latino and Native American history, literature and culture.
But what do these subjects have to do with Salem, and with Archaeology Month? Massachusetts Archaeology Month was started by the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) in 1997. It was conceived to highlight artifacts and knowledge gained across the state through archaeology. Archaeology refers to the study of anything “archaeo” or old, often excavated from below ground. It is associated with history, historic preservation and the study of ancient cultures.
The pertinence to Salem of both Massachusetts Archaeology Month and Ethnic Studies Week hinges on this: The moment we begin to look at Salem’s mostly untold history before the years 1650, 1630 and 1620, we enter an ecologically beautiful world in which, for thousands of years history was daily made and primarily advanced here by non-whites and by non-English speakers.
This included Nanepashemet’s Naumkeag Native Americans and their trading partners, the Tarratines. Ethnic studies and archaeology provide major beacons critically needed to shine new light on this earliest past here in the northeast that laid the foundation for modern Salem’s maritime economy, commerce, agriculture and architecture as well as roads and infrastructure.
Because October is such an important month for ethnic studies and archaeology, we will write newspaper columns soon to highlight multicultural aspects of Salem’s past. We will continue this work through November, which is Native American Heritage Month.
Our next column will focus on native words. We will likely also describe new exhibits on Native American subjects to be hosted here in Salem — at the National Park Service Visitor’s Center and at The Art Corner. Also in the series will be a profile of Salem’s “historian doctor,” C. Keith Wilbur, who wrote a finely illustrated book on New England Indians. We may also cover the “other” Salem and America’s Stonehenge, Native American musician Brock Stonefish, living history as archaeology, the archaeology of Pioneer Village, and Native American heritage trails.
We were reminded of the subject of living history as archaeology last week while watching Irish thatcher William Cahill work his traditional rooftop magic at Pioneer Village. A bearded and ruddy-haired Cahill fixed all the Salem cottage roofs, and the English wigwam at the village after finishing some exceptional and rare thatching work in Virginia at Colonial Jamestown.
William and his brother Michael first voyaged from Ireland to Salem to rescue Pioneer Village from destruction in 1986. William, a master thatcher, has since developed a national thatching company and practice based in Ohio. See roofthatch.com. As described in the Salem Preservationist, he last returned to “top off” the Pioneer Village roofs in the summer of 2006. Watching him work his country craft recalls colonial farm harvests long ago and stepping back centuries in time to an earlier, simpler and more agrarian Salem.
Happiest October, Ethnic Studies Week and Massachusetts Archaeology Month!
John Goff is the president of Salem Preservation, Inc., a nonprofit organization. He is also the principal of Historic Preservation & Design, a consulting business. E-mail him at jgoff@salempreservation.org.
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