Good news today, August 11, 2005

This is the text of an e-mail today from Paul Shackel:

Dear New Philadelphia Association, friends of New Philadelphia, New Philadelphia archaeology staff, and alumni of the New Philadelphia archeology project;

I hope all is well with you. We just completed a successful field season and I wanted to share some news with all of you.

First, I came home today and I found the September/October issue of Archaeology magazine with an article on the New Philadelphia archaeology project. The article features Sandra McWorter, Gerald McWorter, Juliet Walker, Larry and Natalie Farmstead, Phil Bradshaw, Vibert White, Chris Fennell, Terrance Martin and Paul Shackel. Two of our fieldschool students are featured in one of the photographs (Hanna Mills and Jordan Bush) and Sandra McWorter is featured in another photo - screening for artifacts. You can acquire the magazine by subscription, and sometimes Boarders and Barnes and Noble will carry it. The magazine did not forward any extra copies to me.

Second, I received an informal email from Erika Martin Seibert, archaeologist for the National Register for Historic Places, notifying me that the town of New Philadelphia is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places (as of August 11, 2005). It is now recognized by the federal government as being nationally significant. Thank you Michelle Huttes for doing all of the hard work writing the nomination. It was quite a feat to get letters of support from Senators Obama and Durbin as well as the Governor of Illinois. Now its time to celebrate and for the New Philadelphia Association to acquire a plaque to display this honor. Maybe place it on the concrete slab that has the interpretive sign (just a thought).

Third, the descriptive archaeology report for summer 2005 is finished and our web master is formatting it for web. It should be posted by the end of August or the beginning of September (www.heritage.umd.edu and follow the links to New Philadelphia and the 2005 report).

Thank you all for your support and hard work making this summer (and last summer) an overwhelming success. I truly appreciate the McWorter family taking time from their family reunion to visit the archeology site this summer. It has been a pleasure working with all of you on this very important project and I will keep you posted as other news develops.

Please pass this email along to anyone you think that may be interested.

Paul Shackel