At the invitation of the West Town Museum of Cultural History/Maywood Historical Society and the Village of Maywood Special Events and Public Relations Commission, the DePaul University Urban Historical Archaeology Field School met most Fridays during September through early November to investigate Maywood’s buried history. Excavations took place at residential address 408 South 6^th Avenue, where some people believe the 1870s home of prominent Maywood resident Zebina Eastman stood. Work at the site failed to produce evidence of the Eastman’s home, but the project marks the beginning of a partnership between the Museum, the Special Events Commission, and the Department of Anthropology at DePaul University. As part of this partnership, all parties are looking forward to future archaeological studies that will resume during spring 2012 and carry into future school years.

Mrs. Northica Stone, president/CEO of the Museum and Operation Uplift, Inc.; Mrs. Dawn Williams-Rone, Chair of the Special Events Commission; and Mrs. Jerri Stenson, curator at the Museum, lobbied DePaul’s anthropology department to hold its field school in Maywood at any one of a number of historically significant sites. According to Mrs. Stone, “Maywood has a rich and diverse history that needs to be told to a wider audience, and we think using archaeology is a wonderful way to draw attention to the Village’s past.” Adding a personal note, Mrs. Williams-Rone explained “after a family member returned from a tour that draws people from all over the world to African-American slave sites in Savannah, Georgia, it got me thinking about what we can do to focus on Maywood’s African-American history and raise community awareness about it.” With these goals in mind, Mrs. Dawn Williams-Rone approached DePaul’s anthropology department about conducting research in Maywood. As a result, this summer Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Michael M. Gregory toured several African-American related sites with Stone, Williams-Rone, and Stinson, selecting the 408 S. 6^th Avenue property for the first field school project. The decision to investigate the Eastman house rested with the site’s historical significance, the controversy surrounding its exact location, and because the landowner, Ms. Lyn Vallow, agreed to host the field school on her property.

During 1869 when the Maywood Land Company offered block parcels for sale, Zebina Eastman purchased Block 81, and constructed his home on it. During his life, Eastman became a staunch abolitionist, served as a friend and confidant to President Abraham Lincoln, and wrote the "Western Citizen", which became part of the Chicago Tribune. While a prominent citizen of Maywood, the exact location of his home remains in dispute, and according to Ms. Vallow, who has a longstanding relationship with DePaul University, “is one of the reasons for giving the field school permission to excavate on my property. If the Village ever has plans to commemorate Eastman’s home site, I want to make sure the plaque is placed on the correct property.”

Nineteen anthropology majors from DePaul dug, shifted, and researched the property in order to determine if the Eastman house existed at the address. While no definitive artifacts dating to the 1870s have been found, historical research suggests the Eastman house stood on the opposite side of the block, probably on the northwest corner of the intersection of S. 7^th Avenue and Randolph Street. The possibility that the house may be located someplace else has not disappointed the students. As stated by sophomore Matthew Alicz, “the thrill of discovery—discovering something no one knew before--has always been a driving interest to me, and here we discovered the house existed someplace else, so what? I want the chance to participate in actual excavations that give me experience I can use in my future career as an archaeologist.” Students have recovered a number of 20^th-century artifacts, especially children’s toy parts, as well as many nails, glass fragments, and burnt coal. While not glamorous or works of art, the artifacts tell a story according to junior Laurel Appleton, a story “about the people of Maywood who history books largely ignore, but who led a life that contributed for better or for worse to America’s past and its present.”

The last full, on-site day for the course was Friday 4 November. During Friday 11 November, a small crew will collect the last of the dig equipment and finish mapping the site while the majority of the class is in the lab cleaning artifacts. No additional excavations will be undertaken until spring 2012 when the field school resumes work at the current site, as well as one or two others that are under consideration. Future work will explore all parts of Maywood’s past and allow residents to contribute to and benefit from the project. Students will continue to gain practical archaeological field experience and learn firsthand the goals and organization of a community based archaeological project. Summarizing work completed to date, Dr. Gregory points out that “Mrs. Stone, Dawn Williams-Rone, and Jerri Stenson deserve much credit for pushing the project and holding to a vision that archaeology can draw attention to a community’s past, engage residents in that past, and contribute to a greater sense of community pride. Based on the support we’ve received and on what we’ve accomplished this autumn, I look forward to maintaining a long term partnership between the West Town Museum of Cultural History/Maywood Historical Society, Maywood’s Special Events Commission, and DePaul University.”