Chapter March meeting

Dave reported on the preparations for the upcoming State Conference which replaces April's regular Chapter meeting. The hotel is sold out! Barry commented that the quality of the papers so far submitted has been excellent and he is impressed with the breath of subjects covered.

Stephanie Tice's presented an excellent talk on the curation of archaeological artifacts and the importance of extensive and meticulous recording of the materials, not only for the generation of the contemporaneous report, but also for future examinations. As the state of the art progresses, 10 - 50 - 100 years into the future, many important discoveries can be made by re-examining the artifacts. That is why, since it is unlikely that those future investigators were at the dig, that is so important to produce thoroughly fastidious records.

Bead blank for wampum beads from Campbell's Wampum Factory. From The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian.

At last month's meeting, the question of a wampum factory in New Jersey run by the Campbell family came up. This peaked Doc's memory, who was attending his first meeting as a new member. His mother was a Campbell from that part of New Jersey. So he started going through her stuff which he had kept in the thirty years since she had died and found that it was, in fact, his family, who ran the wampum factory! He gave  a short report on visiting the factory site and local museum, and arranging for a Chapter field trip there.  Stay tuned…