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The Archaeology of Saints’ Rest
In the summer of 2005, as part of Michigan State University’s Sesquicentennial celebration, the Department of Anthropology conducted an archeological field school on the MSU campus. The purpose of the field school was to excavate and learn from Saints’ Rest, MSU’s first dormitory building. The remains of Saints’ Rest lie beneath the ground surface just east of the MSU Museum. The northeast corner of the building is marked with a concrete slab, with the inscription “SAINTS’ REST BUILT 1856 BURNED DEC. 9, 1876”. About the Building Saints’ Rest was an active dormitory for twenty years. It burned during winter break in 1876. What was left of the structure after the fire was simply leveled and buried, leaving us a time capsule of student life in the 1800s. Part of celebrating the university is learning about its rich heritage. By conducting an archeological dig at Saints’ Rest, we were able to learn about student life 150 years ago. The Agricultural College of the State of Michigan – now known as Michigan State University – was founded in 1855. From archival records we learned Saints’ Rest was the first dormitory building built on the campus in 1856.
About the Excavation
Saints’ Rest is the 169th archaeological site recorded in Ingham County. There is a common misconception that archeology is limited to other parts of the world, such as the Pyramids of Giza or Stonehenge. This idea is simply not true. In the state of Michigan alone, there are thousands of documented archaeological sites, many of which have been excavated. Some of the more well-known sites include Fort Michilimackinac and Norton Mounds (near Grand Rapids). Saints’ Rest was excavated to learn about early college life, to get a better idea of what the first dormitory was like, and to determine what kinds of things were preserved archeologically. Archeologists are able to reconstruct the past by using sources of information both from the archives and from things they excavate from the ground. Before starting fieldwork, we conducted archival research to find out what the building was like. While in the field we were constantly brainstorming on an artifact’s significance. What is it? What was it used for? Is it part of Saints’ Rest? Often we would reread archival materials with a new eye after finding objects, and archeology would enhance or sometimes question what we had learned from the documents. Historical archeology is a constant back-and-forth between the archival materials and the artifacts. For example, we knew from the archives that students used wood-burning stoves to heat their rooms. Although there are no surviving photographs of actual Saints’ Rest rooms, the archaeological remains helped us to reconstruct them. In one area of the site, we found several stoves piled together, which didn’t make sense. So we went back to the archives and looked at the photos of the building and discovered we were excavating close to where one of the three chimneys had been. This led to the speculation that students had their stoves near whichever wall of their room was close to a chimney, perhaps so there would be less exposed stovepipe. When the building collapsed these cast iron stoves were heavy and all fell together. “College Hall was heated by two furnaces that were so inadequate, that on very cold days Professor Abbot would dismiss the students from class so they could warm up by the pot-bellied stoves in their dorm rooms.” The archives also helped us to recognize that not all the damage in the building was due to the fire that burned it down. “There have been two downfalls of plastering today; this shows how well the building is plastered.” “The erection of the first buildings upon the estate was attended by a series of calamities and misfortunes.” During the excavation artifacts are found and initial interpretations are made. When this artifact information is combined with all other possible information including archival research, fieldwork and laboratory data, the world of The Michigan Agricultural College’s dorm life comes in to focus. So what did we learn through this excavation? Quite a bit. For an overview of the findings, click here. For a more detailed look at a reconstruction of a dorm room, click here. |
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