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Lessons Learned from the Heritage Profession Kelly M Britt We were fortunate to work on a unique archaeological excavation in the small historic city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between 2002 and 2003. At the heart of this city was the development of a new urban revitalization project—the rehabilitation of the city’s landmark Watt and Shand department store into a convention center and hotel. The southernmost lot of this site, once home to the 19th century radical republican congressman and abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens and his bi-racial housekeeper and personal assistant Lydia Hamilton Smith, was scheduled for demolition. A Complex Heritage Narrative Sponsored by the Trust and led by archaeologists from Franklin and Marshall and Kutztown University, with the help of students and volunteers, a year of excavations began. Various aspects of Lancaster’s urban past were unearthed, including a blacksmith’s forge and a modified cistern that may have been used in the Underground Railroad, as well as thousands of artifacts dating from the earliest development of the city to the present day. These findings, especially the modified cistern linking Stevens and Smith to the Underground Railroad, prompted the revitalization project to evolve from one solely of economic value to one also having social value. This archaeological site and its interpretation now provided a heritage destination in which the local community could take pride and for tourists to experience. In fact, the Lancaster Convention Center Authority eventually saw it as a feature to bring heritage tourism and its dollars to their project. Portions of the original buildings are now scheduled for restoration rather than demolition and the development of the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Historic Site Museum is planned to occupy this space. So what started as a demolition project turned into an ongoing heritage tourism initiative.
The project—characterized by considerable conflict and mediation between the various stakeholders involved—is still far from resolved. Because a rigorous regulatory framework guiding archaeology and preservation was not in place, many who were advocating historic preservation of the site were left without legal recourse to formally support their proposals. Furthermore, the Underground Railroad narrative has become a heavily contested one. The historic Bethel AME church, located in the predominately African-American neighborhood known as Churchtowne, has its own existing interpretation of the Underground Railroad narrative, defined entirely by its resident population, whereas the emerging Underground Railroad narrative associated with the archaeological site has involved far more disparate groups. The debate continues between these competing narratives, and most recently, the church has made applications for city and state funds for the economic and social redevelopment of Churchtowne. What is the Archaeologist’s
Role? As archaeologists, we are taught to prioritize the preservation of the archaeological record, but when this cannot be performed in its entirety, where do we draw our proverbial ethical line in the sand? Do we only provide material evidence and scientific expertise for an already-established narrative? In this case study, circumstances required complex mediation between stakeholders with competing interests and narratives, complicating the presentation of an official narrative. How does a heritage professional weigh the needs of economic revival for the community against the preservation of history? Though mediation presently has allowed goals of each party to be met—a cistern saved and a convention center built—both sides also sacrificed goals—portions of the buildings and archaeological record will be destroyed and prime convention space will be lost. As archaeologists working in the heritage tourism profession, we have realized that there is no specific role and that the proposition of an overriding ethical ideal or rule as to the proper presentation of heritage is unlikely to be tenable. Rather, we stress a case study approach to the role of archaeology in heritage and heritage tourism, one which identifies a broad range of stakeholders, and which advocates a methodology that begins by looking at treatments of heritage and heritage sites in the past and present—and the lessons learned from mistakes made and successes gained. In other words, we put forward that rather than adhering to the process of taking theory and putting it into practice, that in the case of heritage studies and the role of archaeology in it, the most innovative and most important theory will ultimately come from practice. Kelly M Britt and Christine I Chen are doctoral candidates in anthropology at Columbia University. |
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