I second the comments made by my old pal George Miller. Recently I have been
hospitalized and am getting back into the rat race now; both Andy Edwards
and Jed levin/Patti Jepson sent me copies of the book. Its very interesting
and mellow..Also quite self-effacing, good words usually are said about
colleagues etc. (reminds me of Bobby Dylan's memoir where he praised all his
colleagues).Interesting comments on the Guildhall excavations following WWII
and the "mudlarking" at Roman sites (Upchurch Marshes) and the Thames
foreshore.(Reread All the best Rubbish) I bought 1775: Another part of the
Field which is pretty much straight history. Ivor Noel Hume needs a
re-appraisal. I loved the pictures of him as an actor (the demon King is
priceless). Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America remains as a seminal
volume in our field. dave Orr

On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 9:20 PM, George Miller <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

>         I am glad to see that there will be a book signing event at Period
> Designs for Ivor Noël Hume’s autobiography *A Passion for the Past: The
> Odyssey of a Transatlantic Archaeologist*.  I just finished reading the
> book
> two weeks ago and found it to be very entertaining and informative.  Better
> than half of the book deals with Noël’s growing up in England and his
> transition into archaeology beginning by mud larking on the Themes, being
> taken under Adrian Oswald’s wing at London’s City Museum and involvement in
> salvage archaeology of bombed out sights in London.
>
>
>
> Noël’s description of the transition to Colonial Williamsburg in 1957 was
> very interesting.  One of the good battles that he fought was to get the
> architects to quit diagonally trenching lots to find building remains and
> to
> begin to excavate in contextual units and dealing with archaeological
> assemblages.  Along the way, he produced his books such as *A Guide to
> Artifacts of Colonial America* that must be one of the most cited
> references
> by historical archaeologists.  The end of Noël’s autobiography lists 16
> books written by Noël dealing with archaeology and the past.  I highly
> recommend the book for its insights into the development of historical
> archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg.
>
>
>
> Peace,
>
> George L. Miller
>
>
> 2010/10/8 somerwell <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > Nationally-known historical archaeologist and author Ivor Noël Hume of
> > Williamsburg will be on hand Sunday October 17 at Period Designs in
> Yorktown
> > to meet and greet and to autograph his recently published
> autobiography—“A
> > Passion for the Past.”
> >
> >  Published in September by the University of Virginia Press, “A Passion
> for
> > the Past—The Odyssey of a Transatlantic Archaeologist,” tells the
> remarkable
> > story of this self-made professional. About the author and book, one
> > reviewer said, “A fisherman, thespian, mud lark, painter, playwright,
> > producer, publicist/promoter, novelist, essayist, organizer, lecturer,
> and
> > dry humorist in addition to having been among the founders of historical
> > archaeology in the United States, Noël-Hume here shares his insights
> > concerning archaeology and archaeologists, social classes, ethnic
> awareness,
> > and much more.”
> >
> > The book signing will take at Period Designs on October 17, 2010; 1 - 3
> > p.m.  Please spread the word among our colleagues.
> >
> > For those that can not make it, I will take orders for signed,
> personalized
> > copies for $35.00 includes mailing.
> >
> > Please let me know if there is interest--but please respond OFF LIST!
> >
> > Period Designs
> > 401 Main Street
> > PO Box 401
> > Yorktown, VA 23690
> >
>