As a co-Principal of the New Philadelphia Archaeology Project, I can
assure everyone that such suggestions of plagiarism are unfounded.

The text of Paul's written reply to Dr. Walker's statements in the
University of Maryland's Diamondback newspaper is set out below, and
appears in the online version of that newspaper at:
http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2004/09/20/commentary4.
html

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Sep 20, 2004

Paul Shackel

Delving for truth

I want to commend Tom Howell Jr. on his coverage of the New Philadelphia
Project in his article "Digging down deep" (Sept. 9). Understandably, the
article did not cover everything I presented in an hour long interview.
Unfortunately, in her comments in The Diamondback on Sept. 14, Juliet E.K.
Walker appears to assume the article is my scholarly work, rather than a
summary of an interview.

Walker asserts we cannot learn anything else about New Philadelphia, Ill.,
since she has written the biography of Frank McWorter. While I acknowledge
Walker is the leading authority on McWorter, I also realize the memory of
New Philadelphia has never died in the community. It is mentioned in
county atlases and county histories. There have been efforts by concerned
members of the local and descendant communities from the 1960s to record
their memories of the place through written and oral histories, and many
of these are on file at the state historical society or in other
repositories such as the county historical society. My students and I also
have uncovered new data. To our knowledge, 19th-century tax records for
Hadley Township, Ill., (which include households in New Philadelphia) have
not previously been examined, and we will publish the text of these on our
website as soon as we have transcribed them.

Walker claims "there are no more oral sources available on Free Frank
(1777-1854) or on New Philadelphia." As an anthropologist, I view the use
of oral histories differently. Our oral history project provides evidence
about what people today see as important community stories. I want to
examine how the history of New Philadelphia has been created over time. In
addition, our recording of oral history interviews (which will be posted
online this winter) provides important stories about race and racism and
how the town existed as a multiracial community into the 1920s. People may
try to control history, but they do not own history. We will continue to
cite Walker's scholarship, but we also recognize the contributions of
other local and descendant community members in recording the memory of
the place.

Walker suggests I do not properly give her credit for her work. Walker has
contributed greatly to the scholarship on McWorter. McWorter is an
important person in American history; his gravesite is on the National
Register of Historic Places. All our work posted online cites Walker's
contributions. If you go to our website (www.heritage.umd.edu and follow
the links to New Philadelphia) you will see Walker is cited.

The New Philadelphia project focuses on the archaeology of the entire town
and provides a more in-depth social history of the place and families who
lived there. The goal is not to rewrite McWorter's biography, but to
investigate the history of the entire community. However, if members of
the academic, local or descendant communities were inclined to re-examine
McWorter's story, I believe that would be part of a process of
interpreting and reinterpreting the historical record - all part of the
process of scholarship, public history and public archaeology. Such a
process can only make for a better understanding of the past and further
highlight McWorter's place in history.

We are taking a broader approach than that of a traditional "great man"
history. Our project is a story about the hundreds who lived in this town
for about 100 years, from its founding in 1836 until its virtual
abandonment by the 1930s. The census data and oral histories indicate
while nine or 10 families still lived in the former boundaries of the
town, it remained a bi-racial town with 25-35 percent of the population
listed as "black" or "mulatto" from 1850 through 1880. Additional census
data and oral histories indicate the town area remained a biracial
community until about 1930.

My colleagues and I have designed this project to be as democratic as
possible. We are transparent in the way we have collected and displayed
our data to the larger community by placing everything we find online.
Information about the town's deed and additional census data are now
available. Our goal is to make sure we post information as soon as it
becomes available for others to see, use, interpret and critique.

Paul Shackel is a professor of anthropology and director of the Center for
Heritage Resource Studies. He can be reached at [log in to unmask]

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