������

Students conduct archaeological surveys and excavations at sites across New England, exploring sites related to the region’s initial settlement by Indigenous peoples 13,000 years ago. Excavated materials are cataloged and analyzed in the preservation lab. We partner with local Indigenous populations, landowners and science educators to make our work accessible to the community.

We partnered with community organizations such as the Jamestown Historical Society, Newport Historical Society, Newport Restoration Foundation, Preservation Society of Newport County and the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island at the St. Columbia Chapel to document and map their historic properties. ������ students are helping to map cemeteries discover hidden revolutionary war era structures and identify sites from the early founding of Rhode Island.

We partnered with the Newport Elks Lodge to research the history of its building and lodge. Founded in 1888, the organization has occupied its current building, “Parkgate,” built in 1879, since 1920. This research may help the lodge with grant applications for much-needed restoration work on the building and form a framework for the history of the lodge and its members.

Initiated to honor ������’s 75th anniversary, the survey sought to better understand our campus’ past. An excavation in front of Ochre Court explored what remains of the Edgewater estate. Built in 1869 by the Kernochan family, it stood for less than 20 years before being demolished to build Ochre Court. Students directed all aspects of the project - archival research, community engagement, site excavation, material cataloging and museum exhibit design. Future projects will include documentation of campus structures and archaeological survey of the historic grounds.

Partnering with Newport’s Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Memorial Restoration Committee, our program researched the history of their namesake memorial, erected in 1917 to commemorate a prominent citizen who died in the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania. We made our research public using a QR code placed by the monument and have conducted similar research for all public monuments in Newport.