Ohio History Journal

344        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Of which we too may but a portion be

In that sum-total solidarity

Of human beings spread across the earth

In generations, birth succeeding birth-

The living who raise the citadels we know,

The dead whose bones earth bosomed long ago.

 

And this good company that meets today

Proves the large truth of what I've sought to say;

For why should we, whose daily tasks alone

So press upon us that we scarcely own

The present hour, still take on us to gaze

Back on the parted, the forgotten days;

Why should we leave the quest for daily bread,

To quest for relics of the savage dead;

Why should we leave our figuring for gold

To figure out a vanished world of old?-

Except that thus in human nature lurks,

Except that thus in human nature works

Some sense of common comradry and kin

With human life, wherever it has been,

And in the use of such a sense we find

Enlargement for our human heart and mind.

 

Dr. Carl Russell Fish, professor of American history in the

University of Wisconsin, furnished the final number on the pro-

gram. His very instructive address entitled, "The Relation of

Archaeology to History, is here presented.

 

 

ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR FISH.

 

The derivation of the word archaeology gives little idea of its

present use. "The study of antiquity" is at once too broad in scope

and too limited in time, for the followers of a dozen other "ologies" are

studying antiquity, while the archaeologist does not confine himself to

that period. The definition of the word in the new English dictionary

corrects the first of these errors, but emphasizes the second, for it

describes it as: "The scientific study of remains and monuments of the

prehistoric period." This obviously will not bear examination, as the

bulk of archeological endeavor falls within the period which is considered

historical, and I cannot conceive any period prehistoric, about which

archeology, or any other science, can give us information. Actually, time

has nothing whatever to do with the limitations of archaeology, and to

think of it as leaving off where history begins, is to misconceive them

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The Wisconsin Archaeological Society.              345

 

both. The only proper limitation upon archaeology lies in its subject

matter, and I conceive that it cannot be further defined than as: "The

scientific study of human remains and monuments."

In considering the relations of the science to history, I do not

wish to enter into any war of words as to claims of "sociology", and

"anthropology" and "history" to be the inclusive word, covering the

totality of man's past, but simply to use history as it is generally

understood at present and as its professors act upon it. Certainly we

are no longer at the stage where history could be defined as "Past

Politics," and it is equally certain that there are fields of human activity

which are not actually treated in any adequate way by the historian.

The relations of the two do not depend on the definition of history,

but the more broadly it is interpreted, the more intimate their relationship

becomes. The sources of history are three-fold, written, spoken, and

that which is neither written nor spoken.

To preserve and prepare the first, is the business of the philologist,

the archivist, the paleographer, the editor, and experts in a dozen sub-

sidiary sciences. The historian devotes so much the larger part of

his time to this class of material, that the period for which written

materials exists is sometimes spoken of as the historical period, and

the erroneous ideas of archaeology which I have quoted, become common.

Least important of the three, is the spoken or traditional, though if

we include all the material that was passed down for centuries by word

of mouth before being reduced to writing, such as the Homeric poems or

the Norse sagas, it includes some of the most interesting things we

know of the past. In American history, such material deals chiefly

with the Indian civilizations, and its collection is carried on chiefly

by the anthropologists. In addition, nearly every family preserves a mass

of oral traditions running back for about a hundred years; and there

is a small body of general information, bounded by about the same

limit, which has never yet been put into permanent form. The win-

nowing of this material to secure occasional kernels of historic truth

that it yields is as yet a neglected function.

The material that is neither written nor oral falls to the geologist and

the archaeologist. Between these two sciences there is striking simi-

larity, but their boundaries are clear; the geologist deals with natural

phenomena, the archaeologist with that which is human, and which may,

for convenience, be called monumental. The first duty of the archaeolo-

gist is to discover such material and to verify it, the next is to secure

its preservation, preferably its actual tangible preservation, but if that

is not possible, by description. Then comes the task of studying it,

classifying and arranging it, and making it ready for use. At this point

the function of the archaeologist ceases, and the duty of the historian

begins; to interpret it, and to bring it into harmony with the recognized

body of information regarding the past. It is not necessary that different

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346        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

individuals in every case do these different things. We must not press

specialization too far. Nearly every historian should be something of an

archaeologist, and every archeologist should be something of an his-

torian. When the archaeologist ceases from    the preparation of his

material, and begins the reconstruction of the past, he commences to

act as an historian; he has to call up a new range of equipment, a new

set of qualifications.

The fields in which the services of archaeology are most appreciated

are those to which written and oral records do not reach. Its con-

tributions in pressing back the frontiers of knowledge are incalculable,

and are growing increasingly so with every passing year. To say nothing

of what it has told us of the civilizations of Egypt and Assyria, it has

given to history within the last few years the whole great empire of the

Hittites. We have learned more of Mycenaean civilization from archae-

ology than from Homer. Practically all we know of the Romanization

of Britain is from such sources, and that process, not long ago regarded

almost as a myth, is now a well articulated bit of history. In America,

within the last thirty-five years, by the joint work of the archaeologist and

the anthropologist, many of the points long disputed concerning the

Indians have been set at rest, more knowledge of them has been recovered

than was ever before supposed possible, and new questions have been

raised which invite renewed activity.

From all over the world, moreover, remains of the past, amount-

ing to many times those now known, call for investigation. It is safe to

say that within the next fifty years more sensational discoveries will

be made by following material, than written, records.

It is not, however, only in the periods void of written sources

that archaeology can perform its services. It is in the period of classical

antiquity that we find the combination happiest. There, indeed, it is

difficult to find an historian who does not lay archaeology under tribute,

or an archaeologist who is not lively to the historical bearing of his work.

When we come to the medieval period the situation is less ideal, the his-

torian tends to pay less attention to monuments, and the archaeologist to

become an antiquarian, intent upon minutia, and losing sight of his

ultimate duty. In the modern period, the historian, self-satisfied with the

richness of his written sources, ignores all others, and the archaeologist,

always with a little love for the unusual and for the rust of time,

considers himself absolved from further work.

As one working in this last period, I wish to call the attention

of American archaeologists to some possibilities that it offers. Abundant

as are our resources they do not tell the whole story of the last couple of

centuries even in America, and we have monuments which are worthy

of preservation and which can add to our knowledge of our American

ancestors, as well as of our Indian predecessors. Even in Wisconsin

something may be obtained from such sources.

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The Wisconsin Archaeological Society.             347

 

The most interesting of our monumental remains are, of course,

the architectural. Everybody is familiar with the log cabin, though

something might yet be gathered as to the sites selected for them, and

minor differences in construction. Less familiar is the cropping out of

the porch in front, the spreading of the ell behind, and the two lean-to

wings, then the sheathing with clap-boards, the evolution of the porch

posts into Greek columns, and the clothing of the whole with white paint,

all representing stages in the prosperity of the occupants. In nearly every

older Wisconsin township may be found buildings representing every

one of these stages, the older ones indicating poor land or unthrifty

occupants and being generally remote from the township center, or

else serving as minor farm buildings behind more pretentious frame or

brick structures. In the same way the stump fence, the snake fence and

the wire fence, denote advance or the retardation of progress. Other

studies of economic value may be made from the use of different kinds

of building materials. The early use of local stone is one of the features

of Madison, its subsequent disuse was due not so much to the diffi-

culty of quarrying as to the decreased cost of transportation making other

materials cheaper, and was coincident with the arrival of the railroads.

Very interesting material could be obtained from the abandoned river

towns, still preserving the appearance of fifty years ago, and furnishing

us with genuine American ruins.

On the whole the primitive log cabins were necessarily much alike,

but when the log came to be superseded by more flexible material,

the settler's first idea was to reproduce the home or the ideal of his

childhood, and the house tends to reveal the nationality of its builder.

Just about Madison there are farm houses as unmistakably of New Eng-

land as if found in the "Old Colony," and others as distinctly of Penn-

sylvania or the South. I am told of a settlement of Cornishmen,

which they have made absolutely characteristic, and even the automobilist

can often distinguish the first Wisconsin home of the German, the

Englishman or the Dutchman. Where have our carpenters, our masons

and finishers come from, and what tricks of the trade have each

contributed ?

Such studies reveal something also of the soul of the people. Not

so much in America, to be sure, as in Europe, where national and

individual aspirations find as legitimate expression in architecture, as

in poetry; and less here in the West, which copied its fashions, than

in the East, which imported them. Still we have a few of the Greek

porticoed buildings which were in part a reflection of the influence of the

first French Republic and in part represented the admiration of the

Jeffersonian democracy for the republics of Greece; but that style

almost passed away before Wisconsin was settled. We have a number of

the composite porticoed and domed buildings which succeeded and

represented perhaps the kinship between the cruder democracy of Jackson

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348        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

and that of Rome. We have many       buildings both public and private,

some extremely beautiful, which reflect the days in the middle of the

nineteenth century when the best minds in America drew inspiration

from the Italy of the Renaissance, when Story and Crawford, and

Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller lived and worked in Rome. The

succeeding period when the French mansard stands for the dominating

influence on things artistic, or rather inartistic, of the Second Empire,

is everywhere illustrated; while the revival of English influence, in

the Queen Anne; the beginning of general interest in American history,

in the colonial; the influence of the war with Spain; in the square

cement; and many other waves of thought and interest, can be pointed out

in almost any town. A careful study of its architecture will nearly

always reveal the approximate date of foundation, the periods of pros-

perity and depression, the origin of the inhabitants, and many other

facts of real importance.

I have spoken so far of the contribution of archaeology to the

science of history. Fully as great are its possibilities along the lines of

popularization and illustration. The work of neither archaeology nor

history can go on without popular support, and the local appeal is one of

the strongest that can be made. Not every town has an interesting

history, but almost every one, however ugly, can be made historically

interesting to its inhabitants, if its streets can be made to tell its history,

and by reflection something of the history of the country, which may

be done merely by opening their eyes to their chirography. It should be

part of the hope of the local archaeologist to make his neighbors and his

neighbor's children see history in everything about them, and if this is

accomplished we may hope gradually to arouse a deeper and more

scientific interest, and a willingness to encourage that research into the

whole past, in which historian and archaeologist are jointly interested.

On a recent visit to Lake Koshkonong I found my interest very

much stimulated by the admirable map and plates illustrating the Indian

life about its shores, and it has occurred to me that one extremely

valuable way of arousing general interest and of arranging our archae-

ological data, would be in a series of such minute maps. For instance the

first in the series would give purely the physical features, the next, on

the same scale, would add our Indian data-mounds, village sites, culti-

vated fields, arrow factories and battle-fields, trails and any other indi-

cations that might appear--then one on the entrance of the white men,

with trading posts, garrisons, first settlements and roads, the next

would begin with the school house and end with the railroad, and one

or two more would complete the set. Such studies of the material

changes of a locality, would not form an embellishment, but the basis

of its history.

Another work might be undertaken through the local high school.

The pupils might be encouraged to take photographs of houses, fences,

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The Wisconsin Archaeological Society.             349

 

bridges and other objects, interesting for the reasons I have pointed out,

as well as all objects of aboriginal interest. These should always be dated

and the place where they were taken noted. In fact, a map should be

used, and by numbers or some such device the pictures localized. These

photographs properly classified and arranged would give such a picture

of the whole life of the community in terms of tangible remains as

could not fail to interest its inhabitants as well as serve the student.

In the newer portions of the state, particularly in the north it would be

possible to take pictures of the first clearing, and then file them away

and a few years later take another picture of the farmstead with its

improvements and so on until it reached a condition of stability. Thus

to project into the future the work of a science whose name suggests

antiquity, may seem fantastic, but even the future will ultimately become

antiquity. We have still in Wisconsin some remnants of a frontier stage

of civilization which is passing and cannot be reproduced, and to provide

materials to express it to the future cannot be held superfluous. If we

imagine the joy that it would give to us to find a photograph of the

site of Rome before that city was built, of one of the great Indian villages

of Wisconsin before the coming of the white man, we can form a con-

ception of the value of such an ordered and scientific collection as I have

suggested to the future student of the civilization of our own day.

 

At the conclusion of the program an informal reception was

tendered the guests by the Madison members of the Wisconsin

Archaeological Society, light refreshments being served by the

ladies of the historical library staff. The entire museum was

thrown open to the visitors, who spent the remainder of the

evening in inspecting its historical and anthropological collections.

The historical museum had its beginning in 1854, and has main-

tained a persistent and progressive growth since that date. It

occupies the entire upper floor of the State Historical Library

building, and has eight exhibition halls. Its chief aim is popular

education along the lines of Wisconsin history. It takes promin-

ent rank as an educational institution, and entertains from 60,000

to 80,000 visitors each year.

In addition to its regular collections the museum had pre-

pared for the occasion of the Assembly a series of special ex-

hibits. These included the original surveys and maps, and corre-

spondence relating to Wisconsin antiquities of Dr. Increase A.

Lapham, the state's distinguished pioneer antiquarian, and of his

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