Assumption art teacher receives NEH Grant

Mrs. Summerfield, far right, working at the archaeological site in Larsen Cave, Wisconsin.

Mrs. Barbara Summerfield, an Art Enrichment Teacher at Assumption Catholic School, was recently awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant, "Touch the Past: Archaeology of the Upper Mississippi Valley," was hosted by the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse during the month of July, 2007.

Mrs. Summerfield had the opportunity to study archaeology with a focus on Native American mound builder cultures in the Upper Mississippi Valley. She had an opportunity to actually work in the field of archaeology, where she worked on an Oneota open-site excavation, dating back to the time of Columbus. She also participated in discussions and study of the field as it relates to teachers. Mrs. Summerfield was the only participant selected from the state of Florida.

Twenty-three teachers from across the nation participated in an Institute setting where they studied cultures that have evolved over the past twelve thousand years in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Mrs. Summerfield also worked in a laboratory where archaeologists provide insights as to how native cultures thrived in the past. She also studied some of the pre-European cultures native to Wisconsin, which include Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian.

Archaeologists study past human societies, and as an Art Teacher, Mrs. Summerfield is particularly interested in the art and pottery of those societies. Consequently, she viewed prehistoric Native American petroglyphs, images carved on stone walls, found at Larsen Cave, near Wauzeka, Wisconsin.

In the past, Mrs. Summerfield has taken her students to observe archaeological excavations in St. Augustine, Florida. She has provided them with opportunities to watch digs at locations such as the Mission Nombre de Dios, once a center of religious instruction between the Timucua and the Franciscan priests.

Assumption School is also located on the site of an old Spanish fort, Fort San Nicolas. Mrs. Summerfield hopes to instill some of the ethics of archaeology in her students, which means that existing sites need to be maintained, so that future archaeologists may study them. She also would like to help her students develop good research methods of study for Fort San Nicolas, as one of their assignments will be to develop a brochure describing the site.