Long Island Dirt: Recovering our Buried Past through Historical Archaeologies

FAIN: FT-270716-20

Allison Manfra McGovern
CUNY Research Foundation, Queens College (Flushing, NY 11367-1575)

Research and writing the introduction of a book on the historical archaeology of Long Island, New York.

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate, through recent historic and archaeological research, how historical archaeology can reveal dynamic and multi-faceted views of the past. Specifically focused on Long Island, New York, this book explores site-based histories through archaeology, material culture, landscape studies, and archival research to highlight the many unexplored aspects of history that can yet be discovered, and to re-examine some historic sites for new insights into past lives and experiences. The book project is scholarly in method, but publicly accessible in tone, as it demonstrates to scholarly and public audiences the contributions that archaeology can make to understanding broad patterns in American history in general and New York history in particular, and emphasizes the importance of preserving our past.