This is the second year we have been fortunate enough to be a part of this remarkable project. With funding from Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the Western Reserve Historical Society is able to work with Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community College. For this dig we're working with the Lighthouse Academy of East Technical High School to practice archeological and historical methods. Students learn the skills needed to connect with their community on a whole new level.
We're working with a remarkable teacher at East Tech, Sarah Hodge. She and two of her classes meet with us at the dig site twice a week. With the planning and supervision of an expert archeologist, the students carefully extract the soil and sift through to see what might have been saved there. Research on identifying and exploring implications of any discovered artifacts falls largely on the Western Reserve Historical Society. Especially on days when the weather is poor, we go over our research with the students.
The site is on the East Technical High School property. The two small dig sites were selected because an old brick road is still visible among the surrounding grass, (which would imply that the area hasn't been greatly disturbed). The road was ironically named New Street and used to be a part of East 57th. It is on top of this overgrown street that the students of East Tech are exploring their community's past.
6/3/2008 - School's out and the dig is done for this year. We were tantalizingly close to getting into the more interesting layer of soil. However, time ran short. We were able to find many small artifacts like hand-made iron nails and aged glass fragments, we showed some students the procedures archeologists follow, we talked about the history of the neighborhood and how it evolved, and we'll be back next year to pick up where we left off. Meanwhile, the students have put together a display in their school with the information and pictures of what they've found and accomplished.
5/19/2008 - More steady progress today as the dig continued to explore beneath the brick road. We've closed the two test holes that we started while we waited to get past the brick. All our focus is now on the two squares cut through what was once E 57th Street. As the soil beneath the shovels is changing color from dark fill to a sandy surface, we're finding more artifacts. These items have yet to be cleaned and cataloged, but it looks like various pieces of glass, pottery, and nails. In one of the holes, there is a pattern of ash. What was being burned at the site, if anything, is yet to be discovered. We're hoping it was once a big refuse pile as that would be a bounty of information. A final note: The increased level of student participation in the project is encouraging. As students learn more about the reasons and methods surrounding the dig and the stories of the people that lived there, pockets of students are becoming swept up in the project.
5/6/2008 - At the site yesterday -with the help of a sledge hammer- we were able to get through a small section of the brick road. To our relief, there was only one layer of bricks. Underneath it is undisturbed soil. The potential artifacts this preserved ground may hold is very exciting. We are now working on ways to clear an area big enough for the students to mark of a new site and begin excavating. Meanwhile, on the research side of things, we've got a wonderful return on our search through the census. We were able to locate the area in the 1930 census (as mentioned last post), as well as the 1920 and 1910. The location changed ethnicity each time. In the 30s it was a predominantly African-American community. Before that, it was eastern European. And in 1910, it was an English neighborhood. For those keeping track, Mr. Berger, the 1930s tailor, was not in the area during the 20s. The way we located the 1920 and 1910 census data was simply by finding which city ward the area was in, and which district within that ward. Narrowing it down in that fashion, we just searched through the pages until we found our spot. This was a tricky process as the wards and the districts changed each census. Such is the life of a researcher.
4/29/2008 - The dig is still in it's earliest stages. However, we have been exploring maps and censuses to identify the residents that may have left their mark. The start of our research has already shown some great results. The first step was to find the addresses of the buildings that used to stand around the dig site. To do that we went into our archives at the Library and found a number of plat maps. These maps not only show the addresses of the buildings, but also the owners, layout and type of structure (i.e. whether it's a wood-frame, brick, or stone). So looking at Cuyahoga County maps from 1892, 1912, and 1922 we actually found two sets of addresses for the homes. This is because in 1906, many of the addresses in Cleveland were changed. Having these numbers doesn't tell us much about the people that used to live here, it's in the next step where some of the story is found. Using the Cleveland Directory from 1930, we were able to do a reverse look-up. We found names of residents based on their address. Eagerly jotting down these names, we used the ancestry service to find their pages on the 1930 census. You can see an example of this on our photo collection. Looking at the census is a treat. From this document a lot of color is added to the picture. We can see that the block was predominantly African-American as their ethnicity is marked "Neg". On the same page from 1930, you can also see the exception, Mr. William Berger and his wife. Mr. Berger was a Russian tailor who seems to have employed his neighbor, a 24-year-old African-American named James Clark. We assume this community used to be mostly Jewish. If 68-year-old Mr. Berger is a remnant of that previous demographic, we should be able to use his name as a keyword to find the area again in the 1920 census. In this fashion we will continue to back-track through the census and collect more information.
We're working with a remarkable teacher at East Tech, Sarah Hodge. She and two of her classes meet with us at the dig site twice a week. With the planning and supervision of an expert archeologist, the students carefully extract the soil and sift through to see what might have been saved there. Research on identifying and exploring implications of any discovered artifacts falls largely on the Western Reserve Historical Society. Especially on days when the weather is poor, we go over our research with the students. 
5/19/2008 - More steady progress today as the dig continued to explore beneath the brick road. We've closed the two test holes that we started while we waited to get past the brick. All our focus is now on the two squares cut through what was once E 57th Street. 
