FIELD SCHOOL

Bob Bettis of Clayton dug a test pit under the DeLassus-Kern House. Students tried to determine whether the vertical log section of the house had been built on the site, or moved there.

Cindy Pigg of Sikeston, one of two Southeast graduate students taking part in the historic preservation field school, removed dirt from a test pit under the DeLassus-Kern House.

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Students in Southeast Missouri State University's 2000 Historic Preservation Summer Field School provided a tangible service as well as picking up valuable training.

Students spent four weeks in Ste. Genevieve, studying architecture, preservation, archaeology and methods of archival research. They also left the Missouri Department of Natural Resources with additional data concerning one of its more controversial historic sites.

Most of the field school this year surrounded the DeLassus-Kern House, just south of town. Thought by many to contain the 1793 vertical log home of French nobleman Pierre Charles DeHault DeLassus LeLuzierre, the sagging farmhouse has been a hot topic of debate among experts and amateurs alike, for more than 15 years.

"From a field school perspective, we're also helping the state interpret this building in regard to whether it was moved down the hill, either together or in components, and coming up with an appropriate interpretation," said Dr. Steven Hoffman of the Southeast historic preservation program.

From 1997 through 1999, Southeast took part in a joint archaeology field school in Ste. Genevieve, along with Murray State (Ky.) University. Dr. Bonnie Stepenoff, head of the Southeast historical preservation program, outlined the change in focus this year.

"The major different is that this is a historic preservation field school, rather than a historic archeology field school," she said. "We're studying architecture and history and historical archeology and learning ways of collecting data, then using all those ways and putting it all together. You couldn't have a better learning laboratory than Ste. Genevieve."

During the first week of the four-week school, which ended July 7, the students studied building analysis, or how to read a historic building. The DeLassus-Kern, Amoureux and Janis-Ziegler houses were among those studied. A session in photo documentation was also held.

Week two included archival research of the DeLassus family, including one day in St. Louis, at the Missouri State Historical Society, as well as researching German-Anglo American families and the free black community of Ste. Genevieve.

The third week saw Department of Natural Resources archaeologists Larry Grantham and Ken Cole lead the students in archaeology work in and around the DeLassus-Kern House. During the final week, the students were to "tie it all together," in Hoffman's words, and make reports on their findings Friday. The results, though, will need to be analyzed before conclusions can be drawn.

"We have to look at the data," Stepenoff said, following the conclusion of the school. "It's too soon to reach a final conclusion. It was a terrific learning experience, though, and the students definitely did add to the body of knowledge about the house and the community."

The students expressed similar sentiments during the week of archaeology work.

"Today I have a little more grasp on what goes on (in archaeology)," said Rich Jackson, an Ashland, Ohio, native living in Cape Girardeau. "Before, I thought you just dug a hole. I've also learned a lot about Ste. Genevieve itself. The first two weeks we toured the town and did research."

Terri Foley of Cape Girardeau said, "We learned how to look at a building and figure out when remodeling had been done and what's original."

All of the students in the field school were enrolled at Southeast except one.

Dave DeLassus of St. Louis will be a freshman history major at the University of Missouri-Columbia this fall. Yes, he is of the same DeLassus lineage.

DeLassus' father had spied the 1997 Southeast field school reports on the Internet while putting together a family reunion. Arrangements were made for the incoming freshman to join the field school.

"It's pretty neat to know this might have been my family's house, where my ancestors could have lived," DeLassus said. "It's kind of special. I'm glad to be participating."

Stepenoff said, "The DeLassus family seems to be very interested in tracing its history."

Hoffman said, "The students are also learning about site administration, having Jim Baker (site administrator for Ste. Genevieve's DNR historic properties) as a role model. From a student's perspective, you're really seeing in concentrated form, what site administration is. With Jim here they're learning the perspective of the different buildings. They're seeing in the real world, what the DNR has to deal with in getting information. This is a part of it."

Heather Farrow of Cape Girardeau said, "One thing I like most is meeting all the different professional people and seeing what job opportunities are out there and what each job entails."

Aside from having professionals like Baker and his staff around, the students have gotten to hear "lunch box seminars" most days, with visiting experts, discussing relevant topics. These have included local archaeologist Don Heldman speaking on French archaeology; the DNR's Booker Rucker, on Missouri historic sites; Doug McVarish, National Landmark District documentation; Elizabeth Scott, animal archaeology; Osmund Overby and Susan Flader, Ste. Genevieve history and architecture; and Jerry Stepenoff, historic preservation grants. Bonnie Stepenoff, Hoffman and Baker also gave talks on their specialties.

Visits by such experts as dendrochronoligist Rich Guyette of the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Jack Luer, French Colonial architecture expert, also took place during the field school.

"It's a pretty good experience," said Chad Boehlke, one of two Southeast graduate students at the field school. "It's not as long as in previous years, but it does condense what you learn down from eight weeks, into four weeks." Boehlke was also a member of the 1998 field school, which dug at the Felix Valle State Historic Site.

"I recommend it to any HP major or even history major," he said. "It gives them an aspect that would be useful to them in the future. If they ever have to do any archaeology, they'll have experience."

Ste. Genevieve native Ann Herzog signed up for the school after transferring from Southwest Missouri State University, to Southeast. Her work the past several years as a tour guide at the 1793 Louis Bolduc House Museum, had made her familiar with the Southeast program.

"I'd been giving it thought. I knew this existed," said Herzog, who will be a historic preservation major. "I decided to go ahead and make the transfer. It's been an easy transition so far. It's good for me. It allows me to meet the students and get to know them. It's really a good learning experience and it's way different than a class."

Although the findings of the field school will have to be evaluated before any definite conclusions can be drawn, the school will definitely provide needed information.

"The work they're doing has practical value; it isn't just an exercise," Stepenoff said. "The information is used by Jim Baker and the DNR to interpret the site. It has a practical purpose. It can be frustrating, too, following some lead that doesn't go anywhere. That's valuable to future research, as well, though."

Hoffman said, "One thing that makes the four-week experience so excellent is the hands-on experience the students get in each one of the research tasks archival research, architectural and archaeological. They also really appreciate how the information from all those sources is needed to bring it all together."

The field school is expected to continue next year -- although possibly at a slightly different site in the Ste. Genevieve area.