Caroline Miller '09 has returned home this summer, and taken her academic interests with her. The rising senior from Wayzata, Minn. is pursuing two internships based in St. Paul, one with the archaeological department of the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS), and the other as a historical research intern for the Northwoods Initiative at the Trust for Public Land (TPL).
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Miller is one of 25 students who received internship funding this summer. Although her internships are unpaid, she received a stipend from the Richard & Patsy Couper Grant, which awards up to two stipends per year, giving preference to students pursuing internships in library science, museums and non-profit organizations.
At the MHS, Miller analyzes and catalogues artifacts from a site near Mille Lacs, Minn., in Kathio State Park. The site was excavated in the 1960s and '70s by teams from the University of Minnesota, but has only been partially analyzed, so Miller is helping to reorganize the 90 banker boxes of artifacts to simplify future research. She is also preparing materials for an archaeological site report on Grand Mound, a burial mound near the Canadian border that was used by the Laurel people over 1,000 years ago. Miller looks at field notes from the excavation such as daily logs, soil and wall profiles, and site maps to collect information for a report by the MHS.
Miller's work at the TPL concerns the historical, tribal and archaeological significance of Wolf Island, on Lake Vermilion in the northern part of the state. TPL is a non-profit land conservation organization that helps public agencies to buy land for parks and natural areas. Currently, the organization is working to help acquire Wolf Island, which belonged to the noted Minneapolis architect John Jager during the 1930s. In addition to looking through Jager's notes and maps, which recorded a canoe plaza and tipi site on the island, Miller is exploring the History Center and University of Minnesota archives. She will also talk with the elders of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, the historical inhabitants of the Lake Vermilian area, as well as the archaeologists she has met through her internship at the MHS.
The most interesting part of her MHS work, in Miller's opinion, is handling the artifacts. "The average person doesn't get to see 1,000-year-old artifacts on a daily basis," she says. She is also enjoying the chance to study archaeology focusing on the late Woodland and early Historic periods, since her classes at Hamilton have focused on earlier, Paleoindian studies.
In both of her internships, Miller has found that there is much more to learn than she expected. At the MHS, she has researched the different Native American groups in the area, the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Oneota, and their prehistoric and historic movement patterns throughout the state. At TBL, finding information on John Jager led her into a treasure-hunt for documents that ended at Northwest Architectural Archives at the University of Minnesota, to which Jager donated many of his professional papers. Now she has all the information she needs, Miller says, but "not enough time in the summer to research it all!"
Miller, an anthropology major, is a member of the women's varsity soccer team, and interned part-time last fall at the Decorative Arts Department of the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute. After graduation, she plans to pursue a graduate program in archaeology.
-- by Laura Bramley
Thanks to alumni and parent donations, Hamilton students can apply for funding to support them while they work in a field of interest with an organization that cannot pay them. Miller is one of 25 students who received internship funding this summer. Although her internships are unpaid, she received a stipend from the Richard & Patsy Couper Grant, which awards up to two stipends per year, giving preference to students pursuing internships in library science, museums and non-profit organizations.
At the MHS, Miller analyzes and catalogues artifacts from a site near Mille Lacs, Minn., in Kathio State Park. The site was excavated in the 1960s and '70s by teams from the University of Minnesota, but has only been partially analyzed, so Miller is helping to reorganize the 90 banker boxes of artifacts to simplify future research. She is also preparing materials for an archaeological site report on Grand Mound, a burial mound near the Canadian border that was used by the Laurel people over 1,000 years ago. Miller looks at field notes from the excavation such as daily logs, soil and wall profiles, and site maps to collect information for a report by the MHS.
Miller's work at the TPL concerns the historical, tribal and archaeological significance of Wolf Island, on Lake Vermilion in the northern part of the state. TPL is a non-profit land conservation organization that helps public agencies to buy land for parks and natural areas. Currently, the organization is working to help acquire Wolf Island, which belonged to the noted Minneapolis architect John Jager during the 1930s. In addition to looking through Jager's notes and maps, which recorded a canoe plaza and tipi site on the island, Miller is exploring the History Center and University of Minnesota archives. She will also talk with the elders of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, the historical inhabitants of the Lake Vermilian area, as well as the archaeologists she has met through her internship at the MHS.
The most interesting part of her MHS work, in Miller's opinion, is handling the artifacts. "The average person doesn't get to see 1,000-year-old artifacts on a daily basis," she says. She is also enjoying the chance to study archaeology focusing on the late Woodland and early Historic periods, since her classes at Hamilton have focused on earlier, Paleoindian studies.
In both of her internships, Miller has found that there is much more to learn than she expected. At the MHS, she has researched the different Native American groups in the area, the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Oneota, and their prehistoric and historic movement patterns throughout the state. At TBL, finding information on John Jager led her into a treasure-hunt for documents that ended at Northwest Architectural Archives at the University of Minnesota, to which Jager donated many of his professional papers. Now she has all the information she needs, Miller says, but "not enough time in the summer to research it all!"
Miller, an anthropology major, is a member of the women's varsity soccer team, and interned part-time last fall at the Decorative Arts Department of the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute. After graduation, she plans to pursue a graduate program in archaeology.
-- by Laura Bramley
