Past Speakers

***UASC February 2023 MEETING****

Wednesday, February 22nd @ 07:00 PM CST – Meeting of Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago

Featured Presenter: Clare Tomie, Ph.D.

Presenting: Reconstruction of Past Environments and Understanding the Associated Human Interactions

***THIS MONTH’S MEETING IS HYBRID ZOOM AND IN-PERSON***

In-Person

Chicago Maritime Museum

1200 W 35th Street

Chicago, IL 60609

On Zoom - Registration Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAoc-GorD4oG9SNDmFiCZ2GmsIdBAxZt-YY

Pre-meeting Informal Social; 06:30 – 07:00

Business Meeting; 07:00 – 08:00

Featured Presentation: 08:00 – 09:00 (or later if necessary)

 Reconstruction of Past Environments and Understanding the Associated Human Interactions

The archaeological record of the Chicago area is a record of human life that covers more than 12,000 years. Over that time the landscape has changed considerably, from glacial tundra to woodland, to prairie. The shoreline of the lake has also varied considerably. The archaeological record reflects people’s interaction with, and use of, the different landscapes over time. Local environment influences site location and site function, and humans influence the landscape too. By reconstructing the environment over time, and the lake levels, archaeologists can better understand site patterns and how humans interacted with and exploited resources.  How do archaeologists reconstruct past landscapes and past environments; and how does this help us explain where people were living and why? This presentation will describe how archaeologists reconstruct the past environment and how they study site location to understand the complex interaction of humans and their surroundings though time.

(Images from Claire Tolmie’s Facebook page)

Biography:

Clare Tolmie, Ph.D.  is a Senior Research Scientist at the Illinois State Archaeology Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Shas a BA in archaeology from the University of Southampton, England, and a PhD in anthropology from the University of Iowa. The majority of her field experience in the over the past 30 years has been in the Midwest, on sites ranging from the Paleoindian to the Industrial period. Her research interests included subsistence and landscape use; particularly how pre-contact peoples adapted to changes in their environment.

The October 24th meeting of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, will feature a presentation by Mr. Norman Krentel, concerning the interurban railways of east central, Lower Michigan, and their connections to the Lake Michigan steamships to Chicago, Milwaukee and beyond. This talk is based on an article Mr. Krentel published last year in the Journal of the Shoreline Historical Society [First & Fastest] last year.

The following is an abstract.:

This will tell the story of the need, at an early date, for a street railway from Holland, Michigan to serve resorts at the shore of Lake Michigan, several miles to the west. The resorts also relied on the Lake Michigan Steam Boats from Chicago; many people from Chicago had summer homes at Macatawa Park and Ottawa Beach, both being located at the far west end of Lake Macatawa (west of Holland). The street railway provided the connection from these resorts to Holland.

By the early 1900s Graham & Morton Transportation Company was providing daily Steamer service between Chicago and Holland. The street railway was extended to Grand Rapids in 1901 and was now being operated as an electric interurban railway - they had also constructed a branch south from Lake Macatawa to Saugatuck. A through traffic agreement was executed between G. & M. Transp. Co. and the Grand Rapids, Holland & Chicago Railway, with both passengers and freight being handled. Freight brought to the Grand Rapids interurban freight house was carried through to the Chicago dock of G. & M.; passenger's baggage was checked through from Grand Rapids to Chicago, and points west.

By late 1912 new interests had acquired control of the G. R. H. & C. Ry., and they were now operated as part of the massive Michigan Railway Company, with interurban service through to Detroit - with this the relationship with G. & M. grew and new pier / warehouses were constructed at Macatawa Park and in Holland. In 1914 a new service was introduced between Chicago and Saugatuck operated under the name of Indiana Transportation Company. Ind. Transp. Co. approached the interurban demanding a similar arrangement as was provided G. & M. Failing to reach an agreement Ind. Transp. Co. went to the Interstate Commerce Commission requesting a hearing; an I. C. C. representative agreed and came from Washington D. C. for their 2-day hearing held at Chicago's Federal Bldg....this leads into theS.S. Eastland part of the story.

About the Speaker:

Originally from Lansing, Michigan, he moved with his parents to Chicago in 1960, attending high school on the southwest side. He joined the Illinois Railway Museum in 1963 and remains involved and active today as the Museum's President and project manager of the restoration to operating condition of Michigan Electric Ry interurban combine car #28 (v. 1914). He spent his working life in the "telephone company" as an engineer in Network Planning and Engineering, with Illinois Bell, Ameritech, SBC and A T & T.

We hope to see you all at 7:00 p.m. in the Chicago Maritime Museum, 3400 S. Racine, Chicago, Illinois.

SAMUEL D. POLONETZKY

Licensed Professional Engineer of Illinois

• Jan 30 2013‐ Our guest speaker was Dr. Anna Roosevelt , one of America's leading archaeologists, professor of anthropology at UIC, and former curator of the Field Museum; She spoke on her work doing underwater mapping of Paleo‐Indian sites.
  Dr. Roosevelt is an international superstar in the field of Archaeology.
  
  
• Feb 2013‐ Our UASC Project Leaders will be presenting our plans to move forward with our ongoing project plans for this year.
  
  
• Mar 2013‐ Kira Kaufman will be presenting on the survey work on Wrecks in Indiana Waters. With five years of supervisory experience in underwater archaeological techniques and research, and has conducted underwater archaeological survey, excavation, and documentation projects in the Midwest and Southeast United States, as well as in Ghana, Africa. Dr. Kaufmann has served in a supervisory capacity for a number of maritime‐related projects, for which she conducted survey, recovery, remote sensing, monitoring, and report writing.
  
  
• Apr 2013‐ Richard Lanyon will be presenting on the History of the Sanitary and Ship Canal. Richard Lanyon has had a life long association with the waterways in and around Chicago. He grew up along the North Branch, attended the University of Illinois Navy Pier campus, worked as a beginning engineer on the Lake Diversion legal controversy and capped his working life with a 48‐year accomplishment with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. He enjoys biking along the waterways, Lake Michigan and hometown Evanston, Illinois neighborhoods where he lives with his wife Marsha Richman
  
  
• May 2013‐ Ted Karamanski will be presenting on the Great Lakes Sailing Vessels of the War of 1812. He is working on a history of the Great Lakes region, specifically a history of Lake Michigan, particularly a cultural and environmental history, book length.
  
  
• June, July August & September‐ TBA
  
  
• Oct 2013‐ Kevin Cullen President of WUAA (Wisconsin Underwater Archaeological Association) will be presenting on the work going on in Wisconsin Waters.
  
  
• Nov 2013‐ End of Year Project Reports by our UASC Project Leaders.

Fantastic Presenters Are Scheduled For 2013:
Become A Member Today And Don’t Miss Out!! 

January 2013 UASC Speaker: Dr. Anna Roosevelt

The peopling of the Americas is a topic of perennial interest and changing focus. Since the 1990s, new Paleoindian cultures have turned up in different corners of the Americas. Several of them: in California, the Peruvian Coast, and the Amazon River, are fishing and forest gathering cultures. The speaker discovered the Amazonian culture, some of whose sites are under water, due to the rise in ocean levels after the end of the Ice-Age. In her talk, she will reveal the characteristics of the new early cultures and her expeditions to both cave sites and underwater sites.

Read more: Dr. Anna Roosevelt