Youth Archaeological Outreach & Graphic Novels

Hello Friends,

In preparation for presenting at the 89th SAA Annual Meeting in New Orleans and for defending my honor’s thesis in April, I spent the first half of this semester tirelessly writing, drawing, and researching. While I am still a long way from getting Ellie’s story into the hands of children, I am excited to share a little bit of what I have learned with all of you! The poster I will present next spring is going to focus on my (hopefully) finished graphic novel as an archaeological outreach initiative. Most of my research for this project has proved to be surprisingly interesting! I was initially discouraged by the lack of articles and studies discussing archaeology graphic novels for children but have since worked on shifting my mindset and direction of study. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve realized that a lack of research does not mean a lack of importance. Because sources discussing my exact topic simply do not exist, it is necessary for me to break things down into smaller and less specific pieces to research. 

To develop a solid basis of understanding, I first tackled research pertaining to the impact and importance of youth-focused archaeology programs and initiatives on children and the broader archaeological community. While these findings largely confirm what I already knew to be true, citing the work of credible sources is helpful for adding credibility to my own work. A 2013 article by Sherene Baugher, researching and defending the importance of archaeology for children, details the work of various youth-oriented archaeology programs in the United States and Canada. Being that I’ve only ever been to Fort St. Joseph, prior to reading the findings spelled out in the article, I could only infer the importance of such projects broadly. The article highlights that while most children attending archaeology summer camps and other archaeology programs will likely not go on to work in the field, their inclusion in outreach initiatives is crucial to the field of archaeology (Baugher, 2013). Baugher frames this idea well by referring to community members, notably children, as “stakeholders in protecting the past.” I want to really stress the importance of this idea in my outreach project because the youth of today quite literally determine the future of our field. Even if they didn’t, why not include them? Archaeology is cool after all, so why not share it! 

Participating in archaeological field school at Fort St. Joseph enabled me to work with and observe children in the summer camp program firsthand. My experiences at the fort are proving to heavily influence my passion for this research project as well as for my graphic novel in general. While I may not be able to detail my own observations from this summer in my project (various human/minor research regulations), I am able to integrate them into my novel! I finally am making some headway on both aspects of this project. Over fall break I sketched out various scenes from my (very rough) book outline and worked on refining the dialog of the first few frames. Do I sometimes feel like I bit off way more than I can chew? Yes, but these feelings are insignificant compared to the excitement I feel every time I start work on a new frame or idea. You might be wondering how I plan on getting my graphic novel into the hands of children. Part of me wants to say that I have no idea because getting published can be a pretty daunting process. Luckily my lovely honor’s thesis chair is a published author so the goal is to work on further refining my work with her after I graduate and then I will reach out to various publishers I’m interested in working with until I get a bite! 

Stay tuned for more!

Hollie

Baugher, S. (2013). Confirming Relevance: How American and Canadian Archaeologists Are Training Youth and Adults in Archaeology, Heritage Studies, and Community Partnerships. In: Jameson, J., Eogan, J. (eds) Training and Practice for Modern Day Archaeologists. One World Archaeology, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5529-5_7