This is the end

This week was mainly me preparing the final preparations of my project and presenting it to Dr. Lindsey and the other interns. It was a nerve raking experience that also had me full of excitement ready to share my experiences. Putting together my poster was a difficult process, finding out which graphs and information to put was difficult. There could not be too much information or too little so finding out a good balance was essential. In the end however I kept putting up too much information into the poster, so shortening it was the hardest part. As learning historians we can tend to be a bit wordy with our sentences. I did finally get better though with the shortening of sentences and seeing how my writing needed to be which was short, sweet, and too the point. The graphs were a different story, with the excel spreadsheets I could have created a few different graphs with the information. In the end I decided to create graphs dealing with gender for both cemeteries, iconography comparing all genders in both cemeteries, marker material and one dealing with each cemeteries iconography vs the ones with no iconography. I am proud of how it looks like, it was a lovely poster, the only problem was when I presented it to a bigger audience the poster looked a bit small and the information could not be seen. The way I created it was in power point with the dimensions 4 ft by 3 ft. I did think the font would show on the big screen we used to present, but unfortunately not everything was readable including my charts, only the bones of the project could be seen (graph, and paragraph layout. Overall this semester has been everything I hoped for. I wanted to try something different, to see what else my history degree can be used for. Many of us get into the thought of thinking all we can ever do is teach. That is not the case, and was something that I never really wanted to do in the first place. I did not just want to work strictly in anthropology, I wanted a middle ground between the two. I found that I can do both, maybe not what I did exactly for my internship, but something similar. I want to do field work and be behind the scenes interpreting data and doing research before hand. During this semester there were things that had to be adjusted, but was difficult to adjust mainly my problem of writing, as history majors we are almost trained to write a certain way. In different they might require you to write in a different way, which was the case for me, I love adding little details and making my writing seem almost narrative. The problem with this is that it is not short, sweet, and too the point which is needed in this type of environment. So it too took a bit too adjust. This is something that I would recommend for other history majors, to see if what you want to do is something you want to do after an internship. It gives an incite into the work environment of someone who works in history. I hope to do more work like this in the future and get more opportunities to do field work. 

Final Steps

Currently I am working on the final steps of my internship deliverable, I have collected my data and input it all into two separate spreadsheets. The cemeteries I went to are segregated, and only a few minutes away from each other. Which originally I found odd, but when you look at the dates of the white cemetery it makes sense. In the white cemetery their were people in there born in the early 1800's. So racism was alive and well when both cemeteries first started, but what is even weirder is that both cemeteries remain segregated, this is not due to racism however. It has most likely remained due to habit from both sides as well as them wanting to be buried with their families. What I did see from both cemeteries was that people with Hispanic last names were in both of the cemeteries, but there were not many. I am not sure what that means exactly, but I did find it interesting. So far after looking at both cemeteries further after finishing the spreadsheets I see some similarities and some difference, mostly differences. The white cemetery is the older of the two from looking at the birth dates on the tombstones. I noticed that the white cemetery has a lot more marble markers then the black cemetery. Any marble markers that the black cemetery had were usually military men, I also noticed that they had a large quantity of metal markers which just have the name, birth date and death date on it or sometimes just the name, birth year and death year. Other difference I noticed were the amount of unmarked graves in the black cemetery compared to the white one. They were usually either metal or concrete. The white cemetery was the harder of the two to collect the data from due to the material of most of the markers which was marble. It was so smooth at the time that it made it almost impossible to read the names, dates, or even iconography. The problem with the marble markers is that they can be readable if cleaned with enough pressure. The problem with that is that you do not want to rough up the marble with cleaning it. So the best I could do is clean each marker with a soft cotton cloth. Over all my experiences on the field went well and I enjoyed collecting all of the data. It is something that I would do again if given the chance to do field work, it was a great learning experience. The other thing that I have been working on this week is my rewrites of an assignment I had done earlier. The way i wrote them the first time was similar in how I write my blog, which is semi academic with a relaxed tone. While instead I needed to make sound more academic. Hopefully I was able to make my rewrites sound alright, I have also been working on my CV this week. It is still empty, but I did not expect it to be full due to me not doing much volunteer work. Now that I know that people are always looking for help with field work I hope to get some opportunities to be able to make my CV something I will be proud to show. Tomorrow through Tuesday I will be working on tweaking my poster and working on the final touches and making sure it is ready to present for my deliverable. It has been a lot of hard work and a great learning process and I am looking forward to presenting.  

Coming Together

Another busy week so far, on Monday I was able to get to the white cemetery and finish collecting the data. The idea of taking photos of the markers was one of the best ideas I could have thought of when it comes to saving time. What would normally be an all day affair took on a few hours, and through photo it is in fact easier to see what is on the marker. This cemetery however was much harder to collect data from. While the other one had graves in various places and in rough conditions, many of the graves were legible. The trouble I ran into in the white cemetery was the material of the marker. Many of them were marble, the problem with marble is that it tends to get dirty if it is not taken care of. Also due to weather over the years it can ware down the stone to where it makes it almost impossible to read due to it turning smooth. That was the main problems I ran into while collecting my pictures. The main marker material used in the other cemetery tended to be either a metal marker or granite. Which are much easier to collect data from because it does not wear down for a long while. I did run into some of the same problems as I did the other cemetery in which sometimes the grave is a few feet under ground. When that happens I have to literally dig it out, the most buried  one I came across was under a few inches of dirt which was not too bad. I did have a volunteer come with me, and while they took the photo I would be prepping the graves for their photo opt. As I was collecting the data I realized that their were quite a few family plots. Many of them were lined with marble with a small entry way. After the pictures were taken and the cemetery completed I began my input into the spreadsheet I created. By no means have I completed with this cemetery, In a few days I will be and I will write the major differences or similarities I find if any. I did however finish the data entry from the first cemetery I collected data from. What I saw in the data was that many of the graves had religious iconography, specifically Christianity. The typical symbols I would come across were crosses, roses, flowers, grapevines, but mainly prayer hands. Other symbolism I found was some Freemason symbols and Order of the Eastern Star symbolism. What I found that was interesting was that if their was a shared grave and the husband was a Freeman the wife was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. Many other the ones that were Freemasons were also part of the Order of the Eastern Star as well. The other thing that I have been working on this week is my rewrites that I mentioned last week. I have not yet been able to write them to my liking. I am being a bit picky with my wording. I am also learning on how to create my poster, and working on updating my CV, it is a bit too empty for my liking, but I am starting out. I realize that I may not have an impressive one now, but I will eventually with my continuation of volunteer work over the summer. For next week I will hope to have a draft completed from what my poster will look like.

The white cemetery that I collected data from, it had much more tree coverage then the other cemetery. It also had a better location, while the other one was off a State road, this one was located behind a neighborhood.

Came across a few of these when I got to some family plots, the carving of the marble was done with a great amount to detail, on the grave you can see the family name. On the other side of it it has the names of those buried inside, sometimes a few, and sometimes only one person is buried in it. 

Data Input

This week has been a busy so far I went and finished up the cemetery I was working on last Friday and got every grave accounted for. Instead of writing the information down on paper I decided to put to the test my idea of taking a photo of each grave. I must say that was a great idea, not only did it save me time, bu the pictures have more detail in photo then me looking at them with my eyes. It also is good for not having to look at others handwriting and wondering what they meant to say. The way I went about with the photos was with a partner. My significant other would take the photo while I would prep the next few graves. I would also sometimes have to clear out some ant piles that were on top of the graves in order to get all of the information. As well as dig up piles of dirt from a grave that had begun to get buried under inches of dirt so that all the information was readable through photo. After I had finished with Oakland Cemetery it was time to put in the information into excel, I have yet to finish all of it due to multiple things I have been working on this week, but I am close to being done. So far I have noticed similarities between markers and that in this particular cemetery most of the markers are either granite, cement, metal, or marble. Interesting about the marble is that it was almost all exclusively military men and all of the had a cross referencing them as Christians. Most likely this coming Monday I will be going to another cemetery to collect more data. I will try to get to as many cemeteries as possible so that I can gather a well rounded information. This way I can see what are the similarities between cemeteries and what are their differences. I especially want to see if their is a difference between urban and rural cemeteries.

This is me prepping the next grave, so that a detailed photo can be taken with all of the information with nothing being covered.

The other thing I have been working on is the beginning stages of my poster, so far I am writing rewriting some early draft paragraphs for weeks earlier. Making it more for an academic setting, when I wrote it the first time I made it a bit to blogger oriented and it did not sound academic enough. I am also working on my CV and updating it with the things I have been doing for the internship, my internship supervisor was kind enough to give me his as an example of how it should sound and look. So busy things this week and I am excited to get to the new site and start working on collecting much more data. This coming week will be just as busy for me with various things needing to get done so I am optimistic and awaiting the challenge. I do know that the next grave site we will be going to will not be as organized as this one was, I am hoping that it will still be easy enough to follow.

First Day of Field Work

This week I have been getting ready for the field work portion of my internship which happened today. This week I was given an assignment to answer a few questions, purpose and goal of project, methods (how did you collect data), background of Florida history, focused on European occupation, especially focusing on Territorial Period and after, and a short couple of lines about what you hypothesize you may see in data collection. The third question I needed to answer is taking longer then I thought due to Florida history being so vast, and me forgetting all I used to know about Florida History which I learned in the fourth grade only. It is all interesting and relevant to the work that I am doing. Depending on the changes going on at the time in the state it can have an effect on the iconography of the marker. A problem I had answering these questions was that I did not make it academic enough, I realized after rereading it was that I wrote it as if I was writing for my blog. I have come accustomed to writing my blog and unintentionally forgot to write in a more academic manner. It has been a little since I have written a paper so I need to practice my writing, because if you are not progressing you are digressing. What I also needed to do was to get volunteers to help me collect the data. In the end I could not get many volunteers to help me collect the data today, but I did have my significant other come to help me put. It was exactly what I was expecting, and it was simple to gather the information that I needed to get. The way I wrote down the information was in sections, each grave that I went to I wrote the number, name, birth date, date of death, material of the marker, and the iconography (the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation on these). As I was collecting the data I had an idea of how to make my data collection more efficient which is to take pictures of the graves this way I can enter the information straight into excel and even add a hyperlink if possible. I am still dabbling with the program to see what will work and what will not work. It is all about testing the waters with excel it is a testy program that can be useful if one knows how to use it. By no means am I done with this cemetery, but I now understand first hand what needs to be done and just having an example of what I need to do helps me tremendously. Something I noticed while collecting the data was that not all graves are in even columns or rows some are a bit scattered and it can get confusing to follow a specific order. I was told that this cemetery is in a better order then the other one so I will need to be careful not to mix things up, but I am optimistic. I was also given directions to the White cemetery, another cemetery I will be collecting data from. In all today was productive for me and has me enthusiastic about going out again and collecting more data. Monday I will be going out again and I have two volunteers coming to help me out this time instead of one so we will be able to collect more data. 

Here is a photo of me collecting the data, these are concrete covered graves, the one I was working on had no information about the person, no name, gender, birth date, date of death, or iconography. The only information I could gather from it was the material of the grave. In the back was a another concrete covered grave, but it had at least a metal marker with the persons name, and the year they were born and died.
  

Field work planned

This week I have learned that I will finally be doing some field work, the long awaited time has come to pass. The first day of field work will be taking place two weeks from today, the 27th of this month and I am very excited. All of the planning is what brings me to the field work portion, the research I have been doing is the main thing that will help me. The place my internship supervisor said to meet at will be at the Oakland Nature Preserve, then we will head over to the cemetery. It is kind of hidden so this way I can just follow his car there until I have it memorized and then I can get there on my own. One of the main things we did talk about was visiting more then one cemetery, that way the data will be more broad. The other main thing was that he was going to help me get volunteers to help out with the data collection due to it being a large scale collection of data. The more help I get, the more I can use to compare and contrast which will be helpful, because I am just one person and just me going an collecting the data would not be enough to get a well rounded analysis to answer my research question. The data template I made will be coming in handy when I start with the data collection, it will also be used by the volunteers. The goal is by the end of the day after the data is written down in the template I will be looking at all the information and putting it into the deliverable poster. This is also where my knowledge of  Florida History will be needed, to see if any of the changes in the cemeteries happened because of a major even going on at the time of their death. With the book I will be looking at will be population, the Indian removal act, seminal wars dealing with the relocation of settlers, urbanization, and soldiers being sent to train in Florida during WWII etc. This way I know what was going on. All of these things in Florida History will be considered variables, as each of these things could explain changes. This week has been very busy for me so far, as I have begun to outline the book I mentioned last week, Gannon's The New History of Florida. I keep wanting to just read it through in order due to habit, but that would just be a waste of planning. After my internship is over I am planning to read it fully because it is an interesting read and what I like about it is that it is not just like reading a textbook which can get boring. The reason I do not is strictly time based, due to all of the work I will be doing with the data collection, I have no choice but to just do an outline of changes that would effect cemetery change. Such as the things I have mentioned sentences above. I realized when I begun reading it that I needed to buy some colored tabs to make it easier to find the things I am looking for in the book. Instead of buying colored tabs though I decided to make some out of old construction paper I had lying around. It was a good idea and makes it much easier for me to find what I am looking for.

Sources I am using for as of late:
- A Study of Duval County Grave Markers
by Lucy Ames Edwards
- Gone but not Forgotten: Wakulla County's Folk Graveyards
by Sherrie Stokes
- Graveyards and Social Structures
- Map and Database Construction for an Historic Cemetery: Methods and Applications
by: Johan Liebens
- Necrogeography in the United States
Published by: American Geographical Society
- Cemetery symbolism of prairie pioneers- gravestone art and social change in Story County
by: Coleen Lou Nutty
- Under Grave Conditions; African American Signs of Life and Death in North Florida
by: Robin Franklin Nigh
- Using Cemetery Data to Reconstruct Immigration and Migration Patterns: St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida
by: Sarah Elizabeth Patterson
- Gravestone Iconography and Mortuary Ideology
by: Frederick J.E. Gorman and Michael DiBlasi
- The Historical Archaeology of Mortuary Behavior: Coffin Hardware from Uxbridge, Massachusetts
by: Edward L. Bell

- Death's Heads, Cherubs, and Willow Trees: Experimentral Archaeology in Colonial Cemeteries

by: Edwin Dethlefsen and James Deetz


Books:
- In Small Things Forgotten
by: James Deetz

- The New History of Florida

Edited by: Michael Gannon


Sears Catalog:
-Special catalogue of tombstones, monuments, tablets and markers. (1902) Sears Roebuck & Co. Chicago, Ill.

Data Template

I had mentioned in my last blog that this week I as given an assignment due on Tuesday to create a spreadsheet through excel of how I will be recording my data when I start my field work. So far in my spread sheet I will have different sections where I will write the information, name, date of  birth and day of death, iconography (what symbolism is on the marker), marker types (cement, granite, etc.), whether they are male or female, along with a photo of the grave that I will hyper link in etc. This will be instrumental in organizing my data, this way when I create my deliverable poster I will have everything organized. The point of the poster is to answer a research question that I will create when I get to the field work portion, and to better answer that question; organizing my data is key. When I get to the field work portion I will post pictures to give an example of how I am putting in the data after I see the marker, it will make much more sense after I get pictures. The other thing that I have been working on is finishing up on my last bits of reading from the papers and journals I had to go through. At the bottom of the page is the full list of journals, articles and book that I will be using throughout my internship most of them I have gone through and read the only exception is the New History of Florida because I had just gotten it as of yesterday after it finally became available via library. I did request it using the inter library loan but it was taking too long and I needed to get started on outlining the book. So far what I will be looking at will be population, the Indian removal act, seminal wars dealing with the relocation of settlers, urbanization, and soldiers being sent to train in Florida during WWII etc. All of these changes in what is going on in Florida at the time can affect a cemetery especially its iconography. So going over the book and outlining these key changes in Florida History will be my main priority in these next coming week before I get started on the field work portion of the internship. I will not by any means be reading the entire book, that would take much too long, but I will read in depth about the things I will be outlining (mentioned in the above sentences). Surprisingly when I started to read a few paragraphs I realized that I regrettably do not know much about Florida history. I am aware of what was going on in the United States at the time as a whole, but not specifically of what was going on in Florida due to policies that were created, urbanization, civil war, etc. The last time I had to learn about Florida history specifically was in the fourth grade in social studies class and much of what I learned was till 1865. So I think this book will be a great asset to me when I collect my data, this way I know what changes occurred and what it means in reference to the tombstones. 

Sources I am using for as of late:
- A Study of Duval County Grave Markers
by Lucy Ames Edwards
- Gone but not Forgotten: Wakulla County's Folk Graveyards
by Sherrie Stokes
- Graveyards and Social Structures
- Map and Database Construction for an Historic Cemetery: Methods and Applications
by: Johan Liebens
- Necrogeography in the United States
Published by: American Geographical Society
- Cemetery symbolism of prairie pioneers- gravestone art and social change in Story County
by: Coleen Lou Nutty
- Under Grave Conditions; African American Signs of Life and Death in North Florida
by: Robin Franklin Nigh
- Using Cemetery Data to Reconstruct Immigration and Migration Patterns: St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida
by: Sarah Elizabeth Patterson
- Gravestone Iconography and Mortuary Ideology
by: Frederick J.E. Gorman and Michael DiBlasi
- The Historical Archaeology of Mortuary Behavior: Coffin Hardware from Uxbridge, Massachusetts
by: Edward L. Bell

- Death's Heads, Cherubs, and Willow Trees: Experimentral Archaeology in Colonial Cemeteries

by: Edwin Dethlefsen and James Deetz


Books:
- In Small Things Forgotten
by: James Deetz

- The New History of Florida

Edited by: Michael Gannon


Sears Catalog:
-Special catalogue of tombstones, monuments, tablets and markers. (1902) Sears Roebuck & Co. Chicago, Ill.