KANSAS ARCHEOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM
The Kansas Archeology Training Program has been held in June almost annually since 1975. The program offers the opportunity for members of the public to work in the field and lab alongside professional and avocational archeologists. Find more about our past programs.
This program is a partnership between the Kansas Historical Society and the Kansas Anthropological Association (KAA). KAA members have provided hundreds of volunteer hours to work in the field and the lab, helping to make this program possible each year.
- Find out how to participate this year
- Find past field schools
- Learn how archeology sites are named
June 4-20, 2021
Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site
The annual field school will partner with the National Historic Site and the National Park Service’s Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC). The park includes the Monroe Elementary School and commemorates the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end the nation’s legal segregation. The landmark victory for civil rights in America helped to inspire the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.
The national historic site at 1515 SE Monroe Street in Topeka is located where Monroe Elementary School was built in 1927 and the previous Monroe School was built in 1874. Both were intended as segregated schools for Black children, one of four in Topeka, until the 1954 court decision.
The goal of the 2021 KATP is to expand on knowledge of the school property from the early years when it was purchased by John Ritchie in 1855 and later when the current Monroe school was built. The field school will be an opportunity to explore some of the structures buried on the property that once stood near the earlier Monroe school. Little information in known regarding the preservation of these structures. Through the use of archeology it is hoped to gain a better understanding of those who lived in the Monroe school neighborhood. This project will help tell of the crucial time between the Civil War and the Civil Rights eras that had a profound impact on people’s lives throughout the nation. Visitors to this national site are often unaware or unable to understand the property’s broader history prior to the 1954 court decision. Research goals will be shaped by input from the National Park Service to help assist them in telling this story and to gain more understanding about the community that surrounded this school.
Join us for the field school
Work alongside professional and avocational archeologists. No experience is necessary—just a desire to learn.
- Volunteers can attend for a few days or the entire 17 days
- Participants must be at least 12 years old
- Children aged 12-17 must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult
- Classroom courses on archeology are also offered and can be taken for college credit through Emporia State University for an additional fee
- Artifacts found at the site will be processed in the archeology laboratory at the Kansas Historical Society
- Scheduled evening programs will be posted here and will be held in Topeka; admission is free and open to the public
- Due to the current public health crisis, the field school is subject to cancellation, which would be determined prior to April 1, 2021
Registration Fee
$35 for participants ages 12-64 who are members of the Kansas Historical Society or the Kansas Anthropological Association
$25 for participants 65 or older
$15 for students currently enrolled at a middle school, high school, or college
No fee for students enrolled for college credit through Emporia State University
$90 for nonmembers
Registration Form
Online registration will be available here between April 1-May 25, 2021
Nikki Klarmann
