Bulletin Board Information
HAS October Meeting - Thursday, October 19, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
Flies, numerous and troublesome . . .” The Archeology of First World War Camp Logan with Mike Quennoz
When the U.S. entered the First World War, there was an immediate need to train a large number of soldiers. In order to meet the expected demand for personnel, the Army commissioned thirty-two training camps across the country: sixteen for federalized National Guard units and another sixteen for draftees. Each camp would be designed to house and train an infantry division of 40,000 troops. In June 1917, an area just outside of Houston was selected to serve as a National Guard training camp to be named Camp Logan. Camp Logan would hum with activity for the next two years before being shuttered in stages following the November 1918 Armistice. However, while most training camp locations would be given over to development or continue to serve a military function, Camp Logan instead evolved into Memorial Park. Consequently, even the remains of a site as ephemeral as Camp Logan have been preserved.
Intensive archaeological investigation at Memorial Park by Gray & Pape has been ongoing since 2016 as part of the Memorial Park Master Plan developed by the Memorial Park Conservancy, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, and the Uptown Development Authority. This long-term commitment to documenting the archaeological resources in the park has significantly developed our understanding of Camp Logan and early twentieth century Houston.
Michael Quennoz has spent the past decade working as an archaeologist in cultural resource management, and since 2015 has been with Gray & Pape Heritage Resource Management in Houston, Texas. Prior to that he graduated with a degree in Archaeology from Washington University in Saint Louis, conducted fieldwork in Malta and Turkey, completed an artifact conservation internship at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, and worked for the U.S. Forest Service in the Black Hills National Forest. Currently he is completing a master’s degree in Heritage Resource Management at Simon Fraser University. His primary areas of interest include the archaeology of the First World War, the archaeology of infrastructure, maritime archaeology, historic and family cemeteries, and more broadly, the archaeology of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Be sure to join us in person for this fantastic talk on October 19! The Trini Mendenhall Community Center is located at 1414 Wirt Road in Houston. For more information about this program or about the Houston Archeological Society, please contact president@txhas.org.
HAS JOURNAL 144 NOW AVAILABLE
HAS Journal No. 144 is now available. The Journal Number 144 The articles will focus on the San Felipe de Austin Dig by John Lohse, Horseshoes in Texas, a Thimble from the 18th or 19th century from France found in Frosttown, and another article about Camp Kirby in Dickenson, TX, a civil war camp by Charly Gordy, ceramics from Cottonfield by Tim Perttula, and information from Mike Woods about a Butted Knife Found in Comal County. Complimentary copies may be obtained by HAS members at the monthly meetings. Non-HAS members may purchase copies through Amazon.com. Go to the HAS Journals Section for a link to the publication on the Amazon.com website. Alternatively, copies may be purchased at the HAS Monthly Meetings.
To learn more about the history behind our archeological society contact president@txhas.org.