Professor Michael Nassaney (far right) and WMU graduate students at an archaeological site in Quebec

Fort St. Joseph was a trading post established in Niles, Michigan by the French in 1691 and it served as a hub of commercial, religious, and military activity for a community of French, English, and Native peoples for nearly a century. It was discovered on the ground by WMU archaeologists in 1998 and is the focus of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, a partnership between WMU, the City of Niles, and other community groups.

Many of the leading experts on the 'New France' period of history are at Laval University, founded in 1663 in Quebec City. In collaboration with the Anthropology, History, and Foreign Language Departments, the Haenicke Institute established a bilateral student exchange with Laval. Dr. Vincent Desroches, WMU foreign language professor, takes students to study Quebec culture and intensive French every other summer. WMU has hosted several exchange students and faculty visits over the last 3 years.

In May 2008, five graduate student members of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project team under the direction of Dr. Michael Nassaney, WMU anthropology professor, traveled to Ottawa, Montreal, Québec, and Fort Niagara (western New York) to visit and meet with archaeologists, museum curators, and French colonial scholars. The group was treated to private tours of 16th-18th century artifact collections and ongoing excavations associated with the early settlement of New France by colleagues from the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Pointe-a-Callière Museum, and Laval University, among other institutions. One of the high points of the trip was the tour chief archaeologists gave of the French explorers Jacques Cartier and Jean-François Roberval's 1541 encampment on the St. Lawrence River, one of the oldest European sites in North America. The students and Nassaney were also welcome guests at the University of Montreal and Laval University's archaeological field schools.

Chateau Frontenac — Quebec's most famous landmark

The ultimate destination was Québec to attend the annual conference of the French Colonial Historical Society, where the group met up with two other members of their team, Dr. José António Brandão (History Department) and Dr. Terrance Martin (Curator of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum and WMU alumnus). Collectively they presented six papers in a symposium entitled "Ten Years of Archaeology at Fort St. Joseph: A French Colonial Mission-Garrison-Trading Post Complex in the North American Interior." Nassaney said the session was well attended and very well received.

The conference was held in Québec in honor of the 400th anniversary of its founding, so the city was bustling with celebratory activities. The WMU group also made contact with students and faculty members Drs. Réginald Auger and Alison Bain of Laval University, one of WMU's institutional partners.

"They are very interested in our work at Fort St. Joseph," Nassaney said. "Professor Bain will visit WMU this fall to speak in a symposium on ‘The French in North America: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives' organized by the Canadian Studies Initiative. The research trip was a valuable learning experience for all the members of the team. We visited many of the places that we had only read about, saw important archaeological collections up close, and made valuable professional contacts. We had the opportunity to disseminate the results of our research to a wide audience interested in French colonial history and archaeology. Information obtained from the tours, site visits, museum exhibits, and resources that I learned about will be incorporated into a new course that I will be teaching in Fall 2008 called 'The Archaeology of New France' (ANTH 3450)."

The French Castle at Fort Niagara, Quebec

About the Fort Joseph Archaelogical Project Fort St. Joseph was a trading post along the St. Joseph River in Niles and at times during its 90-year existence was controlled by the French, the British and, briefly, a group of Spaniards. The site was rediscovered in 1998 when a group called Support the Fort Inc. asked Nassaney to look for the fort. Nassaney narrowed his search to an area that Dr. Joseph L. Peyser, a local historian, had identified as the likely location of the lost fort. It wasn't until 2002 that Nassaney and student workers could make the site accessible for serious research by using innovative engineering equipment to dewater the area being examined. Since that time, a significant number of artifacts and the structural remains of Fort St. Joseph have been discovered.

Comments from students and participants

LisaMarie Malischke
Public Outreach Coordinator
Fort St Joseph Archaeological Project

I am grateful for the experience of traveling to the French Colonial Historical Society annual conference in Quebec City. Stopping at historical and educational centers in cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec and Niagara has given me a better sense of the interconnectedness, yet regional distinctiveness of colonial peoples, practices and constructed environments within New France. In addition to gaining new insights into New France, the fur trade, and the lived colonial experience, I was able to observe how various historical places choose to present their cultural heritage to the public. At the conference, I met many colleagues researching New France and have been stimulated to continue my research from new angles. The conference was also an opportunity for our WMU group to share the uniqueness of the remains and excavations of Fort St. Joseph. This truly was an once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Andrew Beaupré
MA student
Department of Anthropology
Hometown: Morgan, Vermont

For me the trip to Quebec put my study of New France in a new light. The ability to physically wander through the metropolitan aspect of the colony gave an interesting perspective on the dichotomy that was present in the 17th century. Our study at Fort St. Joseph exemplifies a frontier outpost which has a new meaning when juxtaposed with the walls of the Citadel of Quebec. As for the conference, I was able to meet and discuss my thesis research on religion in New France with top minds including Cornelius Jaenen, the author of several texts that are paramount in the field. The conference had a very informal feel, which enabled me to discuss my work and gain further insights from other scholars working in the same research area.

Erin Claussen
MA student –Department of Anthropology
Hometown: Mahomet, IL

In addition to providing an opportunity to present a paper entitled "Interpreting the Material Remains of Fort St. Joseph" at the French Colonial Historical Society Conference in Quebec City, the trip was also an opportunity to deepen my understanding of the historical context of the site of Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Mich. The material culture of Fort St. Joseph will be the subject of my master's thesis, and learning more about the fort's spatial and temporal relation to other places and events in New France history by having the opportunity to see such places and their material remains first hand will be invaluable to my future research. The behind-the-scenes tours provided by colleagues of my advisor, Dr. Nassaney at museums, archaeological sites, and laboratories in Ottawa (The Museum of Civilization), Montreal (Pointe-a-Calliere), and Quebec (excavations and laboratories of/associated with Laval Universite) furthered my interests in archaeological collections management and interpretation, a subject that I will be incorporating into my thesis research.

Meghan Cook
MA student—Department of Anthropology
Hometown: Ashaway, Rhode Island

At the conference for the French Colonial Historical Society, I was able to engage and share ideas with prominent scholars, and create connections that will be beneficial to my future research and career goals. By visiting multiple museums and archaeological sites, I experienced the broader context of New France and the fur trade, and can now better visualize the site I work on, Fort St. Joseph, and its place within this larger framework. This trip also helped me to put my own thesis research on wampum into a broader perspective. While visiting sites and museums I was also able to identify research collections that will play a strong role in the construction of my thesis.