Slave House Exploration and Evidence Tracing Field School
Collecting and telling the stories of enslaved people in America requires specialized skills, interdisciplinary research, innovative thinking, and collaboration. The Slave House Exploration and Evidence Tracing (SHEET) Field School is a pioneering intergenerational and transdisciplinary experience for independent family researchers, students, academic scholar-practitioners, and the public. Hosted by Saving Slave Houses (SSH) this hybrid field school and public workshop at Pharsalia Plantation in Nelson County, Virginia explores the intersections between the built environment, history, humanities, community, and storytelling. It is designed to teach its participants how to use the data they collect (e.g., fieldwork, archival research, and genealogy) as effective storytelling tools that can reach a wide, diverse audience. Through intensive examination of the built environment participants will gain necessary skills to recognize and interpret the landscape of slavery from the perspective of enslaved people.
SHEET’s 2025 season will build on last season’s archaeological discovery and help preservation efforts through hands-on preservation, restoration and rehabilitation of the Kitchen-Hospital-Quarter at Pharsalia. The field school will consist of two sessions. Each session will include a Masonry Workshop, an Archaeology Workshop and also incorporate building archaeology. Building archaeology is a process used to identify details that represent hidden messages of resistance, strength and perseverance – clues that enrich the stories of enslaved people’s lives. It is necessary for collective storytelling of the Kitchen-Hospital-Quarter at Pharsalia. This process will also teach participants how to recognize changes made to structures during the transition from slavery to freedom.
The Masonry Workshop will focus on hands-on masonry repairs that will help preserve the building for another 200 years. Participants will learn how to remove modern materials that are damaging the building, repoint mortar joints, repair brick walls and whitewashing. During the 2024 season SHEET participants discovered what is believed to be the foundation wall of an earlier kitchen. The Archaeology Workshop will continue excavations of this feature and compare the evidence to similar architectural features on the site, such as an intact subfloor pit. Participants will learn how to conduct archaeological excavations and understand this evidence in relationship to the existing built environment.
SHEET Overview
Field School Dates
The 2025 SHEET field school consists of two 1-week sessions.
- Session 1: Sunday, July 6 through Saturday, July 12, 2025
- Session 2: Sunday, July 13 through Saturday, July 19, 2025
Eligibility
All applicants must be 18 years of age or older. No prior educational training or professional experience is required. Special consideration will be given to applicants who are descendants of enslaved communities with ancestral ties to Virginia.
Application Window
Thursday, March 27, 2025, to Friday, April 25, 2025
Applications are due by 12am (midnight) EST on Friday, April 25, 2025
Application Process
Admission into SHEET will be granted through a public application process. Selected candidates will be offered an opportunity to participate following an application review and a virtual (Zoom) interview. Each session can accommodate six participants.
Questions?
Please submit all questions using the SHEET Inquiry Form .