"Brunswick was founded in 1726 by Maurice Moore ... [and] the first lots were sold to Cornelius Harnett Sr. The town became a major British colonial port before the Revolution and was the home of the royal governors of North Carolina for twelve years .... In 1776, it was burned by the British and over the next several decades, it was gradually abandoned."--Preface, p. xxii.

"Brunswick was founded in 1726 by Maurice Moore ... [and] the first lots were sold to Cornelius Harnett Sr. The town became a major British colonial port before the Revolution and was the home of the royal governors of North Carolina for twelve years .... In 1776, it was burned by the British and over the next several decades, it was gradually abandoned."--Preface, p. xxii.

This is a Foreword by an archaeologist, not a conservator, but as Brad Rodgers says, “Conservation has been steadily pulled from archaeology by the forces of specialization”(p. 3),andhewantstoremedythatsituationthroughthismanual. He seesthisworkasa“calltoactionforthenon-professionalconservator,”permitting “curators, conservators, and archaeologists to identify artifacts that need prof- sional attention and, allow these professionals to stabilize most artifacts in their own laboratories with minimal intervention, using simple non-toxic procedures” (p. 5). It is the mission of Brad’s manual to “bring conservation back into arch- ology” (p. 6). The degree of success of that goal depends on the degree to which archaeologists pay attention to, and put to use, what Brad has to say, because as he says, “The conservationist/archaeologist is responsible to make preparation for an artifact’s care even before it is excavated and after its storage into the foreseeable future”. . . a tremendous responsibility” (p. 10). The manual is a combination of highly technical as well as common sense methods of conserving wood, iron and other metals, ceramics, glass and stone, organicsandcomposits—afarbetterguidetoartifactconservationthanwasava- able to me when I ?rst faced that archaeological challenge at colonial Brunswick Town, North Carolina in 1958—a challenge still being faced by archaeologists today. The stage of conservation in 1958 is in dramatic contrast to the procedures Brad describes in this manual—conservation has indeed made great progress. For instance,acommonprocedurethenwastoheattheartifactsredhotinafurnace—a method that made me cringe.

The book includes six chapters that cover Virginia history from initial settlement through the 20th century plus one that deals with the important role of underwater archaeology. Written by prominent archaeologists with research experience in their respective topic areas, the chapters consider important issues of Virginia history and consider how the discipline of historic archaeology has addressed them and needs to address them . Changes in research strategy over time are discussed , and recommendations are made concerning the need to recognize the diverse and often differing roles and impacts that characterized the different regions of Virginia over the course of its historic past. Significant issues in Virginia history needing greater study are identified.

Lorena Walsh offers an enlightening history of plantation management in the Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland, ranging from the founding of Jamestown to the close of the Seven Years' War and the end of the "Golden Age" of colonial Chesapeake agriculture. Walsh focuses on the operation of more than thirty individual plantations and on the decisions that large planters made about how they would run their farms. She argues that, in the mid-seventeenth century, Chesapeake planter elites deliberately chose to embrace slavery. Prior to 1763 the primary reason for large planters' debt was their purchase of capital assets--especially slaves--early in their careers. In the later stages of their careers, chronic indebtedness was rare. Walsh's narrative incorporates stories about the planters themselves, including family dynamics and relationships with enslaved workers. Accounts of personal and family fortunes among the privileged minority and the less well documented accounts of the suffering, resistance, and occasional minor victories of the enslaved workers add a personal dimension to more concrete measures of planter success or failure.

This wide-ranging book is the first to offer---in one volume---detailed results of many of the investigations of French colonial sites made in the mid-continent during the last decade. It includes work done at Fort St. Louis, Fort de Chartres, Fort Massac, French Peoria, Cahokia, Prairie du Pont, Prairie du Rocher, and other locations controlled by the French during a time when their dominance in North America was more than twice that of Britain and Spain combined. Five of the book's fifteen chapters summarize major excavations at colonial fortifications, four of which are public monuments that currently attract thousands of visitors each year. Another five chapters deal with French colonial villages, and the remainder of the book is devoted to diet, trade, the role of historic documents in the reconstruction of life on the French colonial frontier, and other topics.

Jane Adams focuses on the transformation of rural life in Union County, Illinois, as she explores the ways in which American farming has been experienced and understood in the twentieth century. Reconstructing the histories of seven farms, she places the